46.6%
2025 (latest)
MARRIED-COUPLE HOUSEHOLDS
percent of households · 1940–2025 · neither direction is "better" · computed from the U.S. Census Bureau historical family and living-arrangement tables (counts divided within the same table)
76.0%
1940
78.8%
high · 1949
46.6%
low · 2025
−29 pts
since 1940
┊ dashed lines mark 1979 Oil shock & inflation peak · 1987 Black Monday crash · 1991 Gulf War recession · 2001 Dot-com bust & 9/11 · 2008 Global financial crisis · 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
Method & caveats. Computed from married-couple households divided by all households. Counts use householder person weights, not the Housing Vacancy Survey housing-unit weights. HH-1 lists 1980, 1984, 1988, 1993, 2011 and 2021 twice: a footnote-lettered row (1980r, 1984b, 1988a, 1993r) or 'r'-suffixed row (2011r, 2021r) plus a plain row for the same year. The lettered/r-suffixed row is always the later-method value — HH-1's own footnotes read 'a Data based on 1988 revised processing', 'b Incorporates Hispanic-origin population controls', 'r Revised based on population from the most recent decennial census' — so it is selected deterministically over the plain row (annualRows in lib/census.ts). Breaks: 2014 ASEC questionnaire redesign; decennial population-control revisions (the publisher's lettered r rows, taken over the original); 2021 appears twice in the tables (the later-method row is taken); 2025 uses Vintage-2025 population controls; 2019 onward includes same-sex married couples.
Sources
Every value on this page is read from the publisher below. Current and historical source documents:
- https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/families/time-series/households/hh1.xls
- https://github.com/danielmiessler/substrate/tree/main/Data/US-Family-And-Society
Data
| Year | Married-couple households | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 46.6% | −0.5 pts |
| 2024 | 47.1% | −0.2 pts |
| 2023 | 47.3% | +0.5 pts |
| 2022 | 46.8% | −0.6 pts |
| 2021 | 47.4% | −1.1 pts |
| 2020 | 48.5% | +0.3 pts |
| 2019 | 48.2% | +0.2 pts |
| 2018 | 48.0% | −0.2 pts |
| 2017 | 48.2% | +0.3 pts |
| 2016 | 47.9% | −0.3 pts |
| 2015 | 48.2% | −0.2 pts |
| 2014 | 48.4% | +0.0 pts |
| 2013 | 48.4% | −0.3 pts |
| 2012 | 48.7% | −0.2 pts |
| 2011 | 48.9% | −0.8 pts |
| 2010 | 49.7% | −0.8 pts |
| 2009 | 50.5% | +0.5 pts |
| 2008 | 50.0% | −0.8 pts |
| 2007 | 50.8% | −0.0 pts |
| 2006 | 50.9% | −0.3 pts |
| 2005 | 51.1% | −0.4 pts |
| 2004 | 51.5% | +0.0 pts |
| 2003 | 51.5% | −0.4 pts |
| 2002 | 51.9% | −0.4 pts |
| 2001 | 52.3% | −0.5 pts |
| 2000 | 52.8% | +0.1 pts |
| 1999 | 52.7% | −0.3 pts |
| 1998 | 53.0% | −0.1 pts |
| 1997 | 53.1% | −0.7 pts |
| 1996 | 53.8% | −0.6 pts |
| 1995 | 54.4% | −0.4 pts |
| 1994 | 54.8% | −0.3 pts |
| 1993 | 55.1% | +0.2 pts |
| 1992 | 54.8% | −0.5 pts |
| 1991 | 55.3% | −0.8 pts |
| 1990 | 56.0% | −0.1 pts |
| 1989 | 56.1% | −0.6 pts |
| 1988 | 56.7% | −0.9 pts |
| 1987 | 57.6% | +0.0 pts |
| 1986 | 57.6% | −0.4 pts |
| 1985 | 58.0% | −0.7 pts |
| 1984 | 58.7% | −0.8 pts |
| 1983 | 59.5% | +0.0 pts |
| 1982 | 59.4% | −0.4 pts |
| 1981 | 59.9% | −0.9 pts |
| 1980 | 60.8% | −0.8 pts |
| 1979 | 61.6% | −0.7 pts |
| 1978 | 62.3% | −1.7 pts |
| 1977 | 64.0% | −0.9 pts |
| 1976 | 64.9% | −1.1 pts |
| 1975 | 66.0% | −1.0 pts |
| 1974 | 67.0% | −0.9 pts |
| 1973 | 67.8% | −0.8 pts |
| 1972 | 68.6% | −0.8 pts |
| 1971 | 69.4% | −1.2 pts |
| 1970 | 70.5% | −0.3 pts |
| 1969 | 70.9% | −0.7 pts |
| 1968 | 71.5% | −0.6 pts |
| 1967 | 72.2% | −0.2 pts |
| 1966 | 72.4% | −0.2 pts |
| 1965 | 72.6% | −1.0 pts |
| 1964 | 73.6% | −0.4 pts |
| 1963 | 74.0% | +0.2 pts |
| 1962 | 73.8% | −0.2 pts |
| 1961 | 74.0% | −0.4 pts |
| 1960 | 74.3% | −0.3 pts |
| 1959 | 74.7% | −0.4 pts |
| 1958 | 75.1% | −0.8 pts |
| 1957 | 75.9% | +0.2 pts |
| 1956 | 75.8% | +0.0 pts |
| 1955 | 75.7% | −0.8 pts |
| 1954 | 76.5% | −0.2 pts |
| 1953 | 76.7% | −0.5 pts |
| 1952 | 77.2% | +0.2 pts |
| 1951 | 77.0% | −1.3 pts |
| 1950 | 78.2% | −0.6 pts |
| 1949 | 78.8% | +0.1 pts |
| 1948 | 78.7% | +0.4 pts |
| 1947 | 78.3% | +2.3 pts |
| 1940 | 76.0% | — |
Also in Family & Society