Married Folks Are "Almost" A Minority At 51 Percent
Pew recently released a study announcing that the United States married population has dropped considerably since the 1960s! Today, of people 18 years old and up, only 51 percent are married. But in 1960, that number was more like 72 percent. While I'm sure (very sure) some folks will use this to clutch their pearls and start screaming about feminists or whatever, the reality is ... who gets married out of high school anymore?
Because that's what they used to do in 1960.
My mother, repeatedly, told myself and my sisters none of us needed to get married until we were 30. I still got married at 25 anyway (and saw that crash n' burn), but my sisters are still counted among the "never-marrieds." But most of my friends from school in good ol' Missouri got married in their mid-20s as well. Almost all have kids. The median age of first marriages for women has gone up to 26.5 according to Pew. For men it's around 28, and that hardly seems shocking or disturbing. Especially when most people delay marriage for college and career these days. It's only natural that the statistics would reflect that trend.
We're not looking at people "not marrying" so much as we're looking at people waiting much longer to settle down and get married. Never mind the multitudes of people who feel they need to be at a certain level financially before they get married -- which I often feels accounts for the low marriage rate among African American men and women (among other things, also education and income-related). But, you know? Panic accordingly.
Pew, marriage, marriage crisis 
Reader Comments (4)
i'm not sure if it's that alarming.
the married/widowed/divorced crowd in '72 was 85 percent of the population. now it's 72 percent of the population. so the majority of folks are still getting married, more are just not staying married. which is a sign of the times.
panicking. thanks.
This don't bode [to be an omen of ] well for black folks, this is a sign of just how low we have sunk we can't see value in the most honorable thing [marriage].
Marriage is over-rated! I think most people (particularly women) are in love with the "idea" of marriage, and to have their "princess for a day" moment...But in reality, marriage is tons of work, and when you go, there is ton's more crap with it to boot. If marriage was so honorable, and so "worth it" I think more people would be signing up for it...It just isn't - the marriage myth = imprisonment, or the minimum, indentured servitude...Price to get in high...price to get out? higher!