It probably depends where you live. We live in a very competitive school district with lots of PhD types who are now stay at home moms. I think most of the kids are reading something in first grade- some are reading well, others just a little.
You definitely do want to have him reading though by the middle of first grade or he could get left behind. Reading builds on itself, and it feeds into other topics like math or science, etc.
I made a few flash cards of simple sight words, to help my son get reading (when he was younger). That opened the door to reading very simple books, which really gave him confidence and made him more excited about reading. That could be something to try.
