How many married couples are in the U.S.? In 2023, there were 62.18 million married couples in the United States. This is an increase from 40.2 million married couples in 1960. Marriage in the U.S. While the number of married couples in the U.S. has increased in the past few decades, this could very well just be due to population change, since while the U.S. population has been increasing, the marriage rate has decreased significantly since 1990. In addition, the divorce rate has almost halved since 1990 despite concerns that more people are getting divorced than in years past. Same-sex marriage in the U.S. After years of advocacy, same-sex marriage became legal in the United States in June 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in a landmark ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2015, a clear majority of Americans were in favor of the legalization of same-sex marriage, and approval has only been increasing in the years since.

In 2022, the marriage rate in the United States stood at *** per 1,000 people of the population. This is a decrease from 1990 levels, when the marriage rate was *** marriages per 1,000 people. Marriage Marriage is a union that can legally, culturally, and financially bind two people. Marriage occurs between all genders, races, and cultures, and is often drastically different all around the world, due to the diversity of cultures and religions. Marriage can be recognized by a state, religious authority, or an organization. Typically viewed as a contract, it brings people together through a multitude of avenues. A part of marriage is the wedding, for which couples can decide to partake in or not. Weddings are also incredibly diverse and vary in time, money, and customs. Marriage in the United States Marriage in the United States is viewed differently across all 50 states. The number of married couples in the United States has been steadily increasing since 1960. On the other hand, the divorce rate in the United States has decreased since 1990. Nevada was the state in 2021 that had the highest marriage rate in the United States, due to easy accessibility to get married there. In 2021, Nevada was also the state with the highest divorce rate in the country.

In 2022, Nevada had the highest marriage rate in the United States, with **** marriages per 1,000 residents. Hawaii had the second-highest marriage rate, at **** marriages per 1,000 residents. The falling marriage rate Perhaps unsurprisingly, the marriage rate in the United States has fallen since 1990, although it has leveled off in the past decade. This means that fewer and fewer people are getting married than in years past, particularly as views about marriage have changed in the U.S. However, despite changing perceptions about marriage and a falling marriage rate, there were more married couples in the United States in 2021 than there were in 1960. First comes love, then comes marriage Weddings and marriage have changed in the United States recently as people have been staying single longer, and especially as gay marriage and interracial marriage have become more socially acceptable. The changing face of America means that love and relationships are changing as well, and what is socially acceptable within a relationship will continue to change with it.

United States Marriage Statistics

Marriage rates by gender, age group, and year in the United States (2005-2017)

By Throwback Thursday [source]

About this dataset

This dataset, titled United States Marriage Status 2005-2017, provides detailed information on marriage rates and population estimates in the United States. The data is sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.

The dataset includes several key attributes that offer insights into different aspects of marriage status. These attributes include Year, Gender, Age Group, Metric, Estimated Percent, and Estimated Population.

The Year attribute represents the year in which the data was collected, spanning from 2005 to 2017. It allows for analysis of trends and changes in marriage rates over time.

The Gender attribute categorizes the population groups based on their gender. This information helps explore any variations or differences between male and female populations in terms of marital status.

Age Group attribute classifies individuals into specific age categories within the population. By segmenting the data based on age groups, it becomes possible to analyze how different age demographics contribute to overall marriage rates.

Metric serves as a descriptor for specific measurements or indicators being reported within this dataset. This attribute provides further context for understanding different aspects related to marriage status and its calculation methods.

Estimated Percent denotes the estimated percentage of a particular population group falling into a specific category related to marital status. It offers valuable insights into relative proportions within each demographic group.

Estimated Population showcases estimated count figures representing various subgroups' populations classified by gender, age groupings, and metric categories specified previously. These estimates allow researchers to explore potential correlations between population sizes and marriage rates across various segments of society over time period covered by this dataset.

