NAPLEX Pass Rate

For 2025 graduates of ACPE-accredited US pharmacy programs who tested in 2025, from NABP's pass-rate report prepared March 16, 2026.

86.8% passed the NAPLEX on their first attempt (9,869 first attempts).
92.2% of those first-time takers had a passing result by December 31, 2025, once retakes are counted. (Our calculation from NABP's data.)
85.6% of all 10,632 attempts in 2025, first tries and retakes together, were passes.

Source: NABP, NAPLEX Passing Rates for 2023–2025 Graduates, prepared March 16, 2026, "All Graduates From ACPE Accredited Programs" row (p. 14).

For the candidate-wide first-time NAPLEX pass rate, use 86.8%. The 85.6% figure counts attempts, not people, so it isn't the share who eventually passed. That's covered just below.

By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified: September 25, 2026

Which NAPLEX pass rate is the right one?

Several correct numbers are floating around. Schools, news stories and prep sites each quote one of them, often without saying which. Here's what each one measures.

Why 86.8% and 85.7% differ. One counts people. The other averages schools. Picture two schools: one with 100 first-timers and 90 passes, one with 10 first-timers and 5 passes. Count the people and 95 of 110 passed, or 86.4%. Average the two school rates and you get (90% + 50%) ÷ 2 = 70.0%. Same results, different weighting. In the real 2025 data the gap is small, 1.1 points, but it's why the University of Connecticut (86.8%) and the University of Kentucky (85.7%) each announced a different "national average" for the same year. Both were quoting NABP correctly.

Why the all-attempt rate is lower. Retake attempts pass less often than first attempts, so mixing them in pulls the rate down. A lower all-attempt rate doesn't mean fewer people eventually passed. It means people who needed a retake are counted more than once.

What happens if you fail the NAPLEX the first time?

Most people who fail once pass later, given time. Of 2023 graduates who failed their first attempt, 75% had passed by the end of 2025. Any single retake is far from a sure thing, though: 55% to 70% of repeat attempts passed.

First-time pass rates and attempt totals are NABP's. The other columns are Castleport calculations from NABP's school-by-school rows. See how we calculated them.

Download the calculation (CSV)

Two things to read into that table, and one not to.

• The 2025 "40.9%" is about time, not failure. The class of 2025 had only the rest of 2025 to retake before NABP's report window closed. Their repeat attempts actually passed at the highest rate of the three years.
• Longer follow-up captures more later passes. The 2023 class, with the longest observation window, shows the fullest picture: three in four people who failed once had passed by the end of 2025. That does not mean an individual retake becomes easier over time.
• Don't read it as your personal odds. These are group rates. A retake plan built on what actually went wrong on your first attempt matters more than a national percentage.

The retake rules behind those numbers

NABP's Candidate Application Bulletin, Section 3 (March 2026) sets these limits:

• Wait at least 45 days after a failed attempt before you can schedule again. Some jurisdictions require longer, and the longer wait applies.
• No more than 3 attempts in any 12-month period. After the third, you must wait at least 12 months from the initial attempt to reapply.
• No more than 5 attempts in total, unless a board of pharmacy decides otherwise.
• Each retake starts over: a new $100 eligibility application, the board reconfirms eligibility, then a new $520 exam purchase.

A failing result comes with a report of your relative performance in each of the five content areas (Bulletin, Section 11). Use it to rank what to fix first. Person-Centered Assessment and Treatment Planning accounts for 40% of scored questions, while each of the two smallest domains accounts for 5%, so the outline gives you a clear reason to devote more study time to the larger domain (NAPLEX Content Outline, p. 3). The performance levels themselves are not point scores.

To work out your earliest retake date and total cost, use the NAPLEX retake and cost planner.

How has the NAPLEX pass rate changed since 2015?

The first-time rate slid from 92.0% for 2015 graduates to 75.9% for 2024 graduates. Then it jumped 10.9 percentage points to 86.8% for 2025, the largest one-year move in NABP's 2015–2025 series.

