Highest year of school completed

educ

Source

General Social Survey https://gss.norc.org

Details

Question ASK ALL PARTS OF QUESTION ABOUT RESPONDENT BEFORE GOING ON TO ASK ABOUT R'S FATHER; AND THEN R'S MOTHER; THEN R'S SPOUSE, IF R IS CURRENTLY MARRIED. A. What is the highest grade in elementary school or high school that (you/your father/ your mother/your (husband/wife)) finished and got credit for? CODE EXACT GRADE. B. IF FINISHED 9th-12th GRADE OR DK*: Did (you/he/she) ever get a high school diploma or a GED certificate? (SEE D BELOW.) (See REMARKS) C. Did (you/he/she) complete one or more years of college for credit–not including schooling such as business college, technical or vocational school? IF YES: How many years did (you/he/she) complete? Do you (Does (he/she)) have any college degrees? (IF YES: What degree or degrees?) CODE HIGHEST DEGREE EARNED.

Values

[0] no formal schooling
[1] 1st grade
[2] 2nd grade
[3] 3rd grade
[4] 4th grade
[5] 5th grade
[6] 6th grade
[7] 7th grade
[8] 8th grade
[9] 9th grade
[10] 10th grade
[11] 11th grade
[12] 12th grade
[13] 1 year of college
[14] 2 years of college
[15] 3 years of college
[16] 4 years of college
[17] 5 years of college
[18] 6 years of college
[19] 7 years of college
[20] 8 or more years of college
[NA(d)] don't know [NA(i)] iap [NA(j)] I don't have a job [NA(m)] dk, na, iap [NA(n)] no answer [NA(p)] not imputable [NA(r)] refused [NA(s)] skipped on web [NA(u)] uncodeable [NA(x)] not available in this release [NA(y)] not available in this year [NA(z)] see codebook

Question Years and Ballots

ballots	years
A/B/C/-	1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024
A/B/C/D	2006
Full	1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987

Overview

For further details see the GSS Data Explorer page for educ.

Counts by year:

year	no formal schooling	1st grade	2nd grade	3rd grade	4th grade	5th grade	6th grade	7th grade	8th grade	9th grade	10th grade	11th grade	12th grade	1 year of college	2 years of college	3 years of college	4 years of college	5 years of college	6 years of college	7 years of college	8 or more years of college	no answer	don't know	Total
1972	14	4	13	19	19	30	38	48	142	79	116	119	507	92	124	53	119	26	22	12	12	5	-	1613
1973	7	4	7	14	18	21	30	42	135	67	97	108	485	92	126	43	130	30	13	17	13	5	-	1504
1974	6	1	1	9	13	17	30	45	132	62	107	90	491	104	109	43	128	39	28	9	17	3	-	1484
1975	7	2	3	8	7	25	28	42	124	65	101	126	499	115	101	34	132	24	23	9	12	2	1	1490
1976	4	-	4	15	19	19	24	46	128	69	110	93	510	94	103	36	134	31	23	17	14	4	2	1499
1977	4	-	1	11	20	24	37	48	120	72	106	114	507	90	103	44	128	32	33	11	15	3	7	1530
1978	6	4	1	8	20	13	19	39	126	63	96	90	541	105	120	55	119	34	34	17	16	3	3	1532
1980	1	1	6	7	13	18	27	38	101	79	91	83	503	97	109	48	134	37	38	14	18	1	4	1468
1982	7	2	5	15	8	21	48	51	119	87	106	140	620	142	159	66	146	33	36	25	16	4	4	1860
1983	5	1	4	10	12	12	18	34	90	62	73	127	547	97	155	58	179	39	40	16	18	-	2	1599
1984	3	3	4	9	11	11	19	26	77	58	99	91	491	108	121	74	149	40	31	20	25	3	-	1473
1985	3	2	6	9	8	9	19	27	86	63	86	100	511	123	133	74	141	46	44	12	32	-	-	1534
1986	6	-	2	9	8	13	24	23	78	53	90	113	488	103	127	50	163	41	36	17	25	1	-	1470
1987	9	2	4	16	10	19	30	32	97	78	94	98	588	149	182	66	182	62	48	16	27	6	4	1819
1988	1	1	1	6	12	12	23	27	75	58	71	104	455	124	158	66	164	32	42	18	28	-	3	1481
1989	3	2	-	4	9	9	12	21	82	51	70	95	489	125	184	76	152	40	61	18	27	5	2	1537
1990	4	1	5	1	9	5	19	14	58	52	53	81	436	106	167	62	163	44	49	13	28	-	2	1372
1991	2	-	-	5	5	6	12	25	68	56	73	85	461	130	175	73	194	43	45	22	30	7	-	1517
1993	3	-	4	-	7	7	20	27	61	47	58	86	477	154	177	75	224	50	73	25	27	-	4	1606
1994	4	1	3	6	12	15	19	29	109	85	102	168	929	277	321	146	433	97	119	46	64	4	3	2992
1996	4	-	-	8	6	13	14	23	80	69	121	155	849	296	339	153	392	120	125	42	86	1	8	2904
1998	2	-	5	10	9	8	23	21	82	75	113	138	851	270	350	146	412	86	109	41	69	4	8	2832
2000	1	-	3	6	6	9	22	20	95	69	106	153	823	290	374	127	393	90	114	39	68	9	-	2817
2002	5	2	15	2	6	8	25	14	66	60	88	137	818	265	374	157	377	93	128	43	70	7	5	2765
2004	4	1	7	3	2	4	17	17	54	59	72	156	734	265	403	174	450	106	138	51	93	2	-	2812
2006	22	4	28	13	11	23	69	32	85	127	152	215	1204	422	628	212	687	167	208	78	112	9	2	4510
2008	6	-	2	5	10	5	29	14	35	53	59	122	581	158	258	94	322	51	124	38	52	2	3	2023
2010	5	1	5	4	9	6	30	12	45	55	66	108	558	186	229	109	334	71	101	33	72	4	1	2044
2012	3	2	3	6	10	4	27	8	48	47	59	101	540	163	261	99	307	80	92	41	71	1	1	1974
2014	8	1	3	6	3	9	25	8	43	53	90	134	689	193	318	133	452	78	139	52	100	-	1	2538
2016	2	3	3	3	2	4	31	18	48	59	90	118	824	242	359	137	485	108	149	63	110	8	1	2867
2018	4	2	4	10	5	3	20	8	35	51	65	95	657	183	313	127	430	97	119	45	72	1	2	2348
2021	9	1	2	3	1	2	15	5	25	32	52	83	829	277	542	208	942	258	351	113	216	48	18	4032
2022	3	1	4	8	6	6	23	12	37	57	78	116	909	268	506	189	697	167	210	79	148	20	-	3544
2024	12	1	3	5	3	4	23	10	26	37	69	104	801	283	443	177	672	179	242	54	138	7	16	3309
Total	189	50	161	273	329	414	889	906	2812	2209	3079	4046	22202	6188	8651	3484	10666	2571	3187	1166	1941	179	107	75699