At the beginning of the academic year 1972-73 the graduate physics student population was 11,804. The 173 doctorate granting institutions and the 137 master's granting institutions reported enrollments of 10,227 and 1,577 graduate physics students, respectively. The data for this Graduate Student Survey comes from individual graduate students whose names and addresses were supplied by physics department chairman. Of the 10,784 student names and addresses received from the chairman, 6,770 students returned usable questionnaires. The tables, bar graph, and flow diagrams included in this report present data concerning percentage of degree recipients; characteristic of the graduate physics student population, 1972-73; characteristics of minority group respondents; characteristics of new physics doctorate recipients, 1969-73; 1972-73 sources of graduate support by years of graduate study; employment opportunities for 1972-73 graduate physics degree recipients by subfield; and background characteristics of 1972-73 physics doctorate recipients. (MJM)