While the typical marriage age keeps rising, it remains young in these states

The age at which a person decides to get married is less dependent on a specific time frame and has more to do with various circumstances and external influences, according to data from the Census Bureau.

NYC Vital Records analyzed the 2023 Census, which shows half of women in the United States get married before turning 28. That number varies based on location: In Utah, the average marrying age is 25; in New York and Rhode Island, it increases to 30.

The median age for men getting married is 29, although their marrying age also ranges from under 27 in Utah to 35 in Puerto Rico.

The typical marrying age in the U.S. has steadily crept up over the past several decades after hovering between 20 and 22 for women and 22 and 24 for men, from the World War II era until the early 1980s.

Several factors—education, religion, shifting social norms—have influenced people’s decision to tie the knot. Those with a college degree tend to put off marriage longer than those with fewer years of schooling. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, with greater approval of premarital sex, many Christians in this country are putting off marriage in favor of both casual and committed sexual relationships.

Additionally, delayed adult milestones such as landing a full-time job, living independently, and achieving financial independence might be pushing up the marrying age as well. In 1980, at least 3 in 5 (64%) 21-year-olds had full-time jobs, compared with nearly 2 in 5 (39%) in 2021, according to a May 2023 analysis by Richard Fry, senior researcher on economics and education at Pew.

Generational shifts have also led to Americans delaying marriage. The feminist movement that ushered more women into the workplace, boosting financial independence, has also given women more options. Nearly 40 years ago, roughly half of women did not have independent earnings. Now, the opportunity to be selective about a lifelong partner and when to start a family has made getting married “less of an economic necessity” for many women, according to Brookings Institution researchers Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney.

Evolving social norms have also increased the marrying age. Couples living together before marriage are becoming more acceptable, according to a 2019 Pew survey, with many cohabiting couples saying they are happy in their relationships without tying the knot.

NYC Vital Records

A steady rise in marriage age

The typical age of marriage among Americans began trending upward as far back as World War II.

When war broke out in 1939, and men went to serve in the military overseas, many delayed marriage until their hopeful return. Back home, women began entering the workforce to fill in for roles traditionally held by men while they were away.

When the war ended in 1945, marriages spiked, and soon after, so did births, ultimately leading to the 1946-1964 baby boom. Census historical marital status data shows that in 1940, men in the U.S. typically got married by 24, while women did so at 21. In 1950, that age dropped to 22 and 20, respectively.

By 1950, around 4 in 5 young college-aged married women were not working outside the home, but a second feminist wave was well on its way. By the late 1960s and 1970s, women were again entering the workforce—and trends show working women get married at a later age.

NYC Vital Records

A marriage trend among young women

Even with the typical age of marriage increasing over the years, location also impacts this phenomenon.

Census data shows that over the last decade, the median age of a man’s first marriage has dropped at least half a year in states such as Mississippi, South Dakota, and West Virginia. For women, New Mexico is the only state where a similar decrease (of at least half a year) has occurred.

In Utah, which has the largest Mormon population in the nation, the youngest median age for women getting married is 26. In northern Virginia, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will encourage young people to prioritize marriage over education. In Idaho and Arkansas, one of the country’s most religious states, the typical age of marriage for women is 26.

The youngest median age for men in Utah is 26, while men in South Dakota and Mississippi— two other top religious U.S. states—tie at 27.

At the other end of the spectrum, Puerto Rico has one of the oldest median ages for women and men getting married at 35. One contributing factor to this could be a major overall population decrease in the island. The population of people ages 20 to 24 dropped 18.8% from 2014 to 2023, while that of people ages 25 to 44 lowered 10.5%. That is, there were approximately 1 in 7 fewer Puerto Ricans between 20 and 44 years of age during that period.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. and Massachusetts—states with the highest rates of women with college degrees between ages 25 and 64—the median age for marriage is 31 and 30, respectively. For men, the second and third highest median ages for getting married have been reported in Hawai’i and New York at 32.

While single-parent families tend to have worse economic outcomes, particularly for children, the good news is that stability—and therefore, higher family income—tends to rise when people wait to tie the knot later in life, according to Greenstone and Looney at Brookings.

Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Sofía Jarrín. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.

This story originally appeared on NYC Vital Records and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.