United States
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United States
Overview of the education system (EAG 2026)
| Education at a Glance 2026 (EAG 2026): OECD Indicators | Country note | Annexes from Education at a Glance 2026 | OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018 | Department of Education | National Center for Education Statistics |
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The following list displays indicators for which your selected country shows the highest and lowest values among countries.
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Attainment
The level of tertiary attainment among 55-64 year-olds is one of the highest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (47.6 %, rank 3/41 , 2025) Download Indicator
The proportion of 25-34 year-olds who have attained a general degree at the upper secondary or post-secondary level is one of the highest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (41.8 %, rank 1/37 , 2025) Download Indicator
In United States, the share of 25-34 year-olds who attained a doctoral or equivalent tertiary education degree is one of the largest among countries with available data. (1.9 %, rank 1/31 , 2025) Download Indicator
Attainment by gender
The share of 25-34 year-old men who attained below upper secondary education in United States is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (5.7 %, rank 36/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
Entrance
The average age of new entrants in tertiary education in United States is comparatively young. (19.2 Years, rank 31/32 , 2024) Download Indicator
In United States, the share of first-time entrants in bachelor's programmes is one of the smallest among OECD countries and partner economies with available data. (53.4 %, rank 30/34 , 2024) Download Indicator
Participation in education
Among participating countries, United States reported one of the smallest shares of female students in upper secondary general programmes. (49.1 %, rank 41/43 , 2024) Download Indicator
The enrolment rate among students aged 15-19 in upper secondary general programmes in United States is one of the highest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (56.3 %, rank 1/43 , 2024) Download Indicator
Graduation by field of education
The percentage of tertiary graduates in the field of business, administration and law is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (18.2 %, rank 35/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of tertiary graduates in the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (7.2 %, rank 37/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
Graduation by field of education and gender
The proportion of female tertiary graduates in social sciences, business and law is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries. (15.4 %, rank 36/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
In United States, the share of female graduates in tertiary education in the fields of business, administration and law is one of the smallest among OECD countries and partner economies with available data. (50.5 %, rank 32/34 , 2024) Download Indicator
Student mobility
The share of worldwide foreign and international students is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (17.1 %, rank 2/46 , 2023) Download Indicator
Adult participation in non-formal education
In United States, the share of employed adults aged 25-44 participating in non-formal education or training was among the highest across countries with available data. (74.1 %, rank 1/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
The share of employed adults aged 45-64 participating in non-formal education or training was among the largest in United States compared with other countries with available data. (67.6 %, rank 2/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
Among employed adults aged 25-64, participation in non-formal education or training in United States was among the highest across countries with available data. (71.2 %, rank 1/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
Among unemployed adults aged 25-64, the share participating in non-formal education or training in United States was among the highest across countries with available data. (48.1 %, rank 3/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
Among adults aged 25-64 outside the labour force, participation in non-formal education or training in United States was among the highest across countries with available data. (23.8 %, rank 5/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
Among adults aged 25-64 with tertiary attainment, the share reporting never having participated in non-formal education or training in United States was among the smallest across countries with available data. (3.3 %, rank 27/29 , 2023) Download Indicator
Teachers
The number of hours per year primary teachers spend teaching in public institutions is comparatively high in United States. (908 Hours, rank 5/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
The number of hours per year lower secondary teachers spend teaching in public institutions is comparatively high in United States. (893 Hours, rank 4/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
The number of hours per year upper secondary teachers spend teaching general programmes in public institutions is comparatively high in United States. (888 Hours, rank 3/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
Teachers' salaries
The ratio of pre-primary teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.53 Ratio, rank 17/17 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of primary teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.54 Ratio, rank 18/18 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of lower secondary teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.55 Ratio, rank 18/18 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of upper secondary teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.57 Ratio, rank 19/19 , 2025) Download Indicator
After 15 years of experience, a pre-primary teacher with typical qualification can expect to have one of the highest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (77629 USD Equivalent, rank 5/35 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of lower secondary female teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year women workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.76 Ratio, rank 26/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of lower secondary male teachers' salaries to earnings of full-time, full-year men workers with tertiary education is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.56 Ratio, rank 26/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
The salaries of 25-34 year-old general lower-secondary teachers relative to earnings for full-time, full-year similarly educated workers with tertiary education are low in United States. (0.67 Ratio, rank 25/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
