This article presents a comparative model for the results of the 1996 and 1991 censuses, based on the relations indicated by the results from 1991. The authors conduct a reclassification of the social quality index (SQI) proposed by Najar (1997) for comparison of the two censuses, controlling for the variable "heads of households with 15 or more years of schooling". As is known, the 1996 census was conducted with the purpose of counting the population, and its scope of variables was quite limited. In this sense, the comparison presented here is exploratory and is limited to the variable that registers level of schooling for heads of private, permanent households, seeking to identify some changes. After situating the discussion from the perspective of analytical traditions on which it is based, the authors present and discuss the results, indicating important changes in the way the literature classically interpreted the distribution of social structure in Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro. An increase was observed in years of schooling in the Rio de Janeiro population, especially among female heads of households. From the perspective of methodological tradition, this study is also in keeping with the groundbreaking work of Vetter (1981) and Pinçon-Charlot et al. (1986).