More Americans are getting married for the first time in their 40s and 50s. According to the Journal of Marriage and Family, since 1990, the midlife-first-marriage rate has increased by 75% for women and 45% for men.
According to a new Pew Research study, 25% of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married, which is a record high. People born from the 1960s onward have been increasingly delaying marriage or forgoing it altogether.
In 1980, just 6% of 40-year-olds had never been married. In 2010, it was 20%. In 2021, it rose to 25%.
Researchers say that’s a significant increase and marks a new milestone in a decadeslong trend.
Breaking it down by demographics, men are more likely than women to have never married, and Black 40-year-olds were much more likely to be single compared to other races.
Education is also a factor. Most single 40-year-olds don’t have a college degree.
Education level is notable because the share of 40-year-olds who had completed a bachelor’s degree in 2021 was nearly double what it was in 1980. But the growth of this group has not reversed the overall trend of delaying marriage.
While many unmarried 40-year-olds are living with a romantic partner, most are not. In 2022, only 22% of never-married adults aged 40-44 were cohabiting.
The good news for those 40 years old or older and looking for love, 1 in 4 unmarried 40-year-olds who had not married in 2001 had done so by age 60. Which means many of today’s “never-married” 40-year-olds will marry in the coming decades.
