How do the degrees of the Scottish Rite differ from the York Rite?

The terms applied to these degree systems are historically ambiguous, as the Scottish Rite did not originate in Scotland, and several of its degrees share a Royal Arch or Knight Templar character 1. In the American Masonic System, the traditional "York Rite" divides into distinct governed bodies—Royal Arch Masonry, Cryptic Masonry, and Knight Templarism—which are organized under state and national grand bodies 1.

The Scottish Rite confers twenty-nine degrees beyond the basic symbolic degrees, not including the thirty-third degree 1. Rather than state or national grand bodies, its governance is organized under Consistories belonging to two distinct jurisdictions in the United States: the Northern Jurisdiction based in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Southern Jurisdiction based in Washington, D.C. 1.

While organized separately, both systems share the requirement that every candidate must maintain membership in good standing within a regular Lodge of Ancient Craft Masonry 1.