Røros reads at the top and finishes school near the bottom of the table
In Røros, 86.0% of year 8 pupils reached mastery levels 3–5 on the national reading test, far above anyone else. Yet the same municipality sits among the lowest for lower secondary school points in some measures, and Vestnes appears in the weakest group on four of five lists. The map of school results is less tidy than a single ranking suggests.
Morning Analytics. The text is AI-assisted and checked: every figure is checked automatically against the database before publication. How it is calculated
Average lower secondary school points
Start with the grades pupils take out of lower secondary school. Trysil comes first with an average of 44.8 points, ahead of Hole and Bærum at 44.5 (SSB, tabell 12255, 2025). The median among the 183 municipalities compared is 41.5.
The top is dominated by places around Oslo and a few others: Oslo itself at 44.3, Rælingen and Sola at 43.8. At the other end, Årdal averages 37.1, and Vestnes and Røros both 37.8. Trysil and Røros are both small inland places, and they land at opposite ends.
Source: 12255, 2025. 183 compared.
Pupils at mastery levels 3–5, national reading test, year 8
The national reading test for year 8 gives a different picture. Røros, near the bottom for school points, has 86.0% of pupils at mastery levels 3–5, against a median of 62.0% (SSB, tabell 12255, 2025).
Behind Røros come Årdal at 77.8%, Lørenskog at 77.7% and Tynset at 77.6%. At the bottom, Søndre Land has 30.4% and Kvinesdal 41.8%. With cohorts this small in many places, a handful of pupils can move a percentage visibly.
Source: 12255, 2025. 183 compared.
Pupils at mastery levels 3–5, national numeracy test, year 8
In numeracy, Årdal stands out at 87.5%, while the median is 62.2% (SSB, tabell 12255, 2025). Bærum follows at 80.3% and Hole at 78.1%.
Årdal is an odd case: it has the lowest school points and the top numeracy score. The two measures capture different things, one a teacher-set grade average, the other a national test taken in year 8. At the bottom, Sør-Odal has 39.7% and Øyer 40.8%. Vestnes, at 41.5%, appears here too.
Source: 12255, 2025. 183 compared.
Completed upper secondary education (standardised)
The longer view is whether young people finish upper secondary school. Vindafjord and Hole share the top at 94.2%, with Frogn at 92.2% (FHI, tabell 623, 2025, standardised). The median is 81.4%.
At the other end, Vestnes has 65.5% and Vadsø 65.8%. Vestnes thus shows up weak in reading, numeracy and completion. The figures do not tell us what lies behind that, only that the pattern repeats.
Source: fhi:623, 2025. 183 compared.
Pupils per municipal school
School size varies widely. Sør-Odal has 743 pupils per municipal school, while the median is 227 (SSB, tabell 11971, 2025). Randaberg has 498, Lørenskog 456 and Oslo 440.
At the small end are Luster with 73, Frøya with 80 and Meløy with 88. Large-school municipalities include some strong performers like Lørenskog and Oslo, but also Sør-Odal, which is weak in numeracy. Small-school places include both Luster, strong on completion, and Frøya, weak on tests. School size alone does not sort the results.
Source: 11971, 2025. 183 compared.
What the figures do not say
These figures describe results in one year and say nothing about why places differ, or whether pupils in one place would do differently elsewhere. Small municipalities, those under 5,000 residents, can swing sharply when a few pupils change, and a single national test cohort is a narrow slice. Pupil numbers per school sit beside the results here as context, not as an explanation.