Education Compared
Education Compared is a data page on the Education desk of Glassbox Auditing. The U.S. beside its allies, partners and rivals on attainment, spending, PISA scores and other OECD measures, each with its definition and comparability. Workforce skills underlie long-run growth and where companies place skilled work.
Last updated: .
What is on this page today?
- Tertiary education, ages 25-34: U.S. 52.8% in 2025, 13th highest of 41 countries reporting — 51.8% in 2023 · OECD average 48.8% (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2025)
- At least upper-secondary education, ages 25-34: U.S. 94.5% in 2025, 7th highest of 40 countries reporting — 94.3% in 2023 · OECD average 87.4% (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2025)
- Students per teacher, primary: U.S. 13.7 in 2024, 21st highest of 42 countries reporting — 13.9 in 2023 · OECD average 13.7 (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2024)
- Students per teacher, upper secondary: U.S. 15.2 in 2024, 9th highest of 41 countries reporting — 15.2 in 2023 · OECD average 12.8 (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2024)
- Education spending, % of GDP: U.S. 6.1% in 2020, 8th highest of 38 countries reporting — 6.0% in 2019 · OECD average 5.1% (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2020)
- Spending per school student: U.S. $17,164 in 2022, 8th highest of 41 countries reporting — $15,799 in 2021 · OECD average $13,742 (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2022)
- Spending per college student: U.S. $39,551 in 2022, 2nd highest of 42 countries reporting — $36,274 in 2021 · OECD average $21,803 (OECD Education at a Glance, 30 Dec 2022)
- PISA mathematics score: U.S. 465 in 2022, 34th highest of 80 countries and economies reporting — PISA 2022 round, the newest on file · 478 in 2018 (OECD PISA 2022 results, 30 Dec 2022)
- PISA reading score: U.S. 504 in 2022, 9th highest of 80 countries and economies scoring — 505 in 2018 (OECD PISA 2022 results, 30 Dec 2022)
- PISA science score: U.S. 499 in 2022, 16th highest of 80 countries and economies scoring — 502 in 2018 (OECD PISA 2022 results, 30 Dec 2022)
Where does the data come from?
Items on this page come from OECD Education at a Glance; OECD PISA 2022 results. Each item links to its own source. All sources, how items are checked.
What does this page lead to?
- Economies & Debt (World Powers): Across countries, higher measured skills go with faster long-run growth (Hanushek and Woessmann), so the education gaps here underlie the output gaps on the Economies page. (moves the same way; decades; global scale) Source: OECD PISA mean scores via World Bank EdStats (CC BY 4.0).
- Students (Immigration): Where a country's universities stand and what they charge shape where foreign students go; the U.S. hosts the most, ahead of the U.K., Canada and Australia. (either way, depending on the cause; years; global scale) Source: OECD Education at a Glance (CC BY 4.0).
- State Education (Education): PISA ranks the U.S. as one country while NAEP shows wide gaps between states; the state page shows where the national average comes from. (either way, depending on the cause; years; economy scale) Source: NAEP, the Nation's Report Card (NAEP Data Service).
- Labor Market (Macro): Employers hire from the skills the school system produces; the U.S. ranks high on adults with degrees but middling on math scores, which shapes the skills new workers bring. (either way, depending on the cause; years; economy scale) Source: OECD Education at a Glance (CC BY 4.0).
What feeds this page?
- Students (Immigration): Countries compete for foreign students (the U.K., Canada and Australia most); tighter U.S. visa rules, or caps abroad, shift where students enrol. (either way, depending on the cause; years; global scale) Source: OECD Education at a Glance (CC BY 4.0).
- Nobel Prizes (World Powers): Science prizes reward work done decades earlier, so a country's laureate count reflects past research funding and universities that the education comparisons measure today. (either way, depending on the cause; decades; global scale) Source: Nobel Prize Outreach, Nobel Prize Master Data API 2.0 (CC0).