Overall, this comprehensive United States Marriage Status dataset provides a valuable resource for analyzing trends in marriage rates while considering gender demographics, age distributions within these populations along with respective metrics indicating changes occurring over time periods marked since 2005 until 2017 (date-range excluding exact dates provided). By exploring relationships among these factors using reliable census data available through American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, researchers can gain deep understanding of marriage status dynamics in the United States

How to use the dataset

• Understand the Columns:

  • Year: This column represents the year in which the data was collected. It provides a timeline for analyzing marriage trends over time.
  • Gender: This column categorizes individuals based on their gender, providing insights into marriage rates and patterns specific to each gender.
  • Age Group: This column categorizes individuals based on their age group. It allows for a detailed analysis of marriage rates and statistics among different age groups.
  • Metric: This column specifies the type of data or measurement being reported, providing clarity on what aspect of marriage is being analyzed.
  • Estimated Percent: This column represents the estimated percentage of individuals within a population group falling into a particular category. It quantifies marriage rates as percentages.
  • Estimated Population: This column provides an estimation of the total population count within a specific category, offering insights into the size and distribution of different population groups.

• Analyzing Trends: Use this dataset to analyze trends in US marriage statistics by leveraging various combinations of columns:

  • Gender vs Metric: Compare different metrics (e.g., number of marriages, divorce rate) between genders, allowing for an understanding of any gender-specific variations in marital trends.
  • Year vs Metric: Study changes in various metrics over time (e.g., changes in average age at first marriage), identifying trends and potential shifts in societal attitudes towards marriage.
  • Age Group vs Metric/Gender/Year: Examine how different age groups contribute to overall marital statistics (e.g., comparing divorce rates among different age groups or analyzing changes over time within specific age cohorts).

• Interpreting Results: When analyzing this dataset's results, keep these factors in mind:

  • Size Differences: Ensure you factor in the estimated population count for eac...

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed. The Urban Institute, in collaboration with Tahirih Justice Center, sought to examine forced marriages in the United States via an exploratory study of the victimization experiences of those subjected to and threatened with forced marriage. The study also sought to begin to understand elements at the intersection of forced marriage with intimate partner and sexual violence, such as: how perpetrators threaten and actually force victims into marriages; the elements of force, fraud, or coercion in the tactics used to carry out victimization; other case demographics and dynamics (e.g., overseas marriages versus those in the United States); factors that put individuals at risk of forced marriage or that trigger or elevate their risk of related abuses; help-seeking behavior; the role of social, cultural, and religious norms in forced marriage; and the ability (or lack thereof) of service providers, school officials, and government agencies with protection mandates (law enforcement, child protection, and social workers) to screen for, and respond to, potential and reported cases of forced marriage. This collection contains 1 Stata file: ICPSR-Data-File.dta (21007 cases; 48 variables). The qualitative data are not available as part of this data collection at this time.

In 2022, there were 67.85 million married men and 68.45 million married women living in the United States. This is compared to 3.7 million widowed men and 11.48 million widowed women.

Marriage in the United States

Nevada had the highest marriage rate in the United States in 2021, followed by Hawaii and Montana. This can be attributed to marriage accessibility in the state. Las Vegas weddings are known for being quick, easy, and inexpensive chapel weddings. In comparison to the cheap weddings available in Las Vegas, the average expenditure for a wedding in the United States was the highest in New Jersey, clocking in at 51,000 U.S. dollars.

Same-sex marriage

The number of Americans who think that same-sex marriage should be recognized by law has more than doubled since 1996, while the number of Americans who think it should not be valid has decreased. It was not until June 26, 2015 that the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Before then, it was up to the states to decide if they allowed same-sex marriage. States in the Southeast are the most opposed to same-sex marriage, whereas the strongest support comes from Northern coastal states.

This file contains demographic data for marriages occurring in the United States during the 1987 calendar year. The data were taken from marriage certificates registered with the vital statistics offices of 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The certificates for each state were chosen at one of five sampling rates (5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 percent), depending on the total number of marriages performed in the state during the year. Each record includes a weight factor based on the sampling fraction of the reporting state. The demographic data collected include age, race, previous marital status, number of this marriage, education, and natality of both the bride and groom. Information about the marriage ceremony itself includes the month, day, and week of the marriage, and the type of ceremony.

