Five statuses. One defined population.
U.S. marital-status composition
2024 · Residents aged 15 and over · Census ACS one-year
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS B12001. Shares calculated by CouplesData from the same population and period. 90% margins of error are in the table below. Inspect source.
Show counts, shares and uncertainty
| Current status | People | Count ±90% MOE | Share | Share ±90% MOE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never married | 97,616,929 | 161,396 | 34.8% | 0.06 pp |
| Married, except separated | 134,320,665 | 267,071 | 47.9% | 0.09 pp |
| Separated | 4,474,755 | 42,171 | 1.6% | 0.02 pp |
| Widowed | 15,281,060 | 63,297 | 5.4% | 0.02 pp |
| Currently divorced | 28,899,429 | 103,184 | 10.3% | 0.04 pp |
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What share of people are married?
For the same 2024 U.S. population, 47.9% were married and not separated, while 1.6% were separated. The broader ACS “now married” subtotal combines those groups: 49.5%.
That difference explains why two correctly sourced marriage percentages can disagree. Our five-category chart keeps separated people in their own category. The broader now-married dataset includes them and labels the definition explicitly. Adding its subtotal to the separate separated category would count those people twice.
Source: ACS B12001, 2024; U.S. residents aged 15+. CouplesData sums the published cells. The original now-married subtotals are B12001_004 and B12001_013; the exclusive married category uses 005, 008, 014 and 017. Calculation and MOE method.
What the five statuses mean
| Category | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Never married | People who have never married. This is not a count of people without a romantic partner. |
| Married, except separated | Married people whose spouse is present or absent for reasons other than separation. |
| Separated | The separated subgroup shown under married, spouse absent in the original table. |
| Widowed | People in the current widowed category. It is not lifetime experience of losing a spouse. |
| Currently divorced | People in the current divorced category. It is not the number who divorced during the year or the fraction of marriages that will end in divorce. |
Definitions follow the Census B12001 table hierarchy. Five categories sum to the population denominator before rounding. The source’s male and female breakdowns use their own matching age-15+ denominators.
In 2024, 34.8% of U.S. residents aged 15+ were never married. Describing that group as “available to date” would add information this survey table does not measure.
Make a comparison the data can support
- Choose one product. One-year ACS describes a single reference year; the Data Commons series here uses pooled five-year ACS estimates.
- Keep the population and period fixed. Compare the same status, sex group and age universe in a common year or five-year window. City and county estimates describe different geographic areas.
- Read the uncertainty. The original one-year estimates include 90% margins of error. A larger point estimate alone does not establish a meaningful difference between places. The selected Data Commons facet does not return MOEs.
Build a compatible comparison or read the detailed methodology. No marital-status comparison predicts a person’s relationship outcome.
Put the numbers in context
Open a profile for counts, sex breakdowns and consistent one-year trends. Cities and counties describe different areas; their populations may overlap.
National profile (1)
States and D.C. (51)
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Selected counties (4)
A verified Data Commons series
Data Commons also reports 29,074,059 currently divorced U.S. residents aged 15+ for 2020–2024. The matching population is 274,596,963, giving a calculated share of 10.6%.
Source: Data Commons, Census ACS five-year detailed tables, facet 10169881228856630405. Retrieved 2026-10-08. This count and its denominator match original Census B12001 exactly; MOE was not provided by Data Commons.
This separate series covers 60 geographies. State and local histories begin at 2007–2011; the selected national facet starts at 2018–2022. The latest period ends in 2024. Adjacent estimates share four years of survey data.
Explore the five-year seriesWhat these estimates cannot tell us
Currently divorced people who remarry move to another category. Mortality and migration also change marital-status shares. Never married does not mean unpartnered or seeking a partner. Counts of people are not counts of marriages, and we do not divide them by two.
Do not infer age at first marriage from the ages of currently married people. For first-marriage timing, use the separately defined measure.