GED Age Requirements by State 2024

Note: Requirements may change at any time. Please confirm requirements with local authorities when considering a GED or HiSET exam.

Alabama

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional requirements: 16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, present official permission from a parent or guardian, and meet additional requirements.

Alaska

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional requirements: 16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, present official permission from a parent or guardian, and meet additional requirements. Test-takers must also take and pass a Constitution Test.

Arizona

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional requirements:

Applicants must be officially withdrawn from the last school they attended and present a notarized and dated approval letter from a parent or guardian. In Arizona, test-takers must also take and pass a Constitution Test. When a student leaves high school prematurely, they do so in accordance with legal requirements.

Arkansas

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, present official permission from a parent or guardian, and meet additional requirements.

California

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional requirements: 17-year-olds must be officially out of high school for no less than 60 days. They must present a written request from a prospective employer. 17-year-old students who pass the GED test will not receive their California High School Equivalency Certificate until they will be 18 years old.

Colorado

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional requirements: For 16 year-olds: Proof of withdrawal from high school, official permission from a parent or guardian, 16-year-olds must, however, apply for an Age Waiver and have approval from GED Testing Service..

Connecticut

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, present official permission from a parent or guardian, and meet additional requirements. GED testing is free for state residents under the age of 21 and veterans. All others pay a $13 registration fee which includes the cost of the GED diploma.

Delaware

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

Applicants 16 or 17 years of age only qualify if they have a waiver issued by the Delaware Department of Education and hold parental consent. They must be Delaware residents, officially withdrawn from high school, and be 16 years old at the time they apply for an age waiver.

Florida

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17 years old must have approval from their school districts before they can schedule test appointments. They must hold an age waiver as well as written parental consent.

Georgia

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-olds must be officially withdrawn from high school; they are required to sign up for a state-approved adult education program and have parental consent to be able to take the GED or HiSET tests.

Hawaii

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, present official permission from a parent or guardian, and meet additional requirements.

Idaho

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants who are 16 or 17 years of age only qualify if they are officially withdrawn from their high school program, have parental consent, and have applied for and received a GED Age Waiver.

Illinois

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

17-year-olds must hold an official withdrawal letter from their last school and present a letter of consent from a parent or guardian. Applicants must also pass the Constitution Test to earn their High School Equivalency Certificate. Illinois uses two options, the HiSET and GED exams.

Indiana

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-olds may take the test only if they have an exit interview form from the last school they attended as well as a letter of recommendation from their school and parental consent.

Iowa

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details:

16-year-olds may also apply if they hold an official withdrawal form from their last school and parental consent. Students must sign up for an Adult Education and Literacy program, complete the pre-CASAS Assessment.

Kansas

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17 year-olds only qualify if they present a Compulsory School Attendance or a Compulsory Attendance Exemption Form signed by a parent or a legal guardian. These forms need to be from the school district in which the applicant resides.

Kentucky

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

16 and 17 year-olds must provide proof of withdrawal from high school, official permission from a parent or guardian, and more.

Louisiana

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-olds must enroll in a state-approved adult education program and hold an approved age waiver signed by the local superintendent and have official parental consent.

Maine

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants may qualify to take the HiSET exam at age 17 only if you can prove that you have been out of school for at least one year, are homeschooled, or hold a state-approved “Immediate Need” waiver.

Maryland

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

Applicants must be a residents. Candidates under the age of 19 years need to be officially withdrawn from their high school program. 16 and 17-year-olds may also be eligible if they additionally provide approval from the school district and from a parent or guardian. They must also meet some further criteria.

GED test-takers under the age of 18 cannot sit for the online Maryland GED test, regardless of their withdrawal status.

Massachusetts

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16 or 17-year-olds only qualify if they present an official Letter of Withdrawal from the last school they attended that was approved by the Massachusetts High School Equivalency Office.

Michigan

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: The applicant’s former high school class must have graduated in order to receive a GED diploma.

Applicants 16 and 17 years old may only take the GED or HiSET tests if they are Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs graduates or completed the state’s National Guard Youth Challenge Program.

Minnesota

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants 17 and 18 years of age may only qualify for GED testing if they have been withdrawn from high school for no less than one year and meet some other requirements.

Mississippi

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-old applicants only qualify if they are a year behind their 9th-grade cohort and if the school’s superintendent determines that they are eligible to take the GED or HiSET tests.

Missouri

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

Applicants must be a residents, and must qualify as a participant in an at-risk youth-approved Missouri Option Program. Be officially withdrawn from school, successfully completed 16 units of credit for high school graduation, and hold written course completion confirmation from the superintendents of the school where recent high school credits were earned; or: When home-schooled, have met all requirements of section 167.031, RSMo, for course instruction, and hold written permission of a parent or legal guardian.

Montana

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

16,17 and 18 years old applicants may only qualify for the Montana HiSET exam if they meet the state’s criteria and proved an Age Waiver. Applicants need to be residents of Montana and also provide proof that they live in Montana.

Nebraska

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Nebraska residents ages 16 and 17 are only eligible for GED testing if they provide a handwritten letter that states the circumstances of withdrawal from their regular high school program and why they want to take the GED test. They must have been withdrawn from school for at least 30 days and meet more criteria.

Nevada

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

16-17-year old only qualify under certain conditions. They are required to have permission to withdraw from their school district and signed parental permission. Younger test takers may also have to pass a practice test.

