75+ US Literacy Statistics That Will Surprise You 2025

Can you imagine a world where you couldn’t read even a single sentence? For millions of people around the globe, this isn’t imagination—it’s a harsh reality they face daily.

Shocking statistics show that about 773 million adults worldwide cannot read or write a simple sentence; that’s roughly one in every ten people on Earth.

Even worse, many people think literacy is just about being able to read. But literacy is more than a skill—it’s a powerful tool to unlock opportunities.

In this article, I’ve compiled 75 literacy statistics and facts that highlight the importance of raising literacy rates to create a better future, from economic benefits to personal growth.

So, let’s dive deep and explore U.S. literacy statistics.

Top 11 Key US Literacy Statistics

  • 43% of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. (literacyforallfund.org)
  • 1 in 4 children in the U.S. grows up without learning how to read. (Literacy Project Foundation)
  • Around 36 million adults in the US have limited English, reading, or math skills. (The Literacy Council Of Sarasota)
  • The U.S. government bears a cost of up to 2.2 trillion per year for low literacy levels. (The National Literacy Institute)
  • 75% of Americans receiving food stamps perform at the lowest two literacy levels.
  • 34% of the people 18 and older with low literacy proficiency weren’t born in the United States. (Cross River Therapy)
  • As per a 2013 report, 66% of the average 4th-grade children in the US couldn’t read proficiently. (Cross River Therapy)
  • 1 out of 5 American adults, or 21%, possess low literacy skills, comprising about 43 million people. (nces.ed.gov)
  • An increase of 1% in literacy scores leads to a 2.5% rise in labor productivity and a 1.5% rise in GDP. (OECD Library)
  • According to researchers, 4 out of 5 Americans 18 and over possess medium to high proficiency in English reading and writing. (Cross River Therapy)
  • As per stats from the US Literacy Facts, the low rate of literacy in the United States majorly affects the healthcare industry for $70 million each year.

U.S. Child Literacy Statistics

  • 1 in 4 children in the U.S. grows up without learning how to read. (Literacy Project Report)
  • 27% of eighth-grade students are below basic reading level; 39% are below proficient reading level (NCES).
  • 72% of children with low-literacy parents are more likely to have low reading skills in school (ProLiteracy).
  • 34% of fourth-grade students in the U.S. are below basic reading level; another 31% are below proficient reading level (NCES).
  • 22% of children in the U.S. live in poverty, with 43% of adults in poverty having low literacy levels (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
  • 52% of Black fourth-grade children and 45% of Hispanic fourth-graders score below basic reading levels, compared to 23% of white students (NCES).
  • 80% of children in economically disadvantaged communities lose reading skills over summer breaks due to a lack of resources (Reading Is Fundamental).
  • Two out of every 10 children enter kindergarten with skills two to three years below grade level; another two start with a one-year disadvantage (Regis College Online).
  • 2 out of 3 students who can’t read by 4th grade may end up on welfare or in jail. (Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation)
  • 66% of U.S. 4th graders in 2013 couldn’t read proficiently. (Cross River Therapy)
  • 68% of 4th graders in 2013 could read with proficiency, a 6% increase since 2003. (Cross River Therapy)
  • 4th-grade reading scores improved by 5 points from 1992 to 2017. (nces.ed.gov)
  • The gap between black, white, and Hispanic students decreased from 1992 to 2017 but not significantly after 2015. (nces.ed.gov)

U.S. Adult Literacy Statistics

  • 54% of adults read below a sixth-grade level. (Wiki Pedia)
  • 50% of adults cannot read at an eighth-grade level. (Literacy Project Foundation)
  • 45 million adults are functionally illiterate. (Literacy Project Foundation)
  • 20% read below the level needed to earn a living wage. (The National Literacy Institute)
  • Over 20% of American adults have literacy proficiency at or below Level 1. ( WikiPedia)
  • 27 million Americans cannot read well enough to complete a job application.
  • 21% of American adults are considered illiterate, while 79% are literate (World Population Data).
  • 54% of adults in the U.S. lack English literacy proficiency (Gallup Report, 2020).
  • Approximately 48 million U.S. adults cannot read above a third-grade level. (Pro Literacy)
  • 51% of ProLiteracy programs have waiting lists due to demand exceeding capacity. (Pro Literacy)
  • Around 130 million adults, or 54% of Americans between 16 and 74, read below a sixth-grade level. (Literacy Gap Map)
  • More than 43 million adults in the U.S. cannot read, write, or perform basic math above a third-grade level. (Pro Literacy)
  • 93 million adults in the U.S. read at or below the basic level needed to contribute successfully to society.
  • Children’s early vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds.(Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation)
  • 43% of adults with Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty, while only 4% of those at Level 5 (Wikipedia)
  • 75% of state-incarcerated individuals did not complete high school and are classified as low-literate. ( The Pop Project)
  • 48 million U.S. adults have low English literacy skills, and 69 million have low numeracy skills in English. (nces.ed.gov)
  • Workers with less than a high school diploma earn a median weekly income of $592, three times less than those with higher education.
  • Literacy rates in states with high immigrant populations are 60% more likely to be above 20%. (Cross River Therapy)