Contemporary local level marriage and divorce administrative data are not readily available. This can limit understanding of geographic variation in marriage and divorce, particularly for areas with small populations. There is no centralized location or agency responsible for providing administrative data on marriage and divorce at the local level. This project amassed, assembled, and cleaned administrative marriage and divorce counts, including counts of same-sex marriages, providing the first and only documentation of administrative data on same-sex marriages. Data have been harmonized spatiotemporally in a format to aid researchers in linking marriage and divorce data to other data sources by county, state, and year.

The Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation was launched in 2003 to develop, to implement, and to test the effectiveness of a program aimed at strengthening low-income couples' marriages as one approach for supporting stable and nurturing family environments and parents' and children's well-being. The evaluation was led by MDRC and was sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services.The SHM program was a voluntary yearlong marriage education program for low-income married couples who had children or were expecting a child. The program provided a series of group workshops based on structured curricula designed to enhance couples' relationships; supplemental activities to build on workshop themes; and family support services to address participation barriers, connect families with other services, and reinforce curricular themes. The study sample consists of 6,298 couples (12,596 adult sample members) who were expecting a child or had a child under 18 years old at the time of study entry. The sample consists primarily of low-to-modest income, married couples with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. In each family, one child was randomly selected to be the focus of any child-related measures gathered in the data collection activities. These children ranged from pre-birth to 14 years old at the time of enrollment in the study. Follow-up interviews were conducted at 12 and 30 months after baseline data collection. More detail is provided in the study documentation. Units of Response: Low-income married couples with children Type of Data: Evaluation Tribal Data: No COVID-19 Data: No Periodicity: One-time SORN: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/19/2022-20139/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records Data Use Agreement: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/rpxlogin Data Use Agreement Location: https://www.childandfamilydataarchive.org/cfda/archives/cfda/studies/36852/datadocumentation Equity Indicators: Sex Granularity: Household;Individual Spatial: United States Geocoding: Unavailable

Number of People Never Married By Year

Number of People Never Married By Year in the US

By Andy Kriebel [source]

About this dataset

This dataset provides a comprehensive look at the changing trends in marriage and divorce over the years in the United States. It includes data on gender, age range, and year for those who have never been married – examining who is deciding to forgo tying the knot in today’s society. Diving into this data may offer insight into how life-changing decisions are being made as customs shift along with our times. This could be especially interesting when examined by generation or other trends within our population. Are young adults embracing or avoiding marriage? Has divorce become more or less common within certain social groups? Can recent economic challenges be related to changes in marital status trends? Take a look at this dataset and let us know what stories you find!

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How to use the dataset

This dataset contains surveys which explore the number of never married people in the United States, separated by gender, age range and year. You can use this dataset to analyze the trends in never married people throughout the years and see how it is affected by different demographics.

To make the most out of this dataset you could start by exploring the changes on different ages ranges and genders. Plotting how they differ along time might unveil interesting patterns that can help you uncover why certain groups are more or less likely to remain single throughout time. Understanding these trends could also help people looking for a life-partner better understand their own context as compared to others around them enabling them to make informed decisions about when is a good time for them to find someone special.

In addition, this dataset can be used to examine what acts as an enabler or deterrent for staying single within different couples of age ranges and genders across states. Does marriage look more attractive in any particular state? Are there differences between genders? Knowing all these factors can inform us about economic or social insights within society as well as overall lifestyle choices that tend towards being single or married during one's life cycle in different regions around United States of America.

Finally, with this information policymakers can construct efficient policies that better fit our country's priorities by providing programs designed based on specific characteristics within each group helping ensure they match preferable relationships while having access concentrated resources such actions already taken towards promoting wellbeing our citizens regarding relationships like marriage counseling services or family support centers!

