Idaho recorded the nation’s highest kindergarten vaccine exemption rate for the 2025-26 school year, with 17.5% of incoming kindergartners claiming an exemption from at least one required vaccine, according to an analysis of CDC data published by KFF.
The Idaho figure is more than four times the national exemption rate of 4.2%. This national tally is up from 3.6% the year prior and marks a record high.
In total, 30 states reported exemption rates above the national average. At the other end of the spectrum, five states reported rates below 1%. These include California, Connecticut, New York, Maine and West Virginia, all of which restrict non-medical exemptions. West Virginia’s status is currently contested, with a gubernatorial executive order to permit religious and personal belief exemptions on hold pending a state Supreme Court decision, per KFF.
The state-by-state breakdown below shows total exemption rates for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., for the 2025-26 school year, ranked from highest to lowest total exemption rate. Data is drawn from the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and was last updated Aug. 17.
For hospitals and health systems, wide state-to-state variation in exemption rates signals where vaccine-preventable disease is more likely to surface in emergency departments and pediatric units, particularly in states with exemption rates well above the herd-immunity threshold.
Note: Data for Montana was not reported.
| State | Exemption rate |
| Idaho | 17.5% |
| Utah | 12.7% |
| Oregon | 11% |
| Arizona | 10.6% |
| Nevada | 8.7% |
| Alaska | 8.6% |
| Wisconsin | 8.2% |
| North Dakota | 8.1% |
| Michigan | 7.7% |
| Oklahoma | 7.4% |
| Wyoming | 7.2% |
| Minnesota | 6.9% |
| South Dakota | 6.9% |
| Missouri | 6.3% |
| Hawaii | 6% |
| Pennsylvania | 6% |
| Florida | 5.9% |
| New Jersey | 5.7% |
| Ohio | 5.7% |
| South Carolina | 5.7% |
| New Hampshire | 5.4% |
| Washington | 5.3% |
| Texas | 5.2% |
| Georgia | 5.1% |
| Iowa | 4.9% |
| Tennessee | 4.8% |
| Colorado | 4.7% |
| Nebraska | 4.7% |
| Arkansas | 4.6% |
| Kansas | 4.5% |
| Louisiana | 4.0% |
| North Carolina | 3.9% |
| Indiana | 3.8% |
| Vermont | 3.8% |
| Illinois | 3.5% |
| Washington, D.C. | 3.4% |
| Alabama | 3% |
| Virginia | 3% |
| Kentucky | 2.6% |
| Maryland | 2.5% |
| Delaware | 2.2% |
| New Mexico | 2.2% |
| Rhode Island | 2.2% |
| Mississippi | 2% |
| Massachusetts | 1.8% |
| Maine | 0.8% |
| Connecticut | 0.5% |
| California | 0.1% |
| New York | 0.1% |
| West Virginia | 0.1% |
| Montana | NR |
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