The State of Sex Education in the USA in 2025

Every year, we publish an updated state of sexual education in the United States based on data from the Guttmacher Institute. Because each state has its own requirements (or lack thereof) about what a sexual education curriculum should cover, we’ll highlight some of the key points to note about where things stand at the start of 2025. 

Changes in Sexual Education from 2024 – 2025 

Currently, there are 27 states that mandate sexual education is taught in schools and 30 states that mandate education about HIV. Of these states, 19 mandate both sexual education and HIV education. However, only 26 of the 36 states with educational mandates require that the information taught is medically accurate. 

Although more states now require that the sex education students receive is medically accurate compared to 2024, one state has dropped its sex education mandate and five states have dropped their HIV education mandate. Additionally, while 11 states (up from 10) require that sexual education must be inclusive of LGBTQ+ issues, there are now six states (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas) requiring that only negative information be taught about LGBTQ+ persons. Additionally, due to “Don’t Say Gay” policies, students (and teachers) in certain grades in Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and North Carolina are prohibited from discussing gender identities and sexual orientations. 

Since last year, seven more states have made it so that parents can elect to opt-out of sexual education from their children, bringing the total to 42. The same number of states also require that abstinence is covered in sexual education curriculum, 29 of which stress abstinence as a primary method of contraception. 

Altogether, these numbers paint a rather bleak picture with respect to adolescents’ ability to access comprehensive, medically accurate sex education. The infographic below gives more detail into what is covered in each state. 

How Sexual Education May Continue to Change

Many states are able to enforce requirements for sex education curricula through in-state Department of Education (DOE) standards. However, the enforceability of these standards in the future may be uncertain given the recent inauguration of President Trump, who has publicly stated that he plans to dismantle the DOE. Although doing so may be difficult, states may follow in Trump’s lead from his first presidency in forwarding an abstinence-only approach to sex ed and family planning. Additionally, it is likely that misinformation about LGBTQ+ identities will accelerate under the current administration as well. 

Given these trends, below are some recommendations for teaching sex ed that is medically-accurate and inclusive that you can share with others in your life: 

• Yes, Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex by Debby Herbenick
• The Pride Guide: A Guide to Sexual and Social Health for LGBTQ Youth by Jo Langford
• Consent: The New Rules of Sex Education: Every Teen’s Guide to Healthy Sexual Relationships by Jennifer Lang

If you have a sex question of your own, record a voicemail at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology to have it answered on the blog or the podcast. 

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Images made with Canva and mapchart.net. Data from the Guttmacher Institute.