Website bounce rate benchmarks vary substantially by industry, device, traffic source, geography, and measurement method. The median GA4 bounce rate across all industries was 44.04% in September 2024, while other benchmark reports place broad averages and ranges elsewhere. These website bounce rate statistics are most useful when the source, population, and measurement period remain visible.
Contents
- Cross-site baselines
- Industry benchmarks
- Device benchmarks
- Acquisition-channel benchmarks
- Higher-education trends
- Geographic and year-over-year signals
- How to read the benchmarks
Cross-site baselines
The broadest benchmark in this collection is the September 2024 median from Databox. Across all industries in its connected-account benchmark, the median GA4 bounce rate was 44.04%. Databox presents this as a median rather than an average, so it describes the midpoint of the reported accounts, not a forecast or universal target. Content Marketing Benchmarks by Industry for 2025
Similarweb reported a 30.5% average worldwide bounce rate across all industries in October 2021. Its guidance also described a general website bounce-rate range of 26% to 70%; that range was published in 2022 and was not tied to one specified measurement period. Bounce Rate: What Is It & How To Benchmark It?
Similarweb also reported a mobile-versus-desktop bounce-rate variance of more than 16%. The benchmark period was not specified in the supplied report, so this figure should be treated as benchmark guidance rather than a dated sample estimate. It indicates why a site’s device mix needs to be considered before comparing its overall rate with another site’s result. Bounce Rate: What Is It & How To Benchmark It?
Industry benchmarks
Databox’s September 2024 GA4 medians show a relatively broad spread among the named industries. The lowest median in this group was apparel and footwear at 35.76%. Ecommerce and marketplace sites recorded 38.61%, food sites 38.93%, travel and leisure 38.84%, and health and wellness 39.41%.
Other September 2024 medians were 40.10% for automotive, 40.94% for health care, 41.78% for industrial and manufacturing, and 42.14% for real estate. Construction was at 45.28%, education at 46.28%, and consulting and professional services at 47.84%. Information technology and services recorded 48.38%, SaaS 48.27%, and technology 48.28%.
| Industry | Median GA4 bounce rate | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel and footwear | 35.76% | September 2024 |
| Ecommerce and marketplace | 38.61% | September 2024 |
| Travel and leisure | 38.84% | September 2024 |
| Education | 46.28% | September 2024 |
| Consulting and professional services | 47.84% | September 2024 |
| SaaS | 48.27% | September 2024 |
| Information technology and services | 48.38% | September 2024 |
Source: Content Marketing Benchmarks by Industry for 2025. Databox reports medians from connected-account data for September 2024; these values are not forecasts.
A separate 2024 benchmark from Steel Advertising reported higher average figures for several overlapping categories. Consulting and professional-services websites averaged 66%, while ecommerce and marketplace websites averaged 58%. Education websites also averaged 58%, healthcare websites 58%, and health-and-wellness websites 59%. Those figures come from a different benchmark population and method, so they should not be combined mathematically with Databox’s GA4 medians. 2024 Steel Advertising Stat Stack
Device benchmarks
The Steel Advertising 2024 device benchmark reported a 43% bounce rate for desktop traffic, 45% for tablets, and 51% for mobile phones. In that benchmark, mobile was the highest of the three reported device rates, while desktop was the lowest.
| Device | Bounce rate | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | 43% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Tablet | 45% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Mobile phone | 51% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
Source: 2024 Steel Advertising Stat Stack. The figures are benchmark values compiled in the 2024 Stat Stack, not a claim about every website.
The device difference matters when an overall website rate is used as a performance signal. A site receiving mostly mobile visits will be represented differently from a site receiving mostly desktop visits, even before differences in content, audience, or intent are considered. Similarweb’s reported mobile-versus-desktop variance of more than 16% reinforces the importance of keeping device context attached to any comparison. Bounce Rate: What Is It & How To Benchmark It?
Acquisition-channel benchmarks
The Steel Advertising 2024 channel benchmark reported the highest bounce rate for display traffic at 57%. Social traffic followed at 54%, and direct traffic was 50%. Paid search and organic search were each reported at 44%.
