Reading scores in the United States have been falling. Not just since the pandemic — for over a decade. The most recent national assessment, released in early 2025, showed reading scores at their lowest point since the early 1990s for both 4th and 8th graders. That's the headline. The deeper story is in who's losing ground, why, and what it means for the children growing up in this trend right now.

These are the reading statistics that matter in 2026 — pulled from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Pew Research Center, UNESCO, and peer-reviewed research. If your child has reading difficulties or learning differences and you're wondering what to do about it, evidence-based ABA therapy services can support reading-related skills like attention, instruction-following, and language development as part of a broader individualized program.

Here's the direct answer: As of 2024 NAEP data (the most recent available), only about a third of U.S. 4th graders and 8th graders are reading at or above the NAEP Proficient level. National reading scores have declined every assessment cycle since 2019 — five points lower at both grade levels than in 2019. One-third of 8th graders now score below NAEP Basic — the highest percentage ever recorded. The decline is most severe among lower-performing students, with the gap between top and bottom widening for over a decade. Globally, the literacy rate has improved from 12% in 1820 to roughly 87% in 2022, but regional disparities remain significant. Reading habits among adults have also declined, with 48.5% of U.S. adults reading at least one book in 2022, down from 52.7% in 2017.

NAEP 2024: The Most Important Reading Statistics Right Now

The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, released January 2025, is the single most important set of reading statistics available for U.S. children. Conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NAEP measures reading and math performance among 4th and 8th graders nationally.

The 2024 results — at a glance:

• 4th grade reading scores dropped 2 points from 2022
• 8th grade reading scores dropped 2 points from 2022
• Both grade levels are 5 points below 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels
• 33% of 8th graders score below NAEP Basic — the highest percentage ever recorded
• 40% of 4th graders score below NAEP Basic
• No state saw reading gains in either grade compared to 2022
• Only Louisiana exceeded its pre-pandemic 4th-grade reading achievement
• Only Atlanta Public Schools (a TUDA district) had significant 4th grade reading gains compared to 2022

What "below Basic" actually means:A 4th grader scoring below Basic in reading "lacks important reading comprehension skills" — for example, they "might not be able to determine the main idea or purpose of an informational text." An 8th grader scoring below Basic likely cannot identify basic literary elements such as the order of events, character traits, or main ideas in a text.

The trend:NAEP Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath: "NAEP has reported declines in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we're facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19."

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The Reading Decline Started Before the Pandemic

A common misconception is that reading scores dropped because of COVID-19 school closures. The data tells a different story — declines began in 2019, before pandemic disruption.

The longer trend:

• Reading scores have been declining for approximately 10 years
• In reading, students in both 4th and 8th grades now score about where they were in the early 1990s
• The growing gap between higher- and lower-performing students has been a persistent trend for over a decade

Why this matters: The pandemic accelerated an existing decline. Recovery efforts focused on pandemic learning loss alone won't address the structural reading challenges that predated 2020. The patterns visible in NAEP suggest broader issues with reading instruction, student engagement, and home reading habits that compound over time.

Reading Statistics by Demographic: The Widening Gap

One of the most important findings in 2024 NAEP data is that the decline is not evenly distributed — it is concentrated among already-struggling students.

The score gap on a 500-point NAEP scale:

• The lowest-performing students score approximately 100 points below the highest-performing students in 2024
• In reading, lower-scoring students saw bigger declines than their higher-scoring peers at both grade levels
• In 8th grade, Hispanic students saw a 5-point decline in reading and a 3-point decline in math compared to 2022

Socioeconomic patterns:

• Almost 70% of low-income 4th graders struggle to meet basic reading proficiency
• 82% of low-income 4th graders read below proficient levels
• 31% of adults earning under $30,000 read no books in a typical year, compared to 15% for those earning $75,000 or more
• 50% of unemployed individuals aged 16–21 lack functional literacy

State-level reading proficiency:

• Massachusetts has the highest percentage of proficient readers in the country (56%)
• New Mexico has the lowest percentage (21%)
• Between 2019 and 2024, only Louisiana saw an increase in 4th grade reading scores; 38 states saw decreases

Adult Reading Statistics 2026: A Decline in Daily Habits

The decline isn't only among children. Adult reading patterns have shifted significantly in recent years.

U.S. adults — what the numbers show:

• 48.5% of adults reported reading at least one book in 2022, down from 52.7% in 2017
• Average daily personal reading time for adults aged 15+ is approximately 15 minutes per day
• 44% of U.S. adults reported reading no books in 2023
• Only 36% of adults aged 18–24 engaged with literature in 2014, with continuing decline among younger adults
• 91% of Americans aged 18–29 still engage with books in some form, but reading frequency is declining among this group

Adult literacy concerns:

• 14% of U.S. adults are functionally illiterate — cannot read above a basic level
• 21% of adults read below a 5th-grade level
• Only 13% of U.S. adults are considered proficient readers — able to understand complex and abstract information
• 130 million U.S. adults read below a 6th-grade level

Reading preference data (Pew Research):

• 65% of Americans prefer print over digital books
• 77% of women read at least one book per year, vs. 67% of men
• 80% of Americans say they read for pleasure
• Average American reads approximately 12 books per year

Global Reading Statistics: Progress and Disparity

Globally, literacy progress has been remarkable over two centuries — but disparities remain stark.

