What’s covered?
All 50 states and DC; 3,141 counties and DC; eleven all-adult, age, or education populations. Eight measures cover literacy and numeracy average scores and proficiency shares.
★ 50 STATES + DC3,141 COUNTIES + DC11 POPULATIONSMODEL-BASED ESTIMATES
Research / NCESAmerican Skills Map
THE AMERICAN CAPABILITY ATLAS · CYCLE 1
AMERICA’S SKILLS.
IN FULL VIEW.
Explore adult literacy and numeracy across every state and county in the NCES Skills Map, with the published uncertainty beside every estimate.
PIAAC 2012/2014/2017 · ACS 2013–2017. These estimates describe that period, not conditions today.
51states and DC
3,142county/DC areas
95%credible intervals
REAL PLACES · PUBLISHED ESTIMATES
America’s skills, unpacked.
All adults 16–74 · Literacy · average score · PIAAC 2012/2014/2017 · ACS 2013–2017. Age and education are separate populations, not combined filters.
51 places in this view. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are available.
Literacy · average score
Loading the matched NCES boundaries…
Pinned NCES Skills Map boundaries, matched to this release. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets on the national map. Darker shading means a higher numeric value, not necessarily a better outcome.
SAME MEASURE · SAME POPULATION
Put estimates in context.
Literacy · average score · All adults 16–74. Add up to five places from the detail panel. Comparisons stay available when you explore another state.
No places selected yet. Choose a place in the atlas, then add it to this comparison.
Differences are descriptive. Neither overlapping nor non-overlapping intervals alone supplies the NCES pairwise significance test. No significance claim is made here.
TRACEABLE FROM SOURCE TO SCREEN
Evidence, in the open.
These are model-based estimates, not direct tests of every resident. They describe populations during the source period; they cannot establish an individual’s ability or a current local trend.
Which release?
NCES Cycle 1 estimates using PIAAC 2012/2014/2017 and ACS 2013–2017, with expanded subgroup methods published in 2022. This is not the 2023 Cycle 2 national survey.
What does uncertainty mean?
The bounds are the published 95% credible interval under the NCES model. Wider intervals indicate less precision. Publisher cautions and adjustments remain attached to estimates and exports.
What are the limits?
Education groups cover adults 16–74. Age and education cannot be combined here. Skill shares may not total 100% because of rounding or source adjustments. No causal, individual, or significance claims follow from these maps.
OFFICIAL SOURCES · SNAPSHOT RETRIEVED OCTOBER 8, 2026NCES Skills Map ↗Methods and resources ↗Source manifest + hashesOfficial workbook