Source: NABP, NAPLEX and MPJE Passing Rates for 2015–2025 Graduates, prepared February 2, 2026, p. 2.

One caution from NABP's own notes: graduation data before 2021 were self-reported and "not guaranteed to be correct." NABP has verified graduation through transcripts since 2021. So 2021 to 2025 is the cleanest stretch to compare: 81.7%, 77.3%, 76.4%, 75.9%, then 86.8%.

Why did the NAPLEX pass rate jump in 2025?

NABP hasn't published a reason, and we won't invent one. Here's what the record does and doesn't show:

• The blueprint changed mid-year. A new NAPLEX Content Outline took effect for exams given on or after May 1, 2025 (Content Outline, p. 1). The pass-rate report doesn't say how many 2025 graduates tested before or after that date.
• The pass bar is meant to hold steady. NABP says the ability level that defines a pass "is the same for all NAPLEX administrations" (Bulletin, Section 11).
• The law-exam aggregate didn't follow. The MPJE first-time rate for 2025 graduates slipped from 75.3% to 74.5%. NABP's report does not establish that the NAPLEX and MPJE rows contain the same candidates.
• The group was smaller. First attempts fell from 11,136 to 9,869.

Any single explanation you read elsewhere is a guess on top of those facts.

Was the MPJE first-time pass rate lower than the NAPLEX rate in 2025?

Yes: 74.5% for the MPJE versus 86.8% for the NAPLEX among 2025 graduates. From 2015 through 2024 the gap never topped 6.6 points; in 2025 it was 12.3 points. That comparison does not prove the MPJE is intrinsically harder: the national aggregates are not a matched set of the same candidates, and not every NAPLEX candidate takes the MPJE. If you're preparing for both, the MPJE and UMPJE guide covers which law exam applies to you.

What is your pharmacy school's NAPLEX pass rate?

NABP publishes each ACPE-accredited school's first-time and all-attempt rates for the three most recent graduating classes. For 2025, the 141 schools with a current rate ranged from 55.3% to 100.0%, with a median of 88.2%. The median school had 61 first attempts.

Two things to check before you judge a school's number:

• Class size. In a class of 10, one person moves the rate by 10 points. In a class of 190, one person moves it by about half a point. Always read the rate next to the number of first attempts.
• Campus or pathway. For 28 schools with branch campuses, online tracks or accelerated pathways, NABP publishes a separate branch, campus and pathway report (prepared May 21, 2026). Rates inside one school can differ a lot.

Look up all 141 schools → Our research table lists every school's 2023–2025 rates with attempt counts. You can also go straight to NABP's official report.

What score do you need to pass the NAPLEX?

A scaled score of 75 or higher, on a scale of 0 to 150. That is not 75% of questions correct; NABP says so directly (NABP Support Center). You won't see a number either way. The NAPLEX reports only "Pass" or "Fail" (Bulletin, Section 11). The exam has 225 questions, 200 of which count toward your result (Bulletin, Section 3).

The pass mark isn't a curve against other test takers. It's a fixed ability level, so the number of people who pass doesn't change what you need to do.

What the pass rate doesn't tell you

• It isn't your personal chance of passing. An 86.8% rate describes a group of 9,869 people. Your odds depend on your own preparation, not on the class average.
• It doesn't include everyone who takes the NAPLEX. NABP's report covers only graduates of ACPE-accredited programs. Foreign-educated pharmacists who test after FPGEC certification aren't in these numbers; the FPGEE guide covers that route.
• The 2025 numbers can still move. NABP says its figures "are subject to change" as graduates take more exams, and it re-issued the 2023–2025 report in March 2026 after a January release.

The most useful thing you control is whether you're studying for the right exam. If your review book or question bank predates May 1, 2025, check it against the current outline before you lean on it.

NAPLEX pass rate FAQs

What percentage of people fail the NAPLEX?

