Chronic Absenteeism by State (CRDC 2021-22)
In the 2021-22 federal data, 29.7% of US public-school students were chronically absent, about 2.0 times the pre-pandemic norm. PlainSchools ranks all 50 reporting state systems on the post-pandemic attendance crisis, drawn from the federal Civil Rights Data Collection.
Research period:
Key finding
Across the 86,141 US public schools reporting to the federal Civil Rights Data Collection for 2021-22, the average school had 29.7% of its students chronically absent, missing at least 10% of school days. That is roughly 2.0 times the pre-pandemic national norm of about 15%, and it left 24 of 50 state systems above the 30% line that researchers treat as an extreme-absenteeism threshold.
The crisis is deepest in Alaska, where the average school reports 53.0% chronic absence, and shallowest in New Jersey at 16.2%. Because chronic absence is among the strongest predictors of falling behind, where a student lives shaped how much instruction the pandemic cost them.
Research question
Chronic absenteeism, missing 10% or more of school days, is one of the strongest predictors of academic outcomes and roughly doubled after the pandemic. Across the 50 state systems with enough reporting schools, where is the attendance crisis deepest?
Methodology
For each state, the figure is the average across its reporting public schools of the share of students who were chronically absent, missing at least 10% of school days, as recorded in the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) for 2021-22. A state needs at least 30 reporting schools to be ranked, and only schools with a valid 0 to 100 rate are counted.
2021-22 was the first full federal collection after pandemic disruption and is generally regarded as the peak of the chronic-absenteeism crisis; rates have improved since. The 15% reference is an approximate pre-pandemic national figure used for scale, not a per-state baseline. Figures are recomputed live from the database on every request, so nothing here is hand-entered.
See the methodology page for source vintage and full details, and the chronic absenteeism guide for what the measure means.
States with the deepest attendance crisis
Top 10 by average share of students chronically absent (CRDC 2021-22); higher is worse
All 50 state systems, ranked
Average share of students chronically absent, highest first. Every state links to its full profile; figures reflect the 2021-22 CRDC.
| # | State | Students chronically absent | Severity | Schools reporting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | 53.0% | Extreme | 432 |
| 2 | Arizona | 49.7% | Extreme | 1,425 |
| 3 | Hawaii | 45.3% | Extreme | 282 |
| 4 | Michigan | 41.7% | Extreme | 3,033 |
| 5 | Oregon | 41.1% | Extreme | 1,192 |
| 6 | District of Columbia | 40.8% | Extreme | 217 |
| 7 | New Mexico | 39.7% | Extreme | 826 |
| 8 | New York | 39.0% | Extreme | 4,482 |
| 9 | Nevada | 37.9% | Extreme | 654 |
| 10 | Vermont | 37.7% | Extreme | 285 |
| 11 | Montana | 36.9% | Extreme | 732 |
| 12 | West Virginia | 36.9% | Extreme | 635 |
| 13 | Wyoming | 36.4% | Extreme | 305 |
| 14 | New Hampshire | 35.7% | Extreme | 479 |
| 15 | Rhode Island | 35.6% | Extreme | 301 |
| 16 | California | 35.1% | Extreme | 9,088 |
| 17 | Colorado | 34.8% | Extreme | 1,235 |
| 18 | Florida | 33.8% | Extreme | 3,458 |
| 19 | Ohio | 33.6% | Extreme | 3,252 |
| 20 | Maine | 33.2% | Extreme | 539 |
| 21 | Utah | 32.9% | Extreme | 939 |
| 22 | North Carolina | 32.6% | Extreme | 2,579 |
| 23 | Maryland | 31.9% | Extreme | 1,314 |
| 24 | Mississippi | 30.9% | Extreme | 857 |
| 25 | Minnesota | 29.8% | High | 1,855 |
| 26 | Illinois | 29.1% | High | 3,649 |
| 27 | Delaware | 28.2% | High | 213 |
| 28 | Georgia | 27.1% | High | 2,226 |
| 29 | South Carolina | 27.1% | High | 1,150 |
| 30 | Massachusetts | 26.9% | High | 1,708 |
| 31 | Kentucky | 26.4% | High | 1,236 |
| 32 | Arkansas | 26.1% | High | 1,031 |
| 33 | Texas | 25.9% | High | 8,078 |
| 34 | Pennsylvania | 25.6% | High | 2,821 |
| 35 | Kansas | 25.5% | High | 1,285 |
| 36 | Iowa | 24.5% | High | 1,261 |
| 37 | Wisconsin | 24.3% | High | 1,973 |
| 38 | Alabama | 23.5% | High | 1,329 |
| 39 | Indiana | 23.3% | High | 1,765 |
| 40 | Tennessee | 23.2% | High | 1,740 |
| 41 | Connecticut | 21.7% | High | 981 |
| 42 | Missouri | 21.4% | High | 2,086 |
| 43 | North Dakota | 21.2% | High | 457 |
| 44 | Oklahoma | 21.1% | High | 1,732 |
| 45 | South Dakota | 20.9% | High | 577 |
| 46 | Washington | 19.6% | Moderate | 2,092 |
| 47 | Virginia | 19.4% | Moderate | 1,819 |
| 48 | Nebraska | 19.0% | Moderate | 901 |
| 49 | Louisiana | 18.4% | Moderate | 1,287 |
| 50 | New Jersey | 16.2% | Moderate | 2,348 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), 2021-22. Severity tiers (High 20%+, Extreme 30%+) follow common attendance-research convention. U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), 2021-22. Severity tiers (High 20%+, Extreme 30%+) follow common attendance-research convention.
What the data shows
A doubling, not a blip
At 29.7% nationally, the typical school saw chronic absence land near 2.0 times its pre-pandemic level. 24 states averaged above the 30% extreme threshold and 50 of 50 sat above the rough 15% pre-pandemic norm. Because students who miss this much school are far more likely to fall behind in reading and math, the 2021-22 spike is widely treated as a core driver of pandemic learning loss.
The map is uneven
The gap between Alaska at 53.0% and New Jersey at 16.2% is wide enough that students in different states effectively lived through different-sized crises. State attendance policy, pandemic-era school-closure length, and how each state records absence all feed the spread, which is why within-state comparisons (district to district, school to school) are usually more reliable than cross-state ones.
Why it matters now
Chronic absence is a leading indicator: it shows up before grades and test scores do, and it is something schools can act on. Rates have come down from this 2021-22 peak, but recovery is uneven, so a state or district profile is the place to check where things stand today. Read this ranking as a map of where the hole was deepest, and the school and district pages for the local picture.
What this analysis cannot tell us
Chronic absenteeism here is the average, across a state's reporting schools, of the share of students who missed at least 10% of school days in the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection, the first full federal collection after pandemic disruption and likely the peak of the crisis. It weights each reporting school equally rather than by enrollment, and states define and record attendance differently, so cross-state comparisons carry more noise than within-state ones. It does not separate excused from unexcused absence or capture the reasons (illness, transportation, housing instability, disengagement). The 15% pre-pandemic reference is an approximate national figure, not a per-state baseline. Rates have generally improved since 2021-22, so treat this as a snapshot of the peak, not the current level.
States with the strongest attendance
The 10 states with the lowest average chronic absenteeism (CRDC 2021-22); lower is better
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), 2021-22: https://ocrdata.ed.gov/
- Attendance Works, chronic-absence research and severity tiers: https://www.attendanceworks.org/
Cite this analysis
PlainSchools. (2026). Chronic Absenteeism by State (CRDC 2021-22). https://plainschools.com/research/chronic-absenteeism-by-state/