Years of schooling in United States
United States: Years of schooling was 13.91 in 2023. ▲ Rising
Latest (2023)
13.91
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
3rd
of 192 countries
All-time high
13.91
in 2022
All-time low
12.82
in 2004
Years of data
34
1990–2023
Years of schooling in United States, 1990–2023
Source: Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2023, years of schooling in United States stood at 13.91. That is the highest value across all 34 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, years of schooling in United States peaked at 13.91 in 2022 and was at its lowest, 12.82, in 2004.
That places United States 3rd out of 192 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 34 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 13.07 | 12.98 | 13.17 | 10 |
| 2000s | 12.91 | 12.82 | 13.01 | 10 |
| 2010s | 13.28 | 13.05 | 13.59 | 10 |
| 2020s | 13.77 | 13.58 | 13.91 | 4 |
Countries ranked near United States
More education data for United States
- Duration of pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers 1.78 million (2023)
- Fertility rate vs mean years of schooling 1.62 (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 97.0% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is years of schooling in United States?
- Years of schooling in United States was 13.91 in 2023, according to Our World in Data.
- What is the highest years of schooling recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 13.91 in 2022.
- What is the lowest years of schooling recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 12.82 in 2004.
- How does United States rank for years of schooling?
- United States ranks 3rd out of 192 countries with data for 2023.
- Is years of schooling rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States data come from?
- The figures come from Our World in Data, published as part of Years of schooling. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).