Does Having a College Degree Improve Your Chances of Getting Married?
June 11, 2026
One of the more common defenses of higher education is that, even if its economic return is declining, it still delivers important social benefits. Among the benefits most commonly cited is that college graduates marry at higher rates than non-graduates.
Ostensibly, the case seems strong. Since the 1960s, marriage rates between educated and non-educated groups have widened dramatically, with college graduates today far more likely to be married than their non-college peers. But, in my reading of available data, attending college has almost nothing to do with higher marriage rates—and I suspect, in many cases, it may even harm marriage prospects.
