After falling to a historic low during the COVID-19 pandemic, marriages in the United States saw a significant rebound in 2022 and surged past the 2 million mark for the first time since 2019, new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
“Across the nation, 36 states and the District of Columbia reported marriage rates in 2022 that either matched or exceeded the levels seen in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote Brian Tsai, a public affairs specialist at the CDC National Center for Health Statistics, in a post last week.Â
A 2020 report from the National Center for Health Statistics examining marriage data from 1900–2018 reveals the marriage rate reaching what was then recorded as its lowest point in more than 100 years.
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The report, which focuses on the marriage rate per 1,000 population, found that from 2017 to 2018, the rate dropped 6%, from 6.9 per 1,000 population to 6.5. That was the lowest marriage rate on record for the period studied.
In 2018, despite recording its lowest rate in more than 100 years, America recorded 2,132,853 marriages in a recorded population of 327,167,434 at the time. The marriage rate fell even lower in 2019 to 6.1 per 1,000 population. Still, in that year, there were some 2,015,603 marriages in a recorded population of 328,239,523.
In 2020, the year the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of marriages recorded tumbled to 1,676,911 in a population of 329,484,123 for a rate of 5.1 per 1,000. That rate became the lowest recorded marriage rate in U.S. history since 1900.
In 2021, the number of marriages nationally increased to 1,985,072 in a recorded population of 331,893,745. The marriage rate increased to 6.0.
In 2022, the number of marriages continued to rise nationally to 2,065,905 in a recorded population of 333,287,557 to give a marriage rate of 6.2.
The states with the most substantial percentage increase in marriages from 2021 to 2022 were New York, 21%; the District of Columbia, 14%; and Hawaii, 13%.
Though its marriage rate declined by 1% in 2022, Nevada maintained its status as the state with the highest marriage rate (25.9). Hawaii, 14.4; Montana, 9.9; Utah, 9.9; and Arkansas, 7.9, round out the states with the top five highest marriage rates in America.
The District of Columbia also had a marriage rate of 8.3, making it a popular area for marriage. Researchers noted, however, that while the marriages may have occurred in certain states and D.C., it does not necessarily indicate that the couples are residents of the states where they choose to marry.
According to the 2020 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, the marriage rate reached its lowest point in more than 100 years in 2018 due to changing norms and economic insecurity.
Marriage has been shown to positively impact society in health outcomes, longevity and economic security.
In the report, statisticians Sally Curtin and Paul D. Sutton said that while adults have increasingly postponed marriage, a record number of current youth and young adults are also projected to forego marriage altogether.
Other research, such as Mismatches in the Marriage Market by Daniel T. Lichter of Cornell University, Joseph P. Price of Brigham Young University, and Jeffrey M. Swigert of Southern Utah University, highlights how various economic factors have resulted in marriage increasingly becoming a status symbol of wealth.
Many successful women had to choose to remain unmarried or settle for men who earned less than $53,000 and lacked a college degree.
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