Number of married couples in the U.S. 1960-2023

How many married couples are in the U.S.?

In 2023, there were 62.18 million married couples in the United States. This is an increase from 40.2 million married couples in 1960. 

Marriage in the U.S.

While the number of married couples in the U.S. has increased in the past few decades, this could very well just be due to population change, since while the U.S. population has been increasing, the marriage rate has decreased significantly since 1990. In addition, the divorce rate has almost halved since 1990 despite concerns that more people are getting divorced than in years past.

Same-sex marriage in the U.S.

After years of advocacy, same-sex marriage became legal in the United States in June 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in a landmark ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2015, a clear majority of Americans were in favor of the legalization of same-sex marriage, and approval has only been increasing in the years since.