The salaries of 35-44 year-old general lower-secondary teachers relative to earnings for full-time, full-year similarly educated workers with tertiary education are low in United States. (0.61 Ratio, rank 26/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
The salaries of 45-54 year-old general lower-secondary teachers relative to earnings for full-time, full-year similarly educated workers with tertiary education are low in United States. (0.63 Ratio, rank 25/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
The salaries of 55-64 year-old general lower-secondary teachers relative to earnings for full-time, full-year similarly educated workers with tertiary education are low in United States. (0.65 Ratio, rank 25/26 , 2025) Download Indicator
Principals' salaries
In United States, actual salaries of pre-primary school heads aged 25-64 relative to earnings of full-time, full-year tertiary-educated workers are low. (0.83 Ratio, rank 15/15 , 2025) Download Indicator
In United States, actual salaries of primary school heads aged 25-64 relative to earnings of full-time, full-year tertiary-educated workers are low. (0.84 Ratio, rank 16/16 , 2025) Download Indicator
In United States, actual salaries of lower secondary school heads aged 25-64 relative to earnings of full-time, full-year tertiary-educated workers are low. (0.87 Ratio, rank 16/16 , 2025) Download Indicator
In United States, actual salaries of upper secondary school heads aged 25-64 relative to earnings of full-time, full-year tertiary-educated workers are low. (0.89 Ratio, rank 17/17 , 2025) Download Indicator
Ratio of student to teaching staff
In United States, the number of students per teacher in private institutions tertiary education is one of the lowest among countries with available data. (11.2 Ratio, rank 31/33 , 2024) Download Indicator
In United States, the number of students per teacher in independent private institutions tertiary education is one of the lowest among countries with available data. (11.2 Ratio, rank 22/26 , 2024) Download Indicator
Organisation of the education system
Classes in lower secondary private institutions are comparatively small in United States. (15 Students, rank 33/37 , 2024) Download Indicator
In independent private institutions at lower secondary level, the average class size is relatively small in United States among OECD and partner countries with available data. (15 Students, rank 18/22 , 2024) Download Indicator
Employment and educational attainment
The employment rate among 25-64 year-olds with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education is comparatively low. (71.1 %, rank 38/41 , 2025) Download Indicator
The employment rate among 25-64 year-olds with a master's or equivalent tertiary education degree is low compared to other OECD and partner countries. (85.8 %, rank 34/37 , 2025) Download Indicator
The employment rate among 35-44 year-olds with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education is comparatively low. (74.9 %, rank 36/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
The employment rate among 45-54 year-olds with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education is comparatively low. (74.8 %, rank 37/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
Employment by gender and educational attainment
The employment rate among 25-64 year-old men with upper secondary or a post-secondary non-tertiary education is comparatively low. (77.1 %, rank 37/41 , 2025) Download Indicator
Unemployment and educational attainment
The unemployment rate among 25-64 year-olds with a doctoral or equivalent tertiary education degree is one of the lowest of all OECD countries and partner economies for which data are available. (1.7 %, rank 16/20 , 2025) Download Indicator
Compared to other countries with available data, the unemployment rate of 25-34 year-olds with a doctoral or equivalent tertiary education degree is relatively low in United States. (2.8 %, rank 10/10 , 2025) Download Indicator
Compared to other countries with available data, the unemployment rate of 25-34 year-old with a short cycle tertiary education degree is relatively low in United States. (3.4 %, rank 21/24 , 2025) Download Indicator
Unemployment by gender and educational attainment
The unemployment rate among 25-34 year-old women with below upper secondary education is comparatively low in United States. (6.7 %, rank 31/35 , 2025) Download Indicator
Earnings and educational attainment
Earnings of 25-64 year-old full- and part-time workers with a bachelor's or equivalent education are comparatively high. (168.7 %, rank 4/25 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of 25-64 year-old full- and part-time workers with a master's, doctoral or equivalent education degree are comparatively high. (224.7 %, rank 4/25 , 2024) Download Indicator
Among workers with below upper secondary education in United States, the proportion earning between 1 and 1.5 times the median is comparatively low . (11 Index, rank 28/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
Among workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education in United States, the proportion earning between 1 and 1.5 times the median is comparatively low. (20 Index, rank 29/30 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings, gender and educational attainment
The earnings of men without an upper secondary education are relatively low compared to those of men with an upper secondary education. (73 Index, rank 25/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (among 25-64 year-olds with tertiary education and income from employment) are one of the lowest among countries with available data. (72 %, rank 26/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (25-64 year-olds with income from employment) are one of the lowest among countries with available data. (77.2 %, rank 26/27 , 2024) Download Indicator
In United States, women's earnings as a percentage of men's earnings among 25-64 year-olds with tertiary education (full- and part-time workers) are among the lowest across countries with available data. (68.4 %, rank 26/30 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (among 25-34 year-olds with upper secondary education or post-secondary non-tertiary education and income from employment) are one of the low among countries with available data. (73.4 %, rank 27/28 , 2024) Download Indicator
The earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (25-34 year-olds without an upper secondary education working full-time full-year) are one of the lowest among countries with available data. (76.9 %, rank 22/25 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (45-54 year-olds with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education working full-time full-year) are one of the lowest among countries with available data. (70 %, rank 27/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
Earnings of women as a percentage of men's earnings (45-54 year-olds with tertiary education working full-time full-year) are one of the lowest among countries with available data. (69.5 %, rank 26/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
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General findings
- Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%.
