Black love and marriage have always been cornerstones of resilience and identity in the African American community, but the story is constantly evolving. These trends shape Black partnerships today-incorporating tradition, growth and modern realities.
Over the last few decades marriage has been a declining institution among all Americans and this decline is even more evident in the Black community. During the past half century, African Americans have become the most unmarried people in our nation. More than two out of every three black women are unmarried, and they are more than twice as likely as white women never to marry. The racial gap in marriage extends beyond the poor.
Affluent and college educated African Americans are also less likely to marry or stay married than their white counterparts. That harms black children and adults, and imperils the growth and stability of the black middle class. Generational wealth or generational poverty is on the line and great sacrifice must be made if we want the former and not more of the latter.
According to the Census Bureau 2023 ACS survey (released Sept 2024) only 31% of Black Americans were married compared to 48% of all Americans. After viewing the available data, we can see that although fewer black women are “now married”, more black women than Black men have been married at least once. This is because a higher percentage of Black women are divorced and widowed than men. African Americans are the least married of any major racial/ethnic group in America.
According to the Census 2023 ACS survey 31% of African Americans were married compared to 43% of Hispanics, 53% of Whites, and 59% of Asians. Also 50% of African Americans have never been married compared to 28% of Whites. Both Black and White Americans have similar divorce statistics which is higher than Hispanic (8%) and Asian (5%).
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The National Center for Family & Marriage Research reports that the marriage rate for African Americans has dropped significantly over the past few decades, from 60% in the 1960s to just 29% in 2021.
For Black women, the percentage of those never married grew to 49% in 2022, up from 37% in 1990. By 2022, 52% of Black men had never been married, rising from 43% in 1990. By 2022, the median age of Black individuals was 34.9 years, slightly younger than the national median age of 38 years.
Divorce is more common among Black women, at 38.9%, and Black men, at 38.7%, than in other racial groups. 30.8% is the average divorce rate for Black marriages, compared to the 42% national average.
Several factors contribute to these trends, including economic instability, incarceration rates, and cultural perceptions around marriage.
Factors Affecting Marriage Rates
One reason that marriage has declined is that as black women have advanced economically and educationally, black men have fallen behind. Nearly twice as many black women as black men graduate from college each year. Thus, not only are many college-educated black women unmarried, they are more likely than any other group of women to marry less educated and lower earning men.
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With higher college graduation rates among African American women, the median income fell 12% for Black men while rising 75% for the women from 1974 to 2004. One explanation for lower marriage rates among women, as identified by blackdemographics.com, is related to the earnings potential among black men.
Higher mortality rates due to poor health care, violent crime, and ever growing incarceration rates, have been shown to decrease the African American male population. The well-documented unemployment, underemployment, and sporadic employment of African American men, along with the increasing economic independence of women, have created instances in which entering into a romantic union, marital or otherwise, may be perceived as more costly than beneficial.
With an incarceration rate six times that of their White male counterparts, African American men are often removed from their communities before they have the chance to form or sustain a romantic relationship.
Simply put, with time, the likelihood that African Americans will experience an issue that diminishes their “marriageability” (e.g., financial strain, unstable employment, incarceration, and health issues) increases.
There are approximately 67 older African American men for every 100 African American women aged 65 years or older. The mortality rate among African American men has created a sex ratio imbalance that leaves many African American women with a small partner selection pool.
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Also, married older African Americans with lower family incomes reported higher marital satisfaction. Region was the only variable significantly associated with romantic satisfaction indicating higher satisfaction for Southerners as compared to those living in the Northeast.
Across the life course, African Americans are disproportionately affected by economic instability grounded in social and systemic inequalities.
Given the relationship between age, ethnicity, and marriage, older African Americans, particularly women, are significantly less likely to be married than those in other groups.
Given the lack of research on couplehood for both married and unmarried/romantically involved older African Americans, we need to consider the factors that contribute to relational stability for these couples. Marital satisfaction is one factor that has consistently been identified as a contributor to enduring relationships for both older adults and African Americans overall.
The declining marriage rates among African Americans are increasingly recognized as a significant factor holding back wealth accumulation within the community. This trend has profound implications for economic stability and intergenerational wealth transfer.
