Congressional App Challenge
State of the App Challenge
2025 Competition Year
Students Participating
13,830
Across 52 states & territories
All-time record
Apps Submitted
4,650
68.5% completion rate
All-time record
Districts Represented
394
Congressional districts participating
All-time record
AI-Powered Apps
57%
Incorporated AI features
All-time record
Application Pipeline
From registration to winning
App Categories
What students are building
97%
Will Continue Coding
90%
Will Consider a STEM Career
84%
Would Recommend CAC to a Friend
Solo Competitors
9,105
65.8% compete individually
In Teams
4,725
34.2% compete in teams
All-time record
Most Common Grade
11th
32.6% of all participants
Middle Schoolers
14.3%
Of all participants
How Students Heard About CAC
Top referral channels — teachers remain the #1 source of discovery
Grade Distribution
Participants by grade level
Team Size Breakdown
How students choose to compete
Solo vs. Team by Grade
Teaming patterns across grade levels
Prior Coding Expertise
Skill level before entering CAC
States & Territories
52
Including DC & territories
Top State
CA
24.8% of all participants
Districts Participating
394
Out of 435 total
All-time record
Avg Completion Rate
68.5%
Applications submitted
Participation by State
Relative participation across top 25 states
Completion Rate by State
% of applicants who submitted — top 15 states by volume
Top Language
JavaScript
725 apps (+ 670 JS combos)
Top Platform
Web
2,254 web apps (45%)
AI-Powered Apps
2,196
57.4% of submitted apps
All-time record
Open Source Interest
2,614
Opted in for Congressional Cert
Programming Languages
Top languages used (including combinations)
Target Platforms
Where students deploy their apps
AI Feature Adoption All-time record
Did the app include AI capabilities?
Where Students Code
Primary coding location
Hours Spent Coding
Distribution of time invested (bucketed by range)
Continue Coding
97%
3,486 of 3,947 respondents
Consider STEM Career
90%
3,544 of 3,946 respondents
Would Recommend
84%
“Yes, for sure!” or “Probably yes”
School Projects
39%
Created as part of a class/club
Will You Continue Coding?
Post-challenge intent
Would You Recommend CAC?
Likelihood of recommending to a friend
STEM Career Interest
Will consider a career in STEM after CAC
Built as School Project?
Institutional vs. independent participation