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Fast Facts: Cyberbullying Rates Continue to Climb for U.S. Teenagers

By Claire Meyer
1 July 2026

Focus on Cyberbullying in Schools

More than 30 percent of U.S. teenagers have been victims of cyberbullying in the past 30 days, and 16 percent have been cyberbullying offenders, according to 2025 research from the Cyberbullying Research Center. Those rates have more than doubled in the past decade.

More than 58 percent of the 13-17-year-old middle and high school students said they had ever been cyberbullied. With the continued expansion of social media platforms and the potential of generative artificial intelligence to create fake and shocking content, cyberbullying has the potential to get much worse for a wide swath of students.


Additional Resources

CDC data brief, “Bullying Victimization Among Teenagers: United States, July 2021-December 2023”

Definitions of bullying and victimization, from the CDC: “Bullying surveillance among youths: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements”

Cyberbullying Research Center, 2007-2025 research summary

Cyberbullying Research Center, “Cyberbullying Rates Continue to Climb—Especially Among Boys”

Focus on Cyberbullying

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Digital Footprints Remain a Limited Part of Schools’ BTAM Processes

Why Bullying Rachets Up in Middle School

Fast Facts: Cyberbullying Rates Continue to Climb for U.S. Teenagers

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