Literacy Statistics By State

  • New Hampshire has the lowest percentage (5.8%) of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills, making New Hampshire’s literacy rate 94.2%. (World population Review)
  • About 36.6% of adults in New Hampshire have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, the seventh-highest rate in the country. (World population Review)
  • Minnesota has the second-highest literacy rate of 94.0%, with only 6% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills. About 69.9% of Minnesota residents are registered library users, the second-highest in the country. (World population Review)
  • North Dakota has the third-highest literacy rate of 93.7%, with 6.3% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills. North Dakota, however, has the lowest percentage of registered library users at 35.9%. (World population Review)
  • Vermont has the fourth-highest literacy rate of 93.4%, with 6.6% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills. Vermont is also the fourth-most educated state in the U.S. (World population Review)
  • South Dakota has the fifth-highest literacy rate of 93.0%, with 7.0% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills. South Dakota has 16.4 public libraries per 100,000 residents, the fifth-highest in the country. (World population Review)
  • ‍California’s 23.1% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills make California have the lowest literacy rate of 76.9%. (World population Review)
  • New York has the second-highest percentage of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills at 22.1%, equaling a literacy rate of 77.9%. (World population Review)
  • Florida has the third-highest percentage of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills at 19.7%, equaling a literacy rate of 80.3%. (World population Review)
  • Texas has the fourth-lowest literacy rate of 81.0%, with 19.0% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills. Texas has the fourth-lowest number of libraries 3.2 per 100,000 residents. (World population Review)
  • The fifth-lowest literacy rate in the United States is in New Jersey, where 16.9% of adults lack basic prose literacy skills, and 83.1% are literate. (World population Review)

Literacy Levels and Economic Impact

  • Low literacy costs the U.S. between $106 and $238 billion in healthcare annually. (Health Science Research Commons)
  • Bringing all adults to a sixth-grade reading level could add $2.2 trillion annually to U.S. income. (Barbara Bush Foundation)
  • The U.S. government spends up to $2.2 trillion per year on issues related to low literacy levels. (Barbara Bush Foundation)
  • A 1% rise in literacy scores correlates with a 2.5% increase in labor productivity and a 1.5% rise in GDP. (OECD Library)
  • Low literacy contributes to $73 million per year in direct healthcare costs, with Pfizer estimating even higher expenses. (Health Policy Institute)

Poverty and Literacy Stats

  • 75% of prison inmates have low literacy skills. (Greater Good)
  • Approximately 43% of adults with very low literacy skills live in poverty. (Literacy For all Fund)
  • 43% of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty, compared to 4% of those at higher literacy levels. (LinkedIn)
  • 75% of food stamp recipients perform at the lowest two levels of literacy.

Source – Reddit

  • Among welfare recipients, about 70% have lower literacy skills, indicating that limited reading and writing abilities are prevalent in economically disadvantaged populations. (rif.org)
  •  (NAEP) shows that 81% of fourth graders eligible for free or reduced lunches are not proficient in reading, compared to only 49% of those who do not qualify for such programs. (rif.org)
  • By the time children from low-income families enter grade school, their proficiency in
  • reading has already become an issue. (rif.org)
  • 47 percent of fourth graders from low-income families read below the basic level. (rif.org)
  • 52% of Black fourth graders scored below the basic level for reading proficiency, as did 45% of Hispanic and 50% of American Indian fourth graders (rif.org)

Literacy Statistics by Gender

Source

  • Since 2020, 90% of men and 83% of women in the world are literate. (statista)
  • In 2019, 90.07% of the world’s male population was literate, while 83.02% of women were. (statista)
  • In 2017, men who could read and write accounted for 89.% of the population, with women making up 82.64% with reading abilities. (statista)

Literacy Rate By Age Group

  • In 2016, the global adult literacy rate was 86%, while the youth literacy rate was 91%. However, 750 million adults, including two-thirds of women, still lacked basic reading and writing skills. (uis.unesco.org)
  • In 2024, 79% of U.S. adults are literate, while 21% are illiterate. 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level, and 20% are below 5th-grade level. (uis.unesco.org)
  • In 2017, 19% of U.S. adults performed at the lowest literacy levels, while 48% performed at the highest levels. (uis.unesco.org)
  • States with large numbers of immigrants have a 60% greater chance of illiteracy rates being above 20% for the adult population. (Cross River Therapy)
  • Low literacy levels cost the U.S. up to $2.2 trillion per year. (The National Literacy Institute)

List of the sources in this post

  • https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/se-adt
  • https://www.indexmundi.com/blog/index.php/2013/06/25/male-and-female-literacy-rates-by-country/
  • https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.FE.ZS
  • https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/macroeconomic/countries-with-highest-female-literacy-rate-in-the-world-in/
  • https://www.statista.com/statistics/1220131/global-adult-literacy-rate-by-gender/
  • https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS
  • https://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html
  • https://www.literacytexas.org/why-literacy/literacy-facts/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States
  • https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/literacy-rate-by-country
  • https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/illiteracy-among-adults-in-the-us
  • https://literacyproj.org/2019/02/14/30-key-child-literacy-stats-parents-need-to-be-aware-of/
  • https://www.sarasotaliteracy.org/about-us/background-on-national-regional-local-literacy-issues/#:~:text=It’s%20shocking%2C%20but%20true.,above%20a%20third%20grade%20level.&text=This%20national%20statistic%20plays%20itself%20out%20at%20the%20local%20level%20every%20day.
  • https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now#:~:text=On%20average%2C%2079%25%20of%20U.S.,to%202.2%20trillion%20per%20year.