Key Facts about Unmarried Americans

There are 112 million unmarried Americans, representing over 47% of the adult population (ACS, 2012).
Since 2005, the majority of US households have not been headed by married couples. The number of non-married-couple households continues to grow (ACS 2005-2007).
There are more than 51 million households headed by unmarried Americans, representing roughly 44% of all households and the majority of households in 23 states, plus the District of Columbia (CPS, 2007).

There are more than 31 million one-person households in the U.S., representing roughly 27% of all households (CPS, 2007).
As of 2000, this was the most common household type (Frank Hobbs, 2005).
The number of cohabiting unmarried partners increased by 88% between 1990 and 2007 (CPS 2007).
The majority of couples marrying today cohabited first (Larry Bumpass and Hsien-Hen Lu, 2000).

39.7% of all births are to unmarried women (CDC, 2007).
Nearly 40% of different-sex, unmarried American households include children (CPS, 2007).
41% of first births by unmarried women are born to cohabiting partners (Larry Bumpass and Hsien-Hen Lu, 2000).
About two-fifths of children are expected to live in a cohabiting household at some point (Census, 2000).

46.6% of the unmarried population aged 18 and older are male, while 53.4% are female (CPS, 2008).
23.0% of the unmarried population aged 18 and older are people of color, while 77.0% are white (CPS, 2007).
While a clear majority of the unmarried population is white, it is considerably more racially diverse than the married population.
39.2% of the unmarried population aged 18 and older were formerly married, while 60.8% have always been single (CPS, 2008).
38.6% of unmarried households have incomes under $30K, 21.6% between $30K-50K, 17.6% between $50K-75K, and 22.2% over $75K (ACS, 2005).
10.7% of the unmarried population report living together with unmarried partners (ACS, 2005-2007).
12.8% of unmarried-partner households report being same-sex (ACS, 2005-2007).

In a 1995 Harris poll, 90% of people believed society “should value all types of families” (Stephanie Coontz, 1997).
Only one-quarter of American households consist of what most people think of as a “traditional family,” i.e. a married couple and their children (National Opinion Research Center (University of Chicago), 1999).
43% of Americans in their twenties believe that cohabiting couples should receive the same benefits as married couples (Gallup, 2001).
45% of Americans in their twenties believe that government should not be involved in licensing marriage (Gallup, 2001).
68% of Americans who have been previously married, but are no longer married, plan to remain unmarried (Gallup, 2006).
55% of Americans approve of men and women living together without being married (Gallup, 2007).
57% of Americans consider an unmarried couple who have lived together for five years just as committed in their relationship as a married couple who have lived together for the same time (Gallup, 2008).
The majority of Americans aged 18-64 consider living in unmarried households as having either no effect or a positive effect on children (Gallup, 2008).

Black (30.9% of Blacks are married, compared to 69.1% unmarried, while 7.5% of the married population is Black, compared to 19.8% of the unmarried population) (ACS, 2005-2007).
Impoverished (5.2% of married people aged 16 years or older are below the poverty level, compared to 14.7% of unmarried people aged 16 years or older) (CPS, 2008).
In low-income households (14.9% of married households earn under $30K annually, compared to 38.6% of unmarried households, while 43.0% of married households earn over $75K annually, compared to 22.2% of unmarried households) (ACS, 2005).
Less educated (40.9% of the married population have a high-school diploma or less, compared to 49.4% of the unmarried population, while 30.1% of the married population have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 19.7% of the unmarried population) (ACS, 2005).
Under 30 or over 80 years old (8.9% of the married adult population is aged 18-29 years, compared to 33.7% of the unmarried adult population, while 3.2% of the married adult population is aged 80 years or over, compared to 6.5% of the unmarried adult population) (ACS, 2005).
Unemployed and uninsured (60.4% of the unemployed are unmarried, 59.8% of the uninsured are unmarried, 56.4% of those uninsured and not in the labor force are unmarried, 71.4% of those uninsured and unemployed are unmarried) (CPS, 2008).
Women (49.9% of the married population are women, compared to 56.4% of unmarried population) (ACS, 2005-2007).

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