Who Knew? D.C. Tops in Never-Married Population

States With Highest Share of Never-Married Men and Women

November 30, 2017

Written by:

David Raglin

“Who Knew?” is a fun and compelling look at our nation through U.S. Census Bureau data.

Today's Question:

What states have the highest percentage of adults under the age of 40 who have never been married?

Aside from California, most of the states on the list that are havens for never-married men are in the north and east and all of the states on the list that have the highest share of never-married women are in the east. The District of Columbia is tops for the never-married of both sexes.

Men

State	% Never Married	Margin of Error
District of Columbia	76.6	1.7
Connecticut	72.0	0.9
Rhode Island	71.9	1.9
Massachusetts	71.2	0.7
New York	70.2	0.5
Vermont	69.6	2.0
Delaware	68.4	2.2
New Jersey	67.7	0.7
Pennsylvania	67.4	0.6
California	67.2	0.3

The listed states may not be statistically different from each other and there are five additional states (Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, and New Hampshire) whose percent never married is not statistically different from states on this list.

For the whole country, 64.2 percent of men age 18 to 39 (+/- 0.1) have never been married.

Women

State	% Never Married	Margin of Error
District of Columbia	76.0	2.1
Rhode Island	67.0	2.1
Massachusetts	64.5	0.7
New York	64.4	0.4
Connecticut	62.3	1.0
Vermont	62.0	2.4
Delaware	61.4	2.2
Pennsylvania	60.7	0.5
Maryland	59.9	0.9
New Jersey	59.1	0.7

The listed states may not be statistically different from each other and there are six additional states (California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, and New Hampshire) whose percent never married is not statistically different from states on this list.

For the whole country, 56.1 percent of women age 18 to 39 (+/- 0.1) have never been married.

The difference in the percent never married for men and women for the District of Columbia is not statistically different.

The margin of error is based on a 90 percent confidence level. More information on the accuracy of the data.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.

David Raglin is a Survey Statistician in the American Community Survey Office.