Referral traffic had a 38% bounce rate, while email traffic had the lowest reported channel rate in this benchmark at 35%.
| Acquisition channel | Bounce rate | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 57% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Social | 54% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Direct | 50% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Paid search | 44% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Organic search | 44% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| Referral | 38% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
| 35% | Steel Advertising, 2024 |
Source: 2024 Steel Advertising Stat Stack. These are channel benchmark figures for the report’s population and should not be read as channel-specific forecasts.
Higher-education trends
EducationDynamics reported that the average bounce rate across its partner websites was 57% in 2022 and 46% in 2023. These are proprietary higher-education partner data, so the year-over-year movement describes that partner population rather than all education websites. EDDY Benchmarks 2024
EducationDynamics also reported separate higher-education device rates for 2021, 2022, and 2023:
| Device | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop | 58.8% | 50.7% | 42.5% |
| Mobile | 67.3% | 59.6% | 54.4% |
| Tablet | 66.7% | 64.9% | 42.1% |
Source: EDDY Benchmarks 2024. The report’s higher-education desktop bounce rate was 58.8% in 2021, 50.7% in 2022, and 42.5% in 2023. Its mobile rate was 67.3%, 59.6%, and 54.4% across those same years. Tablet was 66.7% in 2021, 64.9% in 2022, and 42.1% in 2023.
The education figures show why a single industry label is not enough. A September 2024 Databox median for education was 46.28%, while Steel Advertising’s 2024 education average was 58%, and EducationDynamics’ partner average was 46% in 2023. The figures come from different populations, definitions, and periods; the contrast is descriptive, not an independently verified reconciliation.
Geographic and year-over-year signals
Contentsquare’s Digital Experience Benchmark 2024 reported that overall bounce rate nudged upward by less than 1% in 2023. In the same year-over-year reporting, mobile bounce rate increased by 1.2 percentage points. These are changes reported by Contentsquare for its aggregated digital-experience data, not forecasts for future periods. Contentsquare Benchmark Explorer: Digital Experience Benchmark 2024
The Contentsquare country benchmark recorded a 42.7% bounce rate for the United Kingdom in 2023. The United States exceeded a 50% bounce rate, and Japan also exceeded 50% in that benchmark. Because the United States and Japan are reported as exceeding a threshold rather than with exact percentages, they should not be converted into precise values.
How to read the benchmarks
The figures in these reports are not interchangeable. Databox reports medians from connected accounts for September 2024. Steel Advertising presents benchmark figures compiled in its 2024 Stat Stack. EducationDynamics reports proprietary higher-education partner data. Contentsquare reports aggregated digital-experience data, and Similarweb supplies both a dated worldwide average and general benchmark guidance.
Definitions and populations also differ across GA4, Similarweb, Contentsquare, and proprietary benchmark reports. A website’s own bounce rate should therefore be compared with a benchmark that matches its analytics definition, audience, device mix, acquisition channels, industry, geography, and measurement period as closely as possible. The Similarweb range of 26% to 70% is general guidance rather than a single-period sample estimate, and the legacy 2021 Similarweb average should not be treated as a current measurement.
For SEO analysis, the most defensible comparison keeps the source label and period beside the percentage. A September 2024 GA4 median, a 2024 proprietary average, a 2023 country benchmark, and a 2021 worldwide average can all be useful context, but each answers a different measurement question.
The same discipline applies when comparing pages within one site. A channel mix can change the site’s headline rate even when page experience is unchanged, while a change in device mix can shift the result in the other direction. Industry labels are similarly broad: education may describe a university, an online course provider, or another type of site, and the available reports do not necessarily use identical inclusion rules. Keeping the comparison set stable makes changes easier to interpret.
A benchmark is therefore a reference point, not a pass-or-fail threshold. The most informative reporting pairs the percentage with its source, period, device or channel segment, and population. That preserves the distinction between a median and an average, between an exact value and a threshold, and between a measured historical result and general guidance.