Median Age at First Marriage: Geographic Variation, 2022

• The U.S. median age at first marriage remains stable and high (FP-24-07).
• Since 2008, the age at first marriage for males has increased by 2.5 years, and in 2022 was 30.5. Among females the median age at first marriage has increased by 2.4 years since 2008 and in 2022 was 28.6 years of age (Figure 1).

¹ The standard 2020 ACS 1-year data products were not released due to the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection and data quality (for more information click here).

• Males living in Washington D.C. had the highest median age at first marriage at 32.5 years. Conversely, males in Wyoming had the youngest median age at first marriage of 27.0.
• Females who lived in Washington D.C. experienced the highest median age at first marriage (30.7), while females living in Utah had the lowest at 25.3.

Table 1. Median Age at First Marriage, 2022: Males’ Top & Bottom Five States

The state rankings are divided into quartiles with error bars representing the margins of error (MOE). The MOEs for published ACS estimates are provided at a 90% confidence level.

• Among both males and females, the states in the top quartile were significantly above the national median. The top quartile consisted of ages 31.0 years and older for males and 29.2 years and older females.
• The states falling in the bottom quartile had median ages at first marriage of 28.8 years or younger for males and 26.8 years or younger among females. The median age at marriage for the states in the bottom quartile were significantly below the national average.
• Among males and females, most states in the Northeast region had high ages at first marriage—78% among females and 56% among males were in the fourth quartile.
• For males and females, most Midwestern & Southern states exhibited ages at first marriage in the bottom two quartiles.
• Western states had ages spread throughout all quartiles for both males and females.