The literacy rate in the US is not a count of people who cannot read. Federal assessments sort adults into skill levels, and in 2023, 28 percent of working-age adults scored at or below the lowest literacy rung, per the National Center for Education Statistics. The number moved, and definitions matter.
Those numbers come from PIAAC, an international skills survey run by the OECD. The magazine’s literacy section follows how reading skill gets measured, argued about, and taught. The 2023 round changed formats, which makes trend lines harder to trust.
Careful measurement matters here as much as in medicine. The companion explainer on what preregistering a trial prevents shows how researchers lock in plans before data arrive. Skill scores deserve the same caution.
Where does the literacy rate in the US come from?
PIAAC, the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, tests adults on literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. NCES runs the United States effort, and its surveyors worked between August 2022 and June 2023, per the agency’s report. Results arrived in December 2024.
The test places people on levels. At Level 3 or above, an adult is considered proficient at working with texts, per Wikipedia’s summary. A Level 1 reader can find clearly marked facts in short texts but struggles with dense pages.
What did the 2023 numbers show?
In 2023, 28 percent of U.S. adults ages 16 to 65 performed at or below Level 1 in literacy, up from 19 percent in 2017, according to NCES. The share at Level 3 or above fell to 44 percent from 48 percent. Average scores matched the international average, and the United States tied for 14th among 31 participants. Thirteen participants scored higher on literacy, fourteen lower, and three were not measurably different, per the IES release.
Literacy was the strong subject, comparatively. IES reported on December 10, 2024 that U.S. literacy sat at the international average, while numeracy and problem solving ran below it. NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr pointed to that gap in her statement on the release.
Why the number is not a reading rate
The word once meant something simpler. In the colonial era, literacy was mainly the ability to read, tied to Bible study and regional school laws, per Wikipedia’s history of U.S. literacy. PIAAC measures a different thing: how well adults handle written text in daily tasks. A rate and a skill ladder share a name and little else. For related coverage, see Why one study is never the last word.
Definitions also shift with the test. NCES cautioned that the 2023 round ran fully on tablets and scored basic-skill items in new ways, so comparisons with 2012 and 2017 need care. Response rates were low by past standards, and the agency told readers to weigh that in.
What do the numbers cost?
The rungs describe real reading lives. Adults below Level 1 can handle short, simple sentences but trip over multi-step instructions, per the same entry. The stakes are economic as well as personal. A 2020 analysis by Gallup and the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy estimated that lifting every adult to Level 3 could add about $2.2 trillion in annual output, roughly 10 percent of GDP, per Wikipedia’s account. Estimates of that kind rest on models, not measurements.
Where the evidence comes from
This article rests on three checked documents: the NCES highlights report for the 2023 percentages, the IES release of December 10, 2024, and Wikipedia’s entry for level definitions and history. NCES itself flags the survey’s limits. A low response rate, a tablet-only format, and scoring changes all cloud the trend line.
Conclusion
The literacy rate in the US is best read as a skill ladder, not a pass-fail count. In 2023, more adults stood on the lowest rungs than in 2017, and fewer stood near the top, though method changes blur the size of the shift. The honest picture is a population with strong readers, many struggling ones, and a test that keeps changing.
