How Common Is School Bullying, Really?

In the 2021–22 school year, 19.2 percent of US students ages 12–18 in grades 6–12 reported being bullied during school. That figure comes from the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, published by the National Center for Education Statistics. StopBullying.gov, the federal bullying site run by the Department of Health and Human Services, cites the same survey on its definition page, and pairs it with a second federal source: the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, in which 19 percent of high school students reported being bullied on school property in the past year.

Those two numbers look like the same answer. They are not. Treat them as parallel baselines, not as a single blended rate.

What the federal definition requires

StopBullying.gov defines bullying as unwanted, aggressive behaviour among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance, and that is repeated or has the potential to be repeated. Power can mean physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity. The behaviour can be verbal, social, or physical.

The School Crime Supplement asks about a list of specific acts: being made fun of, called names, or insulted; having rumors spread; having private information, photos, or videos shared hurtfully; being threatened; being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; being pressured to do things; being excluded from activities, social media, or other communications on purpose; or having property destroyed on purpose. "During school" in that survey includes the school building, school property, the bus, travel to and from school, and phone, internet, or social media use during the 2021–22 school year.

StopBullying.gov also reports the stricter cuts from that survey: about 15.4 percent of students were bullied with a power imbalance, 14.5 percent repeatedly, and 12.7 percent with both. Among students who reported any bullying, NCES Table 1 shows 66.6 percent experienced both repetition and a power imbalance. The 19.2 percent headline is real, and it is broader than "meets every part of the definition."

Who reports it, and when

In the same School Crime Supplement table, girls reported bullying more often than boys: 21.8 percent versus 16.7 percent. By grade, the peak sat in middle school. Sixth through eighth grade were each above 25 percent. High school grades were lower, with the lowest point at 10.4 percent in 11th grade.

That pattern matters when a parent is comparing their ninth grader to a younger sibling, or when a news story cites a middle-school figure as if it applied to every teenager. The survey is national. It does not tell you the rate inside one hallway.

What kind of bullying shows up most often

Among students who reported being bullied, the most common forms in NCES Table 3 were social and verbal, not physical. Rumors: 68.3 percent. Made fun of, called names, or insulted: 62.3 percent. Pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on: 25.5 percent. Excluded from activities, social media, or communications: 19.4 percent. Threatened with harm: 17.2 percent. Private information, photos, or videos shared: 13.2 percent. Property destroyed on purpose: 7.2 percent.

Students could mark more than one type, so the percentages add to more than 100. Girls in the bullied group were especially likely to report rumors (76.4 percent). Boys were more likely to report physical contact (36.1 percent). If you are waiting for a bruise before you take the word "bullying" seriously, the federal type breakdown cuts against that habit.

The other federal survey

The CDC's 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey results cover high school students nationwide. On that survey, the share who were bullied at school rose from 15 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2023. StopBullying.gov summarises the 2023 finding as 19 percent bullied on school property in the 12 months before the survey.

That is a different age band (grades 9–12, not 6–12), a different reference period (past year, not the school-year "during school" window), and a different question. Use it to cross-check the high-school end of the School Crime Supplement, not to replace the middle-school numbers.

What a percentage cannot decide for you

StopBullying.gov is plain that there is no federal law that specifically applies to bullying. All states have laws requiring schools to respond to bullying. When bullying is based on race or ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion, it can overlap with harassment that schools are legally obligated to address under federal civil-rights rules. Those paths are described on the site's laws page.

A worked example, for illustration only: Nadia's father saw a news graphic that said "1 in 5 teens are bullied" and assumed his quiet eighth grader was statistically ordinary, so the school would treat it as background noise. The School Crime Supplement rate for 8th grade was 25.1 percent that year, which is common enough to be widespread and still specific enough that a dated pattern of rumors plus exclusion is something a school policy can address. Common is not the same as unimportant, and a national rate is not a local decision.

What this page cannot settle

Whether your district's definition matches the School Crime Supplement item list. Whether one rumor thread counts as repetition under your state law. Whether the behaviour at your school is rising or falling this term. The federal sources give you two survey baselines, a definition with stricter cuts underneath the headline, and a type breakdown that puts rumors and insults ahead of physical contact. Local policy and a dated record still decide what happens next.