New Hampshire

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: Applicants 16 or 17 years old may only take the HiSET exam if they passed the Official HiSET Practice Test. They also must provide permission from their school district and a parent or guardian.

New Jersey

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-old test takers must prove that they are not enrolled in a school program and present permission from a parent or legal guardian.

Test takers must be New Jersey residents. Paper-based testing is NOT possible in New Jersey. The TASC exam is no longer offered in New Jersey.

New Mexico

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants ages 16 and 17 can only take the GED or HiSET exam if they have a permission form from their school district as well as consent from a parent or legal guardian.

New York

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: Students 16, 17, or 18 years old only qualify for GED testing in New York if they meet extra requirements. New York is one of four states that offer the exam at no cost (state residents only). In New York, the online GED exam is NOT available.

North Carolina

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details:

Students ages 16 and 17 years are only eligible, though, if they meet certain requirements. They should contact their local community college’s Basic Skills Director to get permission to take the high school equivalency exam.

North Dakota

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Students who take part in GED prep classes at a North Dakota Adult Learning Center (or satellite location) before testing may qualify to have the testing fee of the first and last test paid (if passed) by the Bank of North Dakota. Applicants must also pass a Civics exam.

Ohio

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 16, 17, and 18-year-olds may take the GED or HiSET tests if they are officially withdrawn from their high school without a diploma, and those applicants ages 16 and 17 must also provide a consent form signed by a parent, legal guardian, or court official.

Oklahoma

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details:

Applicants 16 or 17 years of age only qualify to take the HSE test if they have permission from their school district, a parent or legal guardian, and a school administrator.

Oregon

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants 16 and 17 years old only qualify if they are officially withdrawn from high school, hold permission from their school district, are married, or are legally emancipated. Younger applicants may also qualify if they are enrolled in an Oregon Option Program for In-School Youth.

Pennsylvania

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

16 or 17-year-olds who are officially withdrawn from secondary school only qualify if they have completed an Age Waiver form and hold an official letter from an employer stating the applicant must pass the GED or HiSET exam for employment purposes, or a letter from a post-secondary educational institution or a branch of the Armed Services requesting permission Test takers will not receive their Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma before they turn 18. Until then, they will be issued a transcript.

Rhode Island

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: Residents ages 16 or 17 can only take the GED tests if they are officially withdrawn from school or provide an official Alternative Learning Plan. There are also Rhode Island school districts that provide a high school diploma to test takers who successfully complete the National External Diploma Program (NEDP).

South Carolina

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

Applicants 17 or 18 years of age are only eligible for GED testing if they hold a South Carolina “Verification of School Withdrawal” form signed by an official from the school they last attended. 16-year-olds may qualify if they are under the jurisdiction of DJJ. South Carolina does not offer online GED testing.

South Dakota

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details:

16 and 17-year-old applicants can only take the GED test if a school administrator states that the applicant has credit deficiency; if they are authorized by a court officer; if there is a court order requiring GED testing; if the applicant is under the direction of the state’s Department of Corrections;

or if the applicant is enrolled in a Job Corps Program.

Tennessee

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: No

Additional details: 17-year-olds only qualify if they have an age waiver form signed by the Director of Schools and if they partake in a state-approved HiSET Option Program.

Texas

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: 17-year-olds qualify if they are officially withdrawn from school and have permission from a parent or guardian.

16-year-olds qualify if they are under the direction of a state agency or a Family Code court order or if they partake in a Texas Job Corps program or the Texas Challenge Academy.

Utah

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: 16 and 17-year-old may only qualify if they provide an official letter from the school they last attended or from their school district that states that the applicant is formally withdrawn from a K-12 education program. They must additionally provide a signed permission letter from a parent or legal guardian.

Vermont

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

16 and 17-year-old applicants are only eligible to take the GED tests if they hold written permission from a parent or a legal guardian. In Vermont, there are no further restrictions for these younger test-takers.

Virginia

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details: Applicants 16 and 17 years old may only take the GED tests if they have officially completed a home instruction program; if their school board released them from compulsory attendance; if they are ISAEP students and scored at least 145 on all GED Ready practice tests;

if they have written permission from the state Department of Correctional Education; if they have official documentation stating they have been expelled from school; or if there is a court order that they must participate in the GED testing program.

Washington

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

Candidates 16 and 17 years of age only qualify if they are officially withdrawn from school and if they hold documentation stating that they must take the GED exam to attend a post-secondary educational institution, to enter the military, or for employment purposes. These younger applicants must have permission from a parent, guardian, or legal custodian.

West Virginia

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: Applicants under 18 years of age need to provide consent from a parent or legal guardian unless they are court-ordered, emancipated, or married.

They all must first pass a Pre Assessment.

Wisconsin

GED age requirement: 17

Residency required: Yes

Additional details: Applicants need to demonstrate that at the time of testing, they are at least 17 years of age or that their 9th-grade high school class has graduated. Applicants ages 17 to 18.5 may only qualify if they have permission from their school district, through a juvenile correctional facility, or if they are signed up for the ChalleNGe Academy.

Wyoming

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: No

Additional details:

Applicants 16 and 17 years old only also qualify for the Wyoming High School Equivalency Test if they hold an Age Waiver. 16-year-olds must additionally provide written permission from a parent, a guardian, an adult basic education instructor, or a GED Examiner. A court order may also qualify these youngsters for HSE testing.

District of Columbia

GED age requirement: 16

Residency required: Yes

Additional details:

For 16 and 17 year-olds: proof of withdrawal from high school, official permission from a parent or guardian, and more.