INSPIRE. INCLUDE. INNOVATE.
The Congressional App Challenge inspires students to code, engages Members of Congress, and reaches every corner of America.
Since 2015, we have inspired tens of thousands of students nationwide to learn to code. With the support from their Member of Congress, these students have produced apps that address problems locally, nationally, and globally. The numbers don’t lie; each year we have increasing numbers of Congressional hosts and diverse student participants from underrepresented communities. By participating in the App Challenge, whether as a student participant or a Member of Congress, you join a nationwide movement to bring coding skills across the country and an opportunity to make a tangible difference in your community.
For the past decade, the Congressional App Challenge has grown into one of the nation’s largest youth coding initiatives, inspiring tens of thousands of students to envision, build, and innovate. With the support of their Members of Congress, students have created apps that tackle real problems in their communities, elevate national conversations, and even spark global impact.
Ten years in, the momentum speaks for itself. Participation continues to rise year after year, with more Congressional hosts and an increasingly diverse pool of students, including many from communities traditionally underrepresented in tech.
By joining the App Challenge, whether as a student creator or a Member of Congress, you become part of a nationwide effort to expand opportunity, empower the next generation of innovators, and bring cutting-edge problem-solving to every corner of the country.
CODE FOR CONGRESS
By connecting policymakers to new technologies
INSPIRE STUDENTS
To explore STEM and coding through hands-on practice
REPRESENTED DEMOGRAPHICS
For students from underrepresented communities in tech
Code for Congress
The Congressional App Challenge is remarkably bipartisan
The U.S. House Of Representatives is united behind the Congressional App Challenge. Leadership on both sides of the aisle created the CAC to engage both students and Members alike on the importance of computer science and STEM.
Over the past ten years we had a 94% increase in Member participation from our already stellar starting point of 197 Members!
In the 118th Congress, 412 Members of Congress hosted challenges in their districts. Those numbers roughly track to the partisan makeup of Congress — a testament to how bipartisan coding and computer science are.
Our annual House of Code — the new national science fair — brings CAC winners to our nation’s capital for a demo day, where students demonstrate their winning apps. Members of Congress connect with their student constituents and see firsthand the power of computer science.
The CAC is a critical link between student constituent coders and their Representatives in Congress.
Member of Congress Testimonials
Inspire Students
Each year the CAC grows and grows. We reach students who create incredible apps.
Between our past three competition cycles, we saw a 164% increase in student participation, among many more measured successes.
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge at a Glance
Students Participating
This year alone there are 13,830 Participants
Original Applications
In 2025, we had 4,850 applications
90% of Congress Participated
We had 394 Congressional Districts participate!
Over the Years...
85,000 Students have participated since 2015
How Far We’ve Come: 2025 vs. 2016
Alumni Impact
Represented Demographics
In the course of a few short years, the CAC has achieved what no other initiative has been able to do: it has reached extraordinary levels of urban, suburban, and rural participation while garnering participation from underserved communities at record-setting levels.
The CAC outpaces Silicon Valley by reaching out to a wide range of students in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and geography.
Racial/Ethnic Demographics:
Large percentages of CAC participants are African American, Hispanic, or Indigenous as compared to Silicon Valley.
Gender Demographics:
In the past seven years, the CAC had larger percentages of female participants as compared to Silicon Valley.
Source for App Challenge Numbers: Participant Surveys
Source for Silicon Valley Numbers: Silicon Valley Diversity Chart, (C) Lee & Low Books
We expand coding skills across the country.