- On a similar note, the share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. Therefore, while more young adults obtain a tertiary qualification, the share of individuals whose highest qualification is upper secondary with a vocational orientation is decreasing in almost all OECD countries.
- Regarding the share of young people being neither in employment nor in education or training, it stood at 14% as of 2025 across OECD countries. However, cross-country comparisons reveal a wide variety of trends, ranging from large falls in Croatia or Ireland to increases in Germany or Latvia.
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- Most children aged 3 to 5 are enrolled in early childhood education, with an average participation rate of 86% across the OECD in 2024. Participation in early childhood education increases with age and tends to be higher in countries with stronger institutional support for participation.
- 76.2% of students complete upper secondary programmes within the theoretical programme duration. This rises to 84.9% with two additional years on average across the OECD.
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- In 2023, OECD countries allocated an average of 9.8% of total government expenditure to education, equivalent to 4.2% of GDP.
- Total expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 13 552 in 2023 on average across the OECD. This amount rises to USD 14 923 in secondary education and to USD 22 402 in tertiary education.
- Tertiary education continues to expand, placing pressure on public budgets. Private sources represent a larger share of total funding at the tertiary level than at any other level of education. However, as a whole most investment in education comes from public sources. On average, across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. Both of these figures are measured as initial source of funds, which implies that we are tracking the original provider.
- Research and development represents around one-third of total expenditure across the OECD on tertiary educational institutions, underlining their dual role in both teaching and research. On average across the OECD, in 2023, USD 8 060 were invested annually into research and development for every student enrolled in tertiary education.
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- Compulsory teaching time averages 770 hours per year for primary students and 710 hours for lower secondary students (general programmes), a difference of about 60 hours annually.
- The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
- Teachers’ statutory salaries increase with the level of education taught. On average, across OECD countries and economies, the salaries of teachers with the most prevalent qualifications with 15 years of experience range from USD 60 437 at pre-primary level to USD 68 928 at upper secondary level.
- Teachers’ actual salaries at primary and general secondary levels of education are 87-95% of the average earnings of tertiary-educated workers across OECD countries. School heads' actual salaries are usually higher than those of tertiary-educated workers.
| Education policies: Teachers | Education policies: Learning environment | OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) |
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- On average across OECD countries, 9.1% of teachers in primary and secondary education are non-fully qualified, with shares exceeding 18% in Chile, Denmark, Estonia and Germany.
- Furthermore, the share of fully qualified teachers leaving the profession in primary and secondary schools stands at 6.4% of the total teaching workforce.
- The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
- Regarding job satisfaction among teachers, participating countries show wide differences. Japan, Spain and Czechia reported that teachers tend to be much more satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults. On the other hand, teachers in Hungary, Chile or Latvia tend to be less satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults.
| Education policies: Teachers | Education policies: Teacher working conditions | Education policies: Teacher employment |
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Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple
most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities,
such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important
areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website
for each publication.
All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. However, OECD averages from Education at a Glance coming from the OECD database are the averages for the indicator reference year appearing in the Education GPS and may differ from averages in the book where averages can include data from multiple reference years, based on countries' data availability.
To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026 in the Northern Hemisphere.
*TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Sources Methodologies and Technical Notes of EAG 2025 for more details about the data collections.
For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.
All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. However, OECD averages from Education at a Glance coming from the OECD database are the averages for the indicator reference year appearing in the Education GPS and may differ from averages in the book where averages can include data from multiple reference years, based on countries' data availability.
To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026 in the Northern Hemisphere.
*TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Sources Methodologies and Technical Notes of EAG 2025 for more details about the data collections.
For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.