Age at First Marriage

Social scientists view marriage as a social institution that is influenced by cultural and economic factors. The influence of societal changes on the institution of marriage is illustrated by the variations in age at first marriage in the United States over the course of the 20th century. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in 1900 the median age at first marriage was 21.6 years for women and 25.9 years for men. Age at first marriage declined through the first part of the 20th century until reaching the youngest ages in 1950s. In 1950, the median age at first marriage was 20.3 for women and 22.8 for men. The 1950s was characterized by unprecedented economic growth; by the mid-1950s, the percentage of the population that had a middle-class income level almost doubled compared to the 1920s. Such economic prosperity meant that people married and had children at earlier ages. Compared to earlier decades, more people married, had more children, and were less likely to divorce.

These changes in marriage were relatively shortlived. Since the 1950s, age at marriage for both women and men has steadily increased; in 2003, only 50 percent of women were married by the age of 25, and 50 percent of men married by the age of 27. Results from a recent General Social Survey indicate that most people believe that marriage should occur after completion of education, obtaining a full-time job, and reaching financial independence. In general, people indicate that 25 years old is the right time to marry, while those who are college educated assert that 27 is the ideal age.

The increasing age at first marriage in the United States is also consistent with changes in other countries. Young adults marry at later ages in more industrialized and urban societies compared to less industrialized and more rural societies, although age at first marriage is also increasing in less industrialized and more rural areas of the world. The average age at first marriage in Japan is 28 years for women. In contrast, many women in sub-Saharan Africa marry before the age of 20. Also consistent across cultures, men marry at older ages than women and are commonly several years older than their wives. Although gender roles are changing in the United States and other industrialized nations, men are still expected to demonstrate that they are able to support a family before they marry. These social norms are likely to contribute to the older age at first marriage for men. Additionally, some researchers speculate that men prefer young brides because younger women are more fertile.

A significant portion of couples in the United States are homogeneous with respect to age; in other words, couples are comprised of partners similar in age. According to 2000 Census Bureau data, 31.8 percent of married couples had an age difference of 1 year or less. Couples involving a slightly older husband are more common than couples comprised of an older wife. In 2000, 12.3 of married women were 2 or more years older than their husbands; in contrast, 36.3 percent of married couples in 2000 were comprised of a husband 2 to 5 years older than the wife. This pattern is even more pronounced when looking at larger disparities of the age of marital partners. In 2000, 19.6 percent of couples were comprised of a husband 6 or more years older than the wife, while only 3.3 percent of married couples were comprised of a woman 6 or more years older than the husband. Women in their second marriages are more likely to have an older husband than women in their first marriage.

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