Americans have continued to put off getting married for the first time, according to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Both men and women have reached a record average age for their first marital commitment: 28.2 for men and 26.1 for women—the highest since the Census Bureau began keeping such records in 1890. The country has been trending towards waiting longer to walk down the aisle for 50 years now, going back to 1960, when men on average were under 23 and women a little more than 20 years old. The youngest median age came in 1956, when men’s age at first marriage was 22.5 and women’s was 20.1.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Married, More or Less (by Philip N. Cohen, Family Inequality)

Estimated Media Age at First Marriage, by Sex (U.S. Census Bureau) (xls)

Age at First Marriage Hits Record High (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)