Research Ideas

• Examine the differences in trends of ever-married vs never married people across different age ranges and genders.
• Explore the correlation between life decision changes and economic conditions for ever-married and never married people over time.
• Analyze how marriage trends differ based on region, socio-economic status, or religious beliefs to understand how these influence decisions about marriage

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - Keep intact - all notices that refer to this license, including copyright notices.

Columns

File: Never Married.csv | Column name | Description | |:------------------|:--------------------------------------------------------| | Gender | Gender of the individual. (String) | | Age Range | Age range of the individual. (String) | | Year | Year of the data. (Integer) | | Never Married | Number of people who have never been married. (Integer) |

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please ...

This file contains demographic data for marriages occurring in the United States during the 1990 calendar year. The data were taken from marriage certificates registered with the vital statistics offices of 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The certificates for each state were chosen at one of five sampling rates (5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 percent), depending on the total number of marriages performed in the state during the year. Each record includes a weight factor based on the sampling fraction of the reporting state. The demographic data collected include age, race, previous marital status, number of this marriage, education, and natality of both the bride and groom. Information about the marriage ceremony itself includes month, day, and week of marriage and type of ceremony.

This layer shows current marital status. Counts broken down by sex. This is shown by tract, county, and state boundaries. This service is updated annually to contain the most currently released American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data, and contains estimates and margins of error. There are also additional calculated attributes related to this topic, which can be mapped or used within analysis. This layer is symbolized by the percentage of adults who are married. To see the full list of attributes available in this service, go to the "Data" tab, and choose "Fields" at the top right. Current Vintage: 2019-2023ACS Table(s): B12001Data downloaded from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey Date of API call: December 12, 2024National Figures: data.census.govThe United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS):About the SurveyGeography & ACSTechnical DocumentationNews & UpdatesThis ready-to-use layer can be used within ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, its configurable apps, dashboards, Story Maps, custom apps, and mobile apps. Data can also be exported for offline workflows. For more information about ACS layers, visit the FAQ. Please cite the Census and ACS when using this data.Data Note from the Census:Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.Data Processing Notes:This layer is updated automatically when the most current vintage of ACS data is released each year, usually in December. The layer always contains the latest available ACS 5-year estimates. It is updated annually within days of the Census Bureau's release schedule. Click here to learn more about ACS data releases.Boundaries come from the US Census TIGER geodatabases, specifically, the National Sub-State Geography Database (named tlgdb_(year)_a_us_substategeo.gdb). Boundaries are updated at the same time as the data updates (annually), and the boundary vintage appropriately matches the data vintage as specified by the Census. These are Census boundaries with water and/or coastlines erased for cartographic and mapping purposes. For census tracts, the water cutouts are derived from a subset of the 2020 Areal Hydrography boundaries offered by TIGER. Water bodies and rivers which are 50 million square meters or larger (mid to large sized water bodies) are erased from the tract level boundaries, as well as additional important features. For state and county boundaries, the water and coastlines are derived from the coastlines of the 2023 500k TIGER Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles. These are erased to more accurately portray the coastlines and Great Lakes. The original AWATER and ALAND fields are still available as attributes within the data table (units are square meters).The States layer contains 52 records - all US states, Washington D.C., and Puerto RicoCensus tracts with no population that occur in areas of water, such as oceans, are removed from this data service (Census Tracts beginning with 99).Percentages and derived counts, and associated margins of error, are calculated values (that can be identified by the "_calc_" stub in the field name), and abide by the specifications defined by the American Community Survey.Field alias names were created based on the Table Shells file available from the American Community Survey Summary File Documentation page.Negative values (e.g., -4444...) have been set to null, with the exception of -5555... which has been set to zero. These negative values exist in the raw API data to indicate the following situations:The margin of error column indicates that either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute a standard error and thus the margin of error. A statistical test is not appropriate.Either no sample observations or too few sample observations were available to compute an estimate, or a ratio of medians cannot be calculated because one or both of the median estimates falls in the lowest interval or upper interval of an open-ended distribution.The median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution, or in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution. A statistical test is not appropriate.The estimate is controlled. A statistical test for sampling variability is not appropriate.The data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

This statistic shows the intermarriage rate in the United States in 2013 by race and ethnicity. In 2013, 7 percent of white newlyweds were married to someone of a different race/ethnicity.

