Teen social-media use
How often do U.S. high school students use social media?
A national school survey measures frequency. Its answers do not tell us daily hours or use among every teenager.
Data: 2025 YRBS · Source publication: September 2026 · Evidence checked: 2026-10-01
of U.S. high school students reported using social media about once an hour or more often in 2025.
Grades 9–12 · U.S. public, parochial and other private schools · Valid responses, weighted
Source: CDC, Youth Health in Focus; technical Table 35, page 42. 95% confidence interval: 34–38%; valid-response sample: 9,860.
Source: CDC. Original materials are available free of charge on CDC.gov. Use by SocialUsage does not imply endorsement by CDC, HHS or the U.S. Government.
The same threshold, two survey years
CDC's matching comparison was 37% in 2023 and 36% in 2025. The source found no statistically significant change. That does not prove the two population values were exactly equal.
Source: CDC technical Table 44, page 47. Same hourly-or-more measure among U.S. grades 9–12. CDC's design-adjusted comparison: p = 0.4799. These are source-reported estimates and testing, not a SocialUsage significance calculation.
View data, confidence limits and sample
| Survey year | Share | 95% confidence interval | Valid responses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 37% | 35–39% | 15,203 |
| 2025 | 36% | 34–38% | 9,860 |
Whole-percentage precision follows CDC's table. A two-point comparison does not establish a long-term trend.
Read the question carefully
“How often do you use social media?” The selected indicator counts the two highest response categories, about hourly and more often. It includes nonusers and less frequent users in the valid-response denominator.
Source: 2025 YRBS Data User's Guide, Q77, printed page 44; technical Table 1d, page 11.
Why does an older CDC headline say 77%?
The 2023 MMWR report defined frequent use as at least several times a day. That broader threshold yielded 77.0% (95% CI 73.5–80.1%) among high school students. It is not the previous observation for the hourly series above.
Comparing 77% with 36% would mix definitions and falsely suggest a large drop. CDC's like-for-like hourly comparison is 37% to 36%.
How was the national sample collected?
National school survey with three-stage cluster sampling and anonymous self-administration. Published estimates and confidence intervals account for survey weights and complex sampling; missing responses are excluded.
The checked 2025 documents establish the survey year, but not exact fieldwork start and end dates. The school-based population does not cover all people aged 13–19 or every teenager outside school. Confidence limits do not remove recall, nonresponse or coverage errors.
Technical notes, pages 3–6Does hourly use mean an hour of screen time?
No. Frequency and duration answer different questions. An hourly response cannot establish how many minutes a person used social media each day. See the separately scoped U.S. teen time-spent finding for a duration survey.
Can I compare these students with the adult platform survey?
Our Pew briefs describe all U.S. adults aged 18+ and reported ever use of particular platforms. This school survey describes grades 9–12 and frequency of social-media use generally. Differences in populations and questions prevent a common ranking.
Source rights, review and citation
Selected CDC-authored statistical facts, with attribution and source links, under CDC's agency-materials policy. This does not license unrelated third-party photographs, logos or other publishers' materials. No downloadable distribution is offered by this editorial brief. CDC agency-materials policy.
- Source published
- 2026-09-18. Date displayed on CDC's companion Digital Behaviors page. The linked technical tables give publication year 2026 without a day.
- Retrieved / evidence checked
- 2026-10-01 / 2026-10-01
Assisted source verification; no independent human editorial approval is claimed.