The big-picture trend:

• Global literacy rate in 1820: 12%
• Global literacy rate in 2022: approximately 87%
• The share of illiterate adults globally has decreased from 88% to less than 14% over the past two centuries

Country-level reading habits:

• China: 8 hours 27 minutes of reading per week — among the most active reading populations globally
• Canada: average adult reads 17 books per year
• Germany: average adult reads approximately 48 books per year
• France: average adult reads 7 books per year
• Japan: average adult reads 4 books per year
• South Korea: average 10 minutes of daily reading — among lowest in OECD
• India: average 10 minutes of daily reading

Regional disparities:

• Brazil: 93% literacy rate
• China: 97% literacy rate
• India: 74% literacy rate
• Sub-Saharan Africa: lowest literacy rates globally; some countries report fewer than 1 in 3 adults able to read and write

Service Match for Reading and Learning Support

Reading struggles in autistic children often connect to broader skill challenges — language processing, attention, sensory regulation, and instruction-following — that compound difficulties with formal reading instruction in school. Apex ABA's school-based ABA therapy supports children where these challenges actually show up: in the classroom. We coordinate with teachers and IEP teams to address reading-adjacent skills as part of an individualized program.

Reading and Children: What Research Shows About Why It Matters

The reading statistics on children's outcomes are some of the most well-documented in education research.

Reading volume and exposure:

• Children who are read to for 20 minutes per day are exposed to approximately 1.8 million words per year
• Children who read for 20 minutes daily often outperform 90% of peers academically
• Students who read for pleasure show higher academic achievement than those who do not

Reading and brain development:

• Reading fiction has been associated with better social cognition — the ability to understand and empathize with others' emotions and perspectives
• Reading before bed can reduce stress and improve sleep quality
• Children read to at home show better language development and literacy skills than peers who are not

Reading and academic outcomes:

• Students who read for fun daily perform better in school than peers who do not
• Students reading more than 15 minutes per day show significant improvement in reading fluency
• The more students read, the better their reading skills become — a documented positive feedback loop

Reading and Neurodivergent Children: A Growing Area of Research

Reading statistics for neurodivergent children — including autistic children — show distinct patterns that conventional reading metrics often miss.

Reading challenges associated with autism:

• Approximately 30–60% of autistic children meet criteria for hyperlexia (advanced word recognition with limited comprehension)
• Reading comprehension is frequently a documented challenge even when decoding skills are strong
• Sensory and attention regulation directly affect a child's ability to engage with reading instruction

Reading and stimming:A common observation among caregivers and teachers is that some autistic children read better while engaging in self-regulating behaviors — rocking, fidgeting, or other forms of stimming. This connects to broader research on why do autistic people rock and engage in repetitive movements: stimming serves a sensory regulation function that can support, rather than interfere with, focus and learning. Research on stimming behaviors confirms that suppressing stimming can disrupt cognitive engagement, including engagement with reading.

For parents and educators specifically interested in the question of why do autistic people rock during reading or other focused activities, the answer connects to the same neurological reward and sensory regulation research that informs broader stimming science: rhythmic self-stimulation provides predictable sensory input that can free up cognitive resources for the actual task at hand. This is one reason high-quality reading instruction for autistic children often allows movement and sensory tools rather than requiring stillness.

The relationship between stimming, focus, and reading is well-documented in autism research. For more on the specific topic of why do autistic people rock, Apex ABA has covered the neurology and function of this behavior in a separate blog post.

What Reading Decline Means for Children Today

Several practical implications emerge from the 2024 reading statistics:

1. Standardized reading instruction is not enough for many children. With 33% of 8th graders below NAEP Basic, the existing system is not meeting the needs of a substantial portion of students. Children with learning differences, attention challenges, or sensory processing differences are particularly likely to fall in this group.

2. Reading volume at home matters enormously. The 1.8 million-word exposure gap between children who are read to 20 minutes daily and those who aren't compounds over years. Home reading habits remain one of the strongest predictors of literacy outcomes — and one of the most actionable interventions for parents.

3. Early identification of reading difficulties matters more than ever. Children who fall behind in early elementary years rarely recover without targeted intervention. The growing gap between higher- and lower-performing students suggests that early intervention systems are not adequately catching struggling readers.

4. Evidence-based supports work. Programs that focus on systematic phonics instruction, structured literacy, and individualized intervention show stronger outcomes than generalized approaches. For children with autism and other learning differences, this often means coordinated support from school, home, and outside therapy providers including ABA-based services that address learning-adjacent skills.

Conclusion: What Families Can Do With These Reading Statistics

The reading statistics for 2026 are sobering — but they're not deterministic for any individual child. What the data confirms is that the current system isn't working for many students, and that proactive home and outside-school engagement matters more than ever.

For families of autistic children or children with learning differences, this means recognizing that broader skill challenges — attention, language processing, sensory regulation, instruction-following — directly affect reading outcomes. Addressing these underlying skills through individualized, evidence-based intervention is a meaningful path forward.

If you're navigating reading or learning challenges with an autistic child in North Carolina, Maryland, or Georgia, get in touch with our BCBAs to find out if ABA therapy is right for your child — Apex ABA verifies insurance upfront and most families start within 2–4 weeks.

Sources

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/

https://www.nagb.gov/powered-by-naep/the-2024-nations-report-card/10-takeaways-from-2024-naep-results.html

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/nation/groups/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225015494

https://lifespan.ku.edu/explainer-challenges-reading-autistic-students

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