Graph and download economic data for Family Households with Married Couples (FHHWMC) from 1940 to 2024 about married, family, household survey, households, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Married Women (LNS14000315) from Jan 1955 to Sep 2025 about married, females, 16 years +, household survey, unemployment, rate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employment Level Married Men (LNU02000150) from Jan 1955 to Sep 2025 about married, males, 16 years +, household survey, employment, and USA.

As of 2022, about 7.8 million married couples were of Hispanic origin in the United States. In total, there were about 63.19 million married couples living in the United States in that year.

Graph and download economic data for Total Families with Children under 18 Years Old with Married Couple (FMLWCUMC) from 1950 to 2024 about married, 18 years +, family, child, household survey, and USA.

Age at First Marriage in America

The Effect of Population Density

By Andy Kriebel [source]

About this dataset

This dataset contains information on the median age at first marriage for women in the United States. The data is broken down by county, and includes information on population density, FIPS code, and county type

How to use the dataset

This dataset contains information on the age at first marriage for women in the United States. The data is broken down by state, county, and year. To use this dataset, you can choose to either download the entire dataset or select specific states, counties, and years of interest. If you select specific states, counties, and years of interest, be sure to filter the data accordingly

Research Ideas

To find out which states have the oldest or youngest median ages at first marriage. To understand how population density may affect the median age at first marriage. To compare the median age at first marriage across different types of counties

Acknowledgements

Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - Keep intact - all notices that refer to this license, including copyright notices.

Columns

File: Median Age at First Marriage .csv | Column name | Description | |:---------------------------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FIPS | The Federal Information Processing Standard code for each county. (String) | | Name | The name of the county. (String) | | Type | The type of county. (String) | | TimeFrame | The timeframe of the data. (String) | | Median Age | The median age at first marriage for women in the county. (Float) | | Population Density per Sq Mi | The population density of the county. (Float) |

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit Andy Kriebel.

This map shows the percentage of the population that is married. Data is available for Country, Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), Local Government Area (LGA), Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) and 2 (SA2), and State Suburb (SSC) boundaries.This map contains layers that contain some of the more commonly used variables from the General Community Profile information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 census. Data is available for Country, Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), Local Government Area (LGA), Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) and 2 (SA2), and Suburb and Localities (SAL) boundaries.The General Community Profile contains a series of tables showing the characteristics of persons, families and dwellings in a selected geographic area. The data is based on place of usual residence (that is, where people usually live, rather than where they were counted on Census night). Community Profiles are excellent tools for researching, planning and analysing geographic areas for a number of social, economic and demographic characteristics.Download the data here.Data and Geography notes:View the Readme files located in the DataPacks and GeoPackages zip files.To access the 2021 DataPacks, visit https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/datapacksGlossary terms and definitions of classifications can be found in the 2021 Census DictionaryMore information about Census data products is available at https://www.abs.gov.au/census/guide-census-data/about-census-tools/datapacksDetailed geography information: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/main-structure-and-greater-capital-city-statistical-areas: 2021 Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1), 2021 Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), 2021 Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA), 2021 Australia (AUS)https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/non-abs-structures: 2021 Suburbs and Localities (SAL), 2021 Local Government Areas (LGA)Please note that there are data assumptions that should be considered when analysing the ABS Census data. These are detailed within the Census documents referenced above. These include:Registered Marital StatusIn December 2017, amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 came into effect enabling marriage equality for all couples. For 2021, registered marriages include all couples.Core Activity Need for AssistanceMeasures the number of people with a profound or severe core activity limitation. People with a profound or severe core activity limitation are those needing assistance in their day to day lives in one or more of the three core activity areas of self-care, mobility and communication because of a long-term health condition (lasting six months or more), a disability (lasting six months or more), or old age. Number of Motor VehiclesExcludes motorbikes, motor scooters and heavy vehicles.Please note that there are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals.Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics