Refined Marriage Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2023

Family Profile No. 25, 2024
Author: Krista Westrick-Payne

This profile is the most recent in our long-running series on geographic variation in the refined marriage rate in the United States. For the U.S., each state, and Washington, DC, we present the refined rate—defined here as the number of women who married in the past 12 months per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15 and older (Siegel & Swanson, 2004). In short, these estimates represent the population “at risk” of marriage and differ from crude marriage rates (number of marriages per 1,000 total population) published by NCHS and general marriage rates (number of marriages per 1,000 population aged 15 and older) published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Given significant state-level variation in both age composition and sex ratios, the refined rate is a superior demographic measure of marital behavior (Ruggles, 2012). Data for these estimates come from the most recent release of the American Community Survey and represent the year 2023. The margins of error (at a 90% confidence interval) were also calculated and are presented alongside the refined rates. For detailed information on the refined marriage rate from 2008-2023, see “Charting Marriage & Divorce in the U.S.: The Refined Marriage Rate” (Westrick-Payne, 2024).

Five Highest and Lowest Marriage Rates, 2023

Data Sources:
Clarke. S. C. (1995). Advanced report of final marriage statistics, 1989 and 1990. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 42(12). National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv43_12s.pdf

National Center for Health Statistics (1974). Summary report final marriage statistics, 1970. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 23(2), Supp.1. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv23_02s1acc.pdf

National Center for Health Statistics (1983). Advance report of final marriage statistics, 1980. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 32(5), Supp. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv32_05s.pdf

National Center for Health Statistics (2001). Births, marriages, divorces, and deaths: Provisional data for January-December 2000. National Vital Statistics Report, 49(6), Associated Table 3. Department of Health & Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr49/nvsr49_06.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau (2024). American Community Survey, 2021 - 2023 1-Year Estimates [Table B12001]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12001&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12001

U.S. Census Bureau (2024). American Community Survey, 2021 - 2023 1-Year Estimates [Table B12501]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12501&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12501

U.S. Census Bureau (2021). American Community Survey, 2020 1-year Experimental PUMS

References:
Allred, C. (2019). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2018. Family Profiles, FP-19-22. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-19-22

Cruz, J. (2013). Marriage Rate in the U.S., 2011. Family Profiles, FP-13-11. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research.  Retrieved from https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/FP-13-11.pdf

Faust, K. A. (2004). Marriage, Divorce, and Family Groups. In J. S. Siegel & D. A. Swanson (Eds.), The Methods and Materials of Demography (2nd ed.). Elsevier Academic Press.

Hemez, P. (2016). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2015. Family Profiles, FP-16-22. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-16-22

Hemez, P. (2017). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2016. Family Profiles, FP-17-25. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-17-25

Juteau, G.  (2022). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2021. Family Profiles, FP-22-25. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-25

Loo, J.  (2023). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2022. Family Profiles, FP-23-23. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-23-23

Payne, K. K. (2009). Marriage Rate in the U.S., 2008. Family Profiles, FP-09-01. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. Retrieved from https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/FP-09-01.pdf  

Payne, K. K. (2014). Marriage Rate in the U.S., 2013. Family Profiles, FP-14-15. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research.  Retrieved from https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/FP-14-15-marriage-rate-2013.pdf

Reynolds, L (2020). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2019. Family Profiles, FP-20-24. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-20-24

Ruggles, S. (2012). The future of historical family demography. Annual Review of Sociology, 38(18), 423-441. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145533

Schweizer, V. J. (2018). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2017. Family Profiles, FP-18-20. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-18-20

Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2022). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2020. Family Profiles, FP-22-07. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-07

Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2024). Charting marriage and divorce in the U.S.: The adjusted marriage rate. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research.  

Wu, H. (2015). Marriage Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2014. Family Profiles, FP-15-20. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/wu-marriage-rate-geo-2014-fp-15-20.html

Suggested Citation:
Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2024). Marriage rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2023. Family Profiles, FP-24-25. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-24-25

This project is supported with assistance from Bowling Green State University. From 2007 to 2013, support was also provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the state or federal government.