Economics Course Enrollments in U.S. High Schools

High school transcript data were used in this study to estimate the percentage of high school graduates who complete an economics course, and to examine course-taking trends in economics from 1982 to 2009. In 2009, 58 percent of high school graduates took an economics course, up from about 45 percent from 1990 to 2005. The increases in economics enrollments over the years included in this study are consistent with the trends in the number of states mandating an economics course to be taken for graduation. Estimated percentages are reported across the demographics of high school students. Enrollments in economics are compared to enrollments in other high school social studies courses.