Inequality in education in United States
United States: Inequality in education was 0.0266 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Inequality in education in United States, 2010–2023
Source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
United States recorded 0.0266 for inequality in education in 2023.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.3% on the previous year and down 5.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, inequality in education in United States peaked at 0.0288 in 2010 and was at its lowest, 0.0257, in 2019.
That places United States 163rd out of 184 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 14 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.0274 | 0.0257 | 0.0288 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.0264 | 0.0257 | 0.0267 | 4 |
Countries ranked near United States
More education data for United States
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers 1.78 million (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.62 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 97.0% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is inequality in education in United States?
- Inequality in education in United States was 0.0266 in 2023, according to UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest inequality in education recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 0.0288 in 2010.
- What is the lowest inequality in education recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0257 in 2019.
- How does United States rank for inequality in education?
- United States ranks 163rd out of 184 countries with data for 2023.
- Is inequality in education rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is down 5.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this United States data come from?
- The figures come from UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Inequality in education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Atkinson index measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Inequality is measured here in terms of the number of years adults older than 25 participated in formal education.