US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000

Texas tops list with 8,100 bans while Stephen King is again most banned author, PEN America finds

The US saw almost 12,000 book bans in public schools during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number in a single year, according to the free-expression non-profit PEN America.

In a report released on Monday, PEN America said that there had been 34,000 instances of book bans since the organization started tallying the increasing “book censorship crisis” across US schools in 2021.