How Many Americans Are Marriage Material?
September 29, 2023
It used to be that an overwhelming majority of Americans married, and an overwhelming majority of American children were raised within two-parent families. Over the past six decades this has changed. Now, roughly 40 percent of children are born outside of wedlock and about a quarter live in single-parent homes. The share of Americans who are married has fallen significantly since 1960, with a further decline portended by the marriage rates of the younger generations.
But it hasn’t changed for everyone. The rich and well educated still marry — not quite at 1950s rates, but something close. It’s the poor and working class and (increasingly) middle class who don’t.
