Marriage in the United States is a legal, social, and religious institution. The marriage age is set by each state and territory, either by statute or the common law applies. An individual may marry without parental consent or other authorization on reaching 18 years of age in all states except in Nebraska (where the general marriage age is 19) and Mississippi (where the general marriage age is 21.) In Puerto Rico the general marriage age is also 21. In all these jurisdictions, these are also the ages of majority. In Alabama, however, the age of majority is 19, while the general marriage age is 18. Most states also set a lower age at which underage persons are able to marry with parental or judicial consent.
Marriage laws have changed considerably over time, including the removal of bans on interracial marriage and same-sex marriage. In 2009, there were 2,077,000 marriages, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The median age for the first marriage has increased in recent years. The median age in the early 1970s was 23 for men and 21 for women; and it rose to 28 for men and 26 for women by 2009 and by 2017, it was 29.5 for men and 27.4 for women.
Marriages vary considerably in terms of religion, socioeconomic status, age, commitment, and so forth. Reasons for marrying may include a desire to have children, love, or economic security. Marriage has been in some instances used for the sole purpose of gaining a green card or facilitating full citizenship; the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 are among laws that are used to prevent their recognition for immigration purposes, and a marriage visa can be obtained in advance of entry of the non-national where there is a long-term, committed relationship demonstrable. In 2003, 184,741 immigrants were admitted as spouses of US citizens.
Marriages can be terminated by annulment, divorce or death of a spouse. Divorce (known as dissolution of marriage in some states) laws vary by state, and address issues such as how the two spouses bifurcate their property, how children will be cared for, and support obligations of one spouse toward the other. Since the late 1960s, divorce has become more prevalent. Divorce rates in 2005 were four times the divorce rates in 1955, and a quarter of children less than 16 years old were raised by a stepparent. Divorce rates peaked in 1979, and had dropped by more than a third by the early 2020s. In 2009, it was found that marriages that end in divorce lasted for a median of 8 years. As a rough rule, marriage has more legal ramifications than other types of bonds between consenting adults. A civil union is "a formal union between two people of the same or of different genders which results in, but falls short of, marriage-like rights and obligations," according to one view. Domestic partnerships are a version of civil unions. Registration and recognition are functions of states, localities, or employers; such unions may be available to couples of the same sex and, sometimes, opposite sex. Cohabitation to a certain extent is an expectation of marriage, in which context it means living together, a term also applied to when two unmarried people live together and have an intimate or loving relationship.
Interjurisdictional recognition All U.S. jurisdictions recognize all validly contracted out-of-state marriages under their laws of comity and choice of law/conflict of laws rules - including marriages that cannot be legally contracted domestically. Likewise, an invalidly contracted out-of-state marriage will not be valid domestically, even if it could have been validly contracted domestically. For example, California allows first cousins to marry but Nevada does not. If two first cousins attempt to marry in Nevada, that marriage will not be valid in either Nevada or California, notwithstanding it could be legally contracted in California. But if they attempt to marry in California, their attempt will be successful and the marriage will be valid in both California and Nevada, notwithstanding the marriage could not be legally contracted in Nevada. This may lead to jurisdiction shopping.
History
The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States.
When the country was founded in the 1770s, marriage between whites and non-whites was in many states forbidden due to the racist attitudes of the time. Nine states, including the most recent two, never passed any law clearly forbidding such a marriage. In 1948, the California Supreme Court became the first state high court to declare the state's ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rendered unenforceable remaining interracial marriage laws – these had been applicable in sixteen states forming the south-east of the United States – in Loving v. Virginia. It struck down the law directly in that state. In 2000, Alabama became the last state to adapt its laws to the Supreme Court's decision, when 60% of voters endorsed a ballot initiative that removed anti-miscegenation language from the state constitution.
Expectations of a marriage partner have changed over time. Second U.S. President John Adams wrote in his diary that the ideal spouse was willing to "palliate faults and mistakes, to put the best construction upon words and actions, and to forgive injuries." A 1940 paper by a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania reported that male students resisted the idea of marrying a girl who they suspected had sex with another man. The sexual revolution in 1960s United States altered this norm for many.
