The Basic Skills Report Card 2026

Schools grade students on reading and math every term. Adults are rarely graded on the skills that keep them safe, healthy and in control of their money.

This report card grades adults in the US, with Canadian figures where an official source exists. It covers nine basics: swimming, sleep, exercise, CPR, changing a tire, close friendship, reading, money and the fine print. Reading is the only one that schools test routinely. The rest are taught unevenly, if at all.

Every grade comes from published data and one simple rule. The result is one B, one C, one D and six Fs.

How we graded

We used a common school grading scale. If 90% or more of adults meet the standard, the subject gets an A. From 80% to 89% is a B, 70% to 79% is a C and 60% to 69% is a D. Below 60% is an F.

For each subject we chose one clear standard, such as "can do all five basic water skills" or "sleeps at least 7 hours". The pass rate is the share of adults who meet it.

We also note how each number was gathered. Two come from tests, where people had to answer questions correctly. Seven come from surveys, where people describe themselves. Self-reports can run high, because people tend to give answers that sound good. If so, a self-reported F may be generous.

The report card

Here is the full card. Where the same source has an earlier comparable figure, the trend column compares the latest figure with it.

Body: sleep and exercise

Sleep gets a D. In 2024, 30.5% of US adults said they sleep less than 7 hours on average in a 24-hour period, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey (self-reported). That leaves 69.5% who clear the bar.

Teenagers do far worse. In 2023, only 23% of US high school students got at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night, down from 32% in 2013. That is an F, from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (self-reported).

Canadian adults score higher. In 2022 to 2024, 76.8% reported sleeping the recommended amount: 7 to 9 hours for ages 18 to 64, and 7 to 8 hours from age 65 (self-reported). That is a C, from the Public Health Agency of Canada. The two countries define the target differently, so treat the gap with care.

Exercise gets an F. The US guideline asks for two things each week: at least 150 minutes of moderate activity (or 75 minutes of vigorous activity), plus muscle-strengthening work on at least 2 days. In 2024, 26.4% of US adults said they met both in their free time, up slightly from 25.2% in 2020 (self-reported).

Aerobic activity on its own is closer to half. In 2024, 47.2% of US adults said they met the 150-minute target in their free time. In Canada, where activity was measured by a device rather than asked about, 46.2% of adults met it in 2022 to 2024. Both are still Fs.

Safety: swimming and CPR

Swimming gets an F. The American Red Cross lists five water skills: step or jump into water over your head, come back up and float or tread water for one minute, turn around in a full circle to find an exit, swim 25 yards to the exit, and get out of the water (in a pool, without the ladder).

In the Red Cross survey of 1,024 US adults in April 2014, 80% said they could swim. But only 56% of those self-described swimmers said they could do all five skills. Overall, 54% either could not swim or lacked at least one skill (self-reported). The Red Cross reads this as people thinking they swim better than they do.

This data is now 12 years old, but the risk has not gone away. The CDC estimates about 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths in the US each year, based on 2012 to 2021 data.

CPR gets an F, though it is improving. In 2024 survey research for the American Heart Association, 39% of US adults said they felt confident they could perform some type of CPR. The AHA says that is up from 33% around January 2023. The online survey covered 1,266 adults aged 18 to 80 (self-reported). Feeling confident is not the same as doing it correctly.

The skill matters most at home. The AHA says more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside hospitals in the US each year, and nearly three in four of them happen in homes.

Hands: changing a tire

Changing a tire gets an F. In a May 2025 FinanceBuzz online survey of 1,000 US adults, 48% of drivers said they could change a car tire without help. Only 36% said they could change their own oil. Both figures are self-reported.

This one is easy to practise at home. You need a flat driveway, the car's manual and the jack and spare from the trunk. Some newer cars carry a tire repair kit instead of a spare, so check first.

People: close friends

Friendship is the only B, and it is falling. In a May 2021 survey of 2,019 US adults by the Survey Center on American Life, 12% said they had no close friends. In a 1990 Gallup survey, the figure was 3%.

Men were more likely than women to report having no close friends. In 2021, 15% of men said they had none, which the Survey Center describes as a fivefold increase since 1990. Among women it was 10%.

These figures are self-reported, and the 1990 survey was done by phone, which can change how people answer. Still, in 2021, only 12% of adults said they had no close friends, which gives a pass rate of 88%. That is a B, with the trend pointing down.

Reading, money and the fine print

Literacy gets a C. This grade comes from a skills test, not self-ratings. In the 2023 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), 28% of US adults aged 16 to 65 scored at Level 1 or below in literacy, the bottom two levels on the test. In 2017 it was 19%.

The National Center for Education Statistics advises caution when comparing the two years. The 2023 test was given entirely on a tablet, while earlier rounds allowed paper, and scoring changed. Numeracy was weaker: 34% scored at Level 1 or below in 2023.

Money gets an F. The TIAA Institute–GFLEC Personal Finance Index asks 28 questions on earning, spending, saving, investing, borrowing, insurance, risk and where to find good information. In January 2026, a sample of 3,602 US adults answered 47% correctly on average.

“Each year, U.S. adults have correctly answered only about one-half of the 28 index questions, on average.” — TIAA Institute–GFLEC Personal Finance Index, 2026

It has never topped 52%. Questions about risk scored lowest, at 36%. A quarter of adults (25%) got 7 or fewer questions right, up from 20% in 2017.

The fine print gets an F. In a 2019 Pew Research Center survey of 4,272 US adults, 97% said they are asked to approve privacy policies. Only 9% said they always read them first, and 13% said they often do. Another 36% said they never read them (self-reported).

What would raise each grade

• Swimming: take adult lessons until you can do all five Red Cross water skills in water over your head.
• Sleep: keep a fixed wake-up time every day and charge your phone outside the bedroom.
• Exercise: add two strength sessions a week to any walking you already do. Push-ups and squats count.
• CPR: learn hands-only CPR. Call 911, then push hard and fast in the middle of the chest, 100 to 120 times a minute, about 2 inches (5 cm) deep. 911 works in both the US and Canada.
• Changing a tire: do one practice change at home this month, using the jack points shown in your car's manual.
• Friendship: put one repeating plan on the calendar with one friend, such as a weekly walk or call.
• Literacy: read something longer than a screen every day. If reading is hard, ask your local library about adult reading programs.
• Money: start with risk, the weakest area on the index. Learn why spreading savings across many investments lowers risk.
• Fine print: before you sign up for anything with a monthly fee, search the terms for the word "cancel" and read that part.

Methods note

Sources. Each figure comes from the organization that collected it. Links are listed below.

Pass rates. Where a source reports the share who fail, we subtract it from 100. For money, the pass rate is the average share of questions answered correctly. For literacy, it is the share scoring above Level 1. For the fine print, it is the share who read privacy policies always or often.

Limits. Seven of the nine grades rest on self-reported surveys, and two are old: swimming dates from 2014 and the fine print from 2019. The surveys use different samples and methods, so compare subjects with care.

Canada. This edition includes Canadian figures for sleep and exercise, from the Public Health Agency of Canada. For the other seven subjects, the grade uses US data only.