About 3,651,000 high school students are expected to graduate during the 2017–18 school year, including 3,296,000 public school graduates and 355,000 private school graduates. High school graduates include only recipients of diplomas, not recipients of equivalency credentials. The 2017–18 projection of high school graduates exceeds the high point during the baby boom era in 1975–76, when 3,142,000 students earned diplomas.
The averaged freshman graduation rate is an estimate of the percentage of students in the incoming freshman class who graduate 4 years later. In 2012–13, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 81.9 percent for public schools. A new graduation rate, known as the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR), measures the percentage of public high school students who graduate on time. The U.S. Department of Education first published the national ACGR in 2010–11. In 2015–16, the ACGR was 84 percent, up from 79 percent in 2010–11 (see Digest of Education Statistics, 2017, table 219.46).
| High school graduates, in thousands | ||||
| School year | Total | Public | Private | Averaged freshman graduation rate for public schools (percent) |
| 1975–76 | 3,142 | 2,837 | 305 | 74.9 |
| 1979–80 | 3,042 | 2,748 | 295 | 71.5 |
| 1989–901 | 2,574 | 2,320 | 254 | 73.6 |
| 1999–20001 | 2,833 | 2,554 | 279 | 71.7 |
| 2002–03 | 3,016 | 2,720 | 296 | 73.9 |
| 2009–101 | 3,439 | 3,128 | 311 | 78.2 |
| 2010–11 | 3,450 | 3,144 | 306 | 79.6 |
| 2011–121 | 3,455 | 3,149 | 306 | 80.8 |
| 2012–13 | 3,478 | 3,169 | 309 | 81.9 |
| 2013–142 | 3,480 | 3,168 | 311 | — |
| 2014–153 | 3,530 | 3,187 | 343 | — |
| 2015–162 | 3,564 | 3,224 | 340 | — |
| 2016–172 | 3,597 | 3,251 | 345 | — |
| 2017–182 | 3,651 | 3,296 | 355 | — |