Over the last 50 years, Americans increasingly choose not to marry. The proportion of Americans age 25–50 who had never married rose from 9% in 1970 to 35% in 2018. They also increasingly find themselves in a household without a partner: the proportion of Americans age 25–54 who were not currently living with a partner (whether married or unmarried) rose from 29% in 1990 to 38% in 2019. Susan Brown, co-director of the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, said the number of women marrying for the first time between the ages of 40 and 59 has increased 75 percent since 1990.
Demographics
Marital status by age group in 2004
In 2004 the U.S. Census Bureau measured the marital status of U.S. residents, showing several trends. While about 96% of residents in their 70s and 80s were married at least once, many were widowed due to the death of their spouses. In addition, a large portion of middle-aged Americans are either divorced, legally separated, or informally separated. Of those who were "separated or divorced," approximately 74% were legally divorced, 15% were "separated," and 11% were listed as having an "absent spouse."
Marital status in the U.S. in the year 2000
The four maps on the right shows the pattern of married, widowed, separated, and divorced households in the United States in the year 2000. The map on the bottom left shows that the west coast had the highest percentages of households to go through divorce. According to the map bottom right of the census chart the south east coast and New Orleans had the highest percentage of separated houses in the U.S. The northeast had the highest percentages of marriages. The highest percentages of widowed households was in the Midwest.
Trends and census data of 2006–2021
As of 2006, 55.7% of Americans age 18 and over were married. According to the 2008–2010 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates, 51.5% of males and 47.7% of females over the age of 15 were married. The separation rate was 1.8% for males and 2.5% for females. Rates of marriage are falling rapidly in the US.
African Americans have married the least of all of the predominant ethnic groups in the U.S. with a 29.9% marriage rate, but have the highest separation rate which is 4.5%. Native Americans have the second lowest marriage rate with 37.9%. Hispanics have a 45.1% marriage rate, with a 3.5% separation rate.
In the United States, the two ethnic groups with the highest marriage rates included Asians with 58.5% and Whites with 52.9%. Asians have the lowest rate of divorce among the main groups with 1.8%. Whites, African Americans, and Native Americans have the highest rates of being widowed ranging from 5%–6.5%. They also have the highest rates of divorce among the three, ranging from 11%–13% with Native Americans having the highest divorce rate.
The median age for Americans' first marriage has risen in recent decades, with the median age at first marriage in the early 1970s being 21 for women and 23 for men, and as of 2024, it had risen to 29 for women and 30 for men.
In 2009, 2,077,000 marriages occurred in the United States. From that point on, though, a Pew study found that the number of new marriages declined 5% in just one year (that is, from 2009 to 2010).
According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, the average family income is higher than previous years at $62,770. The percentage of family households below the poverty line in 2011 was 15.1%, higher than in 2000 when it was 11.3%. According to a report in 2013, the percentage of heterosexual couples who marry has fallen dramatically, but couples who marry are more likely to have college degrees and higher income than those who do not marry. Some commentators suggest that marriage in twenty-first century America has become a luxury good.
Studies show that the number of working-age Americans without a partner is on the rise, and a growing number of young people are living together without marriage. Experts often link the long-term decline in marriages to gender equality, financial independence and education. The national marriage rate fell to 5.1 per 1,000 in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the lowest level in 121 years. By 2021, new marriages had almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. 6.0 per 1000 people.
Since the 2010s, the rate of ideological heterogamy has increased dramatically, from about 6 percent in the 1970s to 22 percent today. For every young liberal woman today there are only 0.6 single young liberal men. Likewise, there are only 0.5 unmarried young conservative women for every young conservative man. Statistically, about half of these ideologically minded young singles face the prospect of not being able to find a partner who shares their politics.
Sociology of marriage
Types of marriage Monogamy is when one person marries one other person and is the most common and accepted form of marriage in the United States. Serial monogamy is when individuals are permitted to marry again, often on the death of the first spouse or after divorce; they cannot have more than one spouse at one time because that would be polygamy which in countries with marital monogamy like the US is called bigamy. Polygamy is a form of marriage in which someone marries multiple people at a given time, and is illegal throughout the U.S. Part of the function of looking at marriage from a sociological perspective is to give insight into the reasons behind various marital arrangements.
Reasons for marriage There are several reasons that Americans marry. The desire to have children is one; having a family is a high priority among many Americans. People also desire love, companionship, commitment, continuity, and permanence. There are some reasons for marriage that are ephemeral. These reasons include social legitimacy, social pressure, the desire for a high social status, economic security, rebellion or revenge, or validation of an unplanned pregnancy.
Law