How Asia Took Over the Global Math Rankings (2003-2025)

How Student Debt Varies Across the U.S.

Student debt can follow borrowers long after graduation, with balances shaped by factors ranging from education levels to where borrowers live.

This map shows average federal student loan debt per borrower using Federal Student Aid figures as of March 2026, compiled via the Education Data Initiative. Balances include principal and interest but exclude private student loans.

Where Student Loan Balances Are Highest

More than 40 million individuals, or about one in six American adults, have student debt today. Total federal student loan debt has surpassed $1.8 trillion, making it roughly comparable to the size of South Korea’s economy.

Washington, D.C., stands apart with an average balance of $55,846. Maryland, in a distant second, has the highest average among the 50 states at $45,589, followed by Georgia ($43,813), Virginia ($41,916), and Florida ($41,162).

The following data table ranks states by their average federal debt per borrower.

States in the country’s interior tend to have lower student debt averages. North Dakota ($30,543) is lowest nationwide, followed by South Dakota ($31,705) and Iowa ($31,885).

Geography can be misleading, however, because these figures are based on a borrower’s state of residence rather than the location of the college they attended. A state’s position therefore reflects the debt carried by people living there, not simply the tuition charged by local universities.

Why D.C. Stands Out

The nation’s capital has an average balance roughly $10,000 higher than the nearest state. One likely factor is D.C.’s high concentration of advanced-degree holders. The District leads the nation in higher education, including graduate education, as well as income, supported in part by high-paying government-adjacent private-sector jobs.

Two-thirds of adults in D.C. have a bachelor’s degree, while more than a third of residents aged 25 and older hold a graduate or professional degree. Meanwhile, median household income tops $109,000, well ahead of any state.

Graduate education, including master’s degrees and law school, can add another layer of borrowing after a bachelor’s degree. Borrowers with more education are more likely to carry larger student loan balances, meaning D.C.’s outlier figure may partly reflect its highly educated population and greater exposure to graduate-school borrowing.

Bigger Balances, Bigger Paychecks?

The D.C. example points to a broader consideration: loan size is only one part of the repayment challenge. Income, employment, and degree completion also matter.

Borrowers with less education are more likely to fall behind on student loan payments, even though they have often taken out less debt than those with more advanced degrees. A smaller loan can still be difficult to repay without the earnings that a completed degree may help provide.

This is important context given that more than 40% of students who attend college never graduate. That leaves millions of Americans carrying student debt without the potential earnings benefit of a completed degree.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To explore which degrees are associated with the most debt, check out Ranked: Median Student Debt for a U.S. College Degree on Voronoi.

How Countries Compare on Science Scores in 2026

How do science skills compare around the world?

This graphic ranks participating countries and economies by the average science scores of 15-year-old students in the latest PISA 2025 study, published in September 2026.

PISA assesses students in mathematics, reading, and science. Its science assessment goes beyond recalling facts, testing how well students can explain scientific phenomena, evaluate investigations and evidence, and assess scientific information for decision-making.

More than 760,000 students took part in PISA 2025 across 91 countries and economies, representing roughly 33 million 15-year-olds worldwide.

China in this ranking represents the participating jurisdictions of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang.

Asia Dominates the Top of the Ranking

Behind China and Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, and Japan round out the top five, while South Korea ranks seventh.

Estonia is the only European country among the top seven, with an average science score of 527.

What Stands Out About Asia’s Top Performers?

Several of the highest-scoring Asian education systems combine strong academic expectations with learning environments that support consistent performance. China, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea all ranked well above the OECD average in science while also performing strongly in mathematics and reading.

One factor may be fewer classroom distractions. In China, Japan, and South Korea, fewer than 10% of students said classmates were distracted by digital devices during most or every science lesson, compared with 28% across OECD countries. The OECD also found that schools with clear rules around smartphone use generally reported less digital distraction.

These systems also produce a larger share of students with advanced skills. In Singapore, for example, 26% of students reached the top two proficiency levels in science, compared with just 7% across OECD countries.

Some high-performing Asian systems also combine strong results with relatively small links between students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and their science performance, suggesting that their results are not driven solely by affluent students.

Outside school, intensive tutoring and strong academic expectations are also common in parts of East Asia. However, PISA does not isolate these factors as the cause of the region’s higher scores, making it difficult to attribute the performance gap to any single practice.

U.S. Scores Above the OECD Average

The United States scores 502, compared with the OECD average of 482.

Canada ranks ninth at 510, while Australia and New Zealand each score 509.

Together, these English-speaking countries fall within a relatively narrow eight-point range, though all remain below the highest-scoring Asian education systems.

Estonia Leads Europe

Estonia ranks sixth overall with an average science score of 527, making it the highest-scoring European country in the dataset.

The United Kingdom follows among European countries at 511, while Finland scores 504 and Switzerland 501.

Farther down the ranking, many large European economies sit close to the OECD average of 482, including Germany at 486, France and Italy at 483, and Spain at 477.

The OECD notes that several small score differences are not statistically significant, meaning nearby positions in the ranking should not always be interpreted as meaningful performance gaps.

More broadly, PISA 2025 found that roughly three-quarters of students across OECD countries reached at least baseline proficiency in science.

At the same time, the OECD average science score fell to its lowest level recorded in the assessment, continuing a broader decline in student performance.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Countries by Education Spending as % of GDP on Voronoi.