US Marriages Have Made a Rebound

COVID took a toll on nuptials
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 15, 2024 12:21 PM CDT
US Marriages Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels
A couple holds hands as they are married by a county clerk during a Valentine's Day group wedding on the steps of the Dade County Courthouse in Miami, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024.   (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

US marriages have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels with nearly 2.1 million in 2022, a 4% increase from the year before. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the data Friday, but has not released marriage data for last year.

  • In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 1.7 million US weddings—the lowest number recorded since 1963. The pandemic threw many marriage plans into disarray, with communities ordering people to stay at home and banning large gatherings to limit the spread of COVID-19.
  • Marriages then rose in 2021, but not to pre-pandemic levels. They ticked up again in 2022 and surpassed 2019 marriage statistics by a small margin.

  • New York, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii saw the largest increases in marriages from 2021 to 2022. Nevada—home to Las Vegas' famous wedding chapels—continued to have the highest marriage rate in the nation, though it slightly decreased from 2021.
  • The number and rate of US divorces in 2022 fell slightly, continuing a downward trend.
  • Overall, marriages remain far less common than they once were in the US. According to data that goes back to 1900, weddings hit their height in 1946, when the marriage rate was 16.4 per 1,000 people. The rate was above 10 in the early 1980s before beginning a decades-long decline. In 2022, the marriage rate was 6.2 per 1,000 of people.
(More marriage stories.)

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