About 13% of 2025 graduates failed on their first attempt: 1,302 of 9,869, by our count from NABP's data. For 2024 graduates it was about 24%, roughly 1 in 4.

When will the pass rates for 2026 graduates come out?

NABP hasn't announced a date. The class-of-2025 report was first prepared January 22, 2026, and re-issued March 16, 2026. New reports appear on NABP's Data & Research page.

Does the all-time pass rate show how many people eventually passed?

No. NABP's "all time" rate divides passes by attempts, so each retake adds to the bottom of the fraction. To see how many people had passed, divide passes by people instead. That's the 92.2% figure for 2025 graduates.

Does passing the NAPLEX make you a licensed pharmacist?

No. NABP states that a posted passing result is not a license; only a board of pharmacy issues one (NAPLEX Results). Depending on the jurisdiction, you may also need an MPJE, UMPJE, another law requirement, or additional licensure steps. Check your state board of pharmacy for the requirements that apply to you.

How we calculated the retake figures

NABP publishes each school's first attempts, all attempts and pass rates, rounded to one decimal place. It doesn't publish pass counts. We rebuilt them:

1. One count per rate. For every school and year, we found the whole number of passes that reproduces NABP's printed rate. For all 2023–2025 cells, first-time and all-attempt, exactly one whole number worked.
2. Checked against NABP's totals. The school rows add up to NABP's national attempt totals for each year (12,305 and 16,275 for 2023; 11,136 and 14,316 for 2024; 9,869 and 10,632 for 2025). The rebuilt passes reproduce NABP's national rates and its school averages. For 2025 this includes one school row that appears in NABP's January 22, 2026 release but was deferred in the March revision; NABP's national totals still include it.
3. Derived the retake view:

• Repeat attempts = all attempts − first attempts
• Repeat-attempt pass rate = (total passes − first-time passes) ÷ repeat attempts
• Failed-first-attempt, later passed = (total passes − first-time passes) ÷ (first attempts − first-time passes)
• Share with a pass = total passes ÷ first attempts

Assumptions and limits. We assume nobody passes the NAPLEX twice, since there's no reason to retake after passing. NABP's report counts only attempts made within its reporting years, which end December 31, 2025. Graduates who never sat the exam aren't counted anywhere. These are Castleport calculations, not NABP figures.

Sources

Sources 1–11 were opened and checked on September 25, 2026.

1. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination Passing Rates for 2023–2025 Graduates, prepared March 16, 2026. National row p. 14; school averages Table 2, p. 15; inclusion rules p. 2.
2. NABP, same report, January 22, 2026 release (copy hosted by The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy).
3. NABP, NAPLEX and MPJE Passing Rates for 2015–2025 Graduates, prepared February 2, 2026.
4. NABP, Branch, Campus, and Pathway Reports for 2025 Graduates, prepared May 21, 2026.
5. NABP, Data & Research, Examination Passing Rates.
6. NABP, Candidate Application Bulletin, Section 3: What Is the NAPLEX?, March 2026.
7. NABP, Candidate Application Bulletin, Section 11: Exam Results and Other Outcomes, March 2026.
8. NABP Support Center, What does the scaled score and domain level information mean?
9. NABP, NAPLEX Content Outline, effective for exams beginning May 1, 2025.
10. NABP, NAPLEX Results.
11. California State Board of Pharmacy, CPJE Statistics, April 1, 2025 – September 30, 2025.
12. UConn Today, UConn pharmacy students exceed national average for the 2025 NAPLEX, February 23, 2026; University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, news release, February 2, 2026. Cited only as examples of how the national figure is quoted.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy or any board of pharmacy. NAPLEX, MPJE and other exam and credential names are used to identify their subjects; trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Last verified September 25, 2026: NABP pass-rate reports, Bulletin Sections 3 and 11, NABP scaled-score guidance, and the California Board of Pharmacy report.