View this email in your browser

The states where literacy thrives — and struggles

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that 21% of US adults, or about 43 million people, might struggle with basic literacy tasks, including paraphrasing, comparing information, and making low-level inferences. People with low literacy struggle to understand essential forms like job applications and medical paperwork, limiting their access to services and job opportunities. Schools and government organizations use this survey to create programs and bridge these gaps.

• The survey, called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, defines literacy as “understanding, evaluating, using and engaging with written text to participate in society, to achieve one's goals and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” It categorizes literacy into six levels of proficiency. Seventy-nine percent of respondents were at or above level two.

  
  

• The nation's 2017 average literacy score was 264. Minnesota and New Hampshire had the highest scores, both at 279. Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico ranked the lowest at 252.

  
  

• Sixty-six percent of adults with low literacy skills were born in the US, while 34% were born elsewhere. (Foreign-born adults are 15% of the US population.)

  
  

• From 2012–2015, the US literacy score was 272, above the international average of 267 (based on 39 countries). Japan and Finland have the highest scores: 296 and 288, respectively.

  
  

How literate is your home county? Find out here.

Undocumented immigration at the border

A new report at USAFacts examines border encounters and immigration from months before the pandemic until this past summer. Data from US Border Patrol highlights where people are coming from, how encounters have jumped in the past few years, and more for a better understanding of the challenges of US immigration policy.

• US Customs and Border Protection reported almost 7.7 million border encounters between October 2019 and June 2023. Over 430,000 of these encounters included unaccompanied minors.

  
  

• Border encounters surged by 66% between February and March 2021 and remained comparatively high. Monthly encounters hit a high in December 2022 at over 300,000 people.
  
  

• Approximately 660,000 people evaded apprehension while crossing the border in fiscal year 2021. That's higher than 2014 to 2020 (an average of 160,000 people per year) but lower than any year from 2000 to 2010.

• Between October 2019 and June 2023, more than 30% of people apprehended or denied entry came from Mexico, followed by Honduras (9.2%), Guatemala (9.0%), Venezuela (5.8%), and Cuba (5.8%).

• Of all border encounters between October 2019 and June 2023, 82.8% were along the US-Mexico border. Texas had the most encounters along that border — 49.6% — followed by Arizona at 17.9% and California at 14.0%.
  
  

There's more where that came from: Track border encounters from October 2019 to this summer from more than 20 countries in this new report. Stay tuned for next week's newsletter for data on border recidivism, or get a preview here.

Data behind the news

Today marks 22 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks. This article from the USAFacts archives explores terrorist attacks in the US since 9/11.

Flooding at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. Extreme heat at the US Open in New York. If you're wondering how normal this weather is (or isn't), explore climate metrics here.

How well do you know the facts? Take our quiz to find out.

One last fact

As of May 2022, actors in the US film industry received a median hourly wage of $16.70, while writers and authors received more than triple that at $62.38. Median actors' wages have fallen by 56% since 2013 (after adjusting for inflation). Wages dropped for other entertainers and performers by 7%.