High School Benchmarks

September 17, 2026

This fourteenth annual report provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes. These data are the most relevant benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating progress in assisting students to make the high school to college transition and earn a credential in a timely manner.

The current report examines first-fall (immediate) college enrollment for the high school graduating class of 2025, persistence for the class of 2023, and completion for the class of 2019. Outcomes are disaggregated across high school income, minority, and locale-centric characterizations.

The High School Benchmarks report is presented as a data dashboard-only publication. Data contributing to these analyses are available for download.

About this report

The High School Benchmarks report series is designed for secondary education practitioners and policymakers to be able to benchmark key postsecondary outcomes of their high school graduates as measured by enrollment, first-year persistence, and eventual completion of a postsecondary credential. Secondary education practitioners can use these benchmarks to evaluate and monitor progress in assisting students to make the transition from high school to college. The student outcomes are disaggregated by high school characteristics based on income level, minority enrollment, and locale to ensure that the postsecondary outcomes provided can be relevant to the specific needs and characteristics of different types of high schools.

National Highlights

Immediate fall enrollment rates remained steady between the 2024 and 2025 high school graduating classes, fluctuating less than 1 percentage point (pp) across all high school characteristics.
Enrollment within two years of graduating high school stayed steady or increased between the 2022 and 2023 high school graduates across all high school characteristics. Notably, enrollment rates within two years of graduating increased the most among graduates from high-poverty schools (2.1pp).
Persistence Rates from the first to second year of college for high school graduates between 2022 and 2023 remained steady or increased across all high school characteristics ranging from +0.3pp (Urban high schools) to +1.7pp (High-poverty high schools).
Across all high school characteristics, immediate fall enrollment rates were higher at in-state colleges than out-of-state colleges, but second year persistence rates were higher at out-of-state colleges than in-state.
Graduates from low-poverty high schools were nearly 3 times more likely to complete STEM degrees within six years than their counterparts at high-poverty high schools (22.3% and 7.5% respectively).