The ages of men and women on both their wedding day and the day they get divorced have been consistently rising, according to data from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In 2025, the median age of people getting married for the first time was 28.4 for women and 30.8 for men. Just 50 years ago, the median ages were 21.1 and 23.5, respectively.Related video above: Couples get married at the library on Valentine’s DayWhy Americans are getting married later in lifeUniversity of Texas professor Marci Gleason from the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences said there are multiple reasons Americans are choosing to wed later in life. Gleason said couples no longer believe that marriage is necessary to advance beyond the early stages of their relationship. Instead, it’s now seen as more of an end goal.“Rather than being a cornerstone of adulthood, marriage is a capstone of adulthood,” said Gleason. “So, people are much more likely now to get married after they’ve done all the other aspects of becoming an independent adult.”Another reason for the shift was the availability of birth control, Gleason said. The Supreme Court made it accessible to married couples in 1965 and to everyone by 1972.“There was obviously also a lot of social stigma around having sex outside of marriage. That doesn’t exist for a lot of the culture now, or at least not to the same extent,” Gleason said.What about divorces? Americans are older when they get divorced for the first time: men and women have more than a decade on their predecessors when comparing the median age of their first divorce in 2023 versus 1975. Data on divorces does not exist from 1991 to 2007. However, it’s available pre-1990 from the National Center for Health Statistics and post-2008 from the U.S. Census Bureau. Gleason points out that it’s harder to mark the dates of divorces than it is for marriages. It’s true for a number of reasons, including trial separations and people forgetting to fill out the paperwork. But, the data still shows a clear rise in age, with divorcees going from being 27.9 years old for women and 30.1 years old for men to 41.9 years old for women and 43.3 years old for men across the 48-year time span. For both marriage and divorce, men tend to be about one to two years older than women. That may be shifting, though. Gleason notes, “People are more likely to be similar in age when they get married now than they have been in the past.”Divorces tend to hit their spring peak in March and April, then again in August and September, according to an NPR report.PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
The ages of men and women on both their wedding day and the day they get divorced have been consistently rising, according to data from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2025, the median age of people getting married for the first time was 28.4 for women and 30.8 for men. Just 50 years ago, the median ages were 21.1 and 23.5, respectively.
Related video above: Couples get married at the library on Valentine’s Day
Why Americans are getting married later in life
University of Texas professor Marci Gleason from the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences said there are multiple reasons Americans are choosing to wed later in life.
Gleason said couples no longer believe that marriage is necessary to advance beyond the early stages of their relationship. Instead, it’s now seen as more of an end goal.
“Rather than being a cornerstone of adulthood, marriage is a capstone of adulthood,” said Gleason. “So, people are much more likely now to get married after they’ve done all the other aspects of becoming an independent adult.”
Another reason for the shift was the availability of birth control, Gleason said. The Supreme Court made it accessible to married couples in 1965 and to everyone by 1972.
“There was obviously also a lot of social stigma around having sex outside of marriage. That doesn’t exist for a lot of the culture now, or at least not to the same extent,” Gleason said.
What about divorces?
Americans are older when they get divorced for the first time: men and women have more than a decade on their predecessors when comparing the median age of their first divorce in 2023 versus 1975.
Data on divorces does not exist from 1991 to 2007. However, it’s available pre-1990 from the National Center for Health Statistics and post-2008 from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Gleason points out that it’s harder to mark the dates of divorces than it is for marriages. It’s true for a number of reasons, including trial separations and people forgetting to fill out the paperwork. But, the data still shows a clear rise in age, with divorcees going from being 27.9 years old for women and 30.1 years old for men to 41.9 years old for women and 43.3 years old for men across the 48-year time span.
For both marriage and divorce, men tend to be about one to two years older than women. That may be shifting, though. Gleason notes, “People are more likely to be similar in age when they get married now than they have been in the past.”
Divorces tend to hit their spring peak in March and April, then again in August and September, according to an NPR report.
