Most Americans Still the Marrying Kind, Statistics Show

Despite all those partying singles and unwed parents on television, the typical American adult is still married and living with his or her spouse.

Some 110.6 million Americans age 18 and over were married and living with one another last year, the Census Bureau reports. That’s 56% of the adult population.

True, it’s a share that’s been declining for years, but marrieds are still the majority.

The percentage of married adults has been fading “because of the increase in the never-married and divorced population,” said Census population expert Terry A. Lugaila. In 1970, 68.4% of adults lived as married couples, she noted.

But the decline has slowed, she said in a telephone interview, with most of the decrease having occurred in the 1970s and 1980s when the divorce rate was rising and many young adults were postponing marriage to pursue education and careers.

Indeed, some of that delay in marriage may even have eased a bit.

The new report shows the median age for men at first marriage last year was 26.7, down from 26.8 a year earlier and a peak of 27.1 in 1976.

For women it held steady at 25.0, still the highest median age for first marriage. Median means half were older and half younger.

Lugaila said the annual report, “Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1998,” shows a continuation of trends that have been evident for years with no surprises.

Other findings included:

* There were 1,348,000 interracial married couples in 1998. That’s up from 1,264,000 a year earlier but still short of the record 1,392,000 reported in 1995.

* Some 19.4 million adults are currently divorced, representing 9.8% of the population.

* There are 14 million people between 25 and 34 who have never been married, about 35% of this age group. Of blacks in this age group, 53% have never been married.

* Forty-five percent of women 65 and over are widowed. Of the elderly widows, 7 in 10 live alone.

* About 20 million children under 18 in the United States live with just one parent, representing 28% of children. The majority, 84%, live with their mother.

* About 4 million children, nearly 6% of all children under 18, live in the household of their grandparents.