Requesting Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) Data Files
For which jurisdictions are YRBSS data files available?
YRBSS data files are available for the United States overall, most states, some territories, some large school districts, and some tribal governments. Availability depends on YRBS participation, data quality, and data-sharing policies.
How can I get United States YRBSS data files?
National YRBSS data files and documentation are available for download at YRBSS Data Files & Methods. There is no charge for the data nor is permission needed to download or use the data. The national data files do not contain state or region identifiers because the national samples are not constructed to provide representative data at state or region levels. However, national data files with state identifiers included are available upon request using the YRBSS Data Request Form.
How can I get state, district, territory, or tribal government YRBSS data?
State, district, territory, and tribal government data and documentation are owned and controlled by the jurisdictions that conducted the surveys. Many sites have given CDC permission to distribute their data upon request, but others manage the distribution of their data files themselves.
To request data files and documentation for a specific jurisdiction, follow these steps:
- View the High School or Middle School participation pages to see which sites have weighted data in which survey years and to see which sites have given permission for CDC to distribute their data.
- Complete the YRBSS Data Request Form, indicating the survey data you would like to receive.
- For sites that have given us YRBSS data distribution permission, we will email data files to you directly. For sites that have not given us distribution permission, we will email you contact information for that site; you will need to contact the site directly to discuss your data request.
Why are results not available from every state?
Results are not available from every state for several reasons. First, some states do not participate in the YRBSS. Second, some states that do participate do not achieve a high enough overall response rate to receive weighted results. Therefore, their results are not posted on the CDC web site and CDC does not distribute their data. The Participation Map and the Participation History & Data Quality tables provide more details on which states participated in the YRBS and whether they obtained weighted data.
Are county level YRBSS results available?
In 2011, CDC funded 22 large urban school districts to conduct a YRBS. Six of them (Broward County, FL; Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, NC; Duval County, FL; Miami-Dade County, FL; Orange County, FL; Palm Beach County, FL) are county-based school districts. The other funded school districts are identified on the Middle School YRBS Participation Map and the Middle School YRBS History of Participation & Data Quality tables.
County-level identifiers are not available in the National YRBSS data file or in state data files. County-level data are not available in any YRBS except for the large school districts mentioned above.
In which data file formats are YRBSS data available?
National YRBSS data files are available in SAS, SPSS, ASCII, and Access formats. They can be downloaded at YRBSS Data Files & Methods.
State, district, territory, and tribal government data from surveys conducted since 1999 are available in SAS, SPSS, ASCII, and Access formats. State, district, territory, and tribal government data from surveys conducted prior to 1999 are available in ASCII only. Refer to YRBSS Data Files & Methods for more information about each data format.
YRBS Podcasts
- Making Healthy Choices (Length: 0:59)
- Making Healthy Choices (Length: 4:46)
- YRBS - US, 2005 (Length: 1:23)
- YRBS - US, 2005 (Length: 10:35)
Contact Us:
- Division of Adolescent and School Health
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