Married couples generally experience greater financial stability than single individuals. Census Bureau, married couples tend to have higher median household incomes. Research has shown that marriage contributes significantly to wealth accumulation. A study by the Institute for Family Studies found that households headed by married couples have about three to four times the wealth of those headed by single individuals. Specifically, Black married couples had a median net worth of $131,000 in 2019, compared to only $29,000 for Black single individuals.
From an economic development perspective, marriage plays a crucial role in the transfer of wealth between generations. Households with married parents are better positioned to pass down assets. A report from the Federal Reserve in 2019 indicated that only 45% of Black households had any wealth to pass on, compared to 70% of white households. It also has acute impact on social development within the African American community.
Marriage can provide emotional and social stability, which is vital for sound financial decision-making. Couples often collaborate on budgeting, saving, and investing, leading to better financial outcomes.
In 1890, 80% of African American households were comprised of two parents. Only 45% of African American households contain a married couple, compared to 80% for Whites, and 70% among Hispanics.
One contributor to the lower marriage rate of African Americans is the growing trend to wait until later in life to marry.
Despite a relatively small body of research on the romantic relationships of older African American couples, several studies have identified factors affecting relationship formation among older adults, in general.
Increasingly, older adults are choosing to never marry or, after marrying and divorcing, to adopt a more flexible unmarried partnership including cohabitation. In the past two decades, the number of older adults in cohabiting relationships has ballooned from just under 1 million individuals to over 4 million individuals.
For many older African American couples, viewing marriage as the goal or only acceptable form of romantic relationship is outdated. Older African American couples are finding comfort and support in both cohabiting and non-cohabiting unmarried romantic relationships, underscoring the point that “it is important that scholars continue to examine the ways [these] couples initiate and maintain these relationships”.
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Intermarriage Trends
It is also believed that a significant percentage of Black men marry White women. This is often cited as one of the causes of lower marriage rates among Black women. This, however, is only partially true. While Black men marry white women at twice rate that Black women marry White men, in 2021 only 15% percent of married Black men were married to non-Black women which is unchanged from 2017 but up from 11% in 2010 and 8% in 2000.
There was evidence of an increase of Black men “marrying out” of their racial demographic between 2010 and 2017, however that percent has remained steady since. In fact, the Pew Research Center released a report finding that 25% of Black male newlyweds in 2013 married non-Black women compared to 12% of Black women who “married out”. However Asian women and Native Americans still have higher rates of interracial marriage.
Black women are less likely to marry outside their race, with only 7%* doing so as of 2017. Of that group, 4% were married to White men. In 2021, 15% of married Black men had spouses of other races, with 8% married to White women and 4% to Hispanic women.
One of the most dramatic patterns occurs among black newlyweds: Black men are twice as likely as black women to have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity (24% vs. 12%). A significant gender gap in intermarriage is apparent among Asian newlyweds as well, though the gap runs in the opposite direction: Just over one-third (36%) of Asian newlywed women have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, while 21% of Asian newlywed men do.
Overall increases in intermarriage have been fueled in part by rising intermarriage rates among black newlyweds and among white newlyweds. The share of recently married blacks with a spouse of a different race or ethnicity has more than tripled, from 5% in 1980 to 18% in 2015.
Among white newlyweds, there is no notable gender gap in intermarriage - 12% of men and 10% of women had married someone of a different race or ethnicity in 2015.
In 2015 the likelihood of marrying someone of a different race or ethnicity was somewhat higher among newlyweds with at least some college experience than among those with a high school diploma or less.
Intermarriage has risen dramatically at all education levels for blacks, with the biggest proportional increases occurring among those with the least education. In 1980, just 5% of black newlyweds with a high school diploma or less had intermarried - a number that has since tripled.
While intermarriage is associated with higher education levels for Hispanics and blacks, this is not the case among Asian newlyweds. This pattern reflects dramatic changes since 1980.
Nearly one-in-five newlyweds in their 30s (18%) are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity, as are 16% of those in their teens or 20s and those in their 40s.
While 22% of blacks ages 15 to 29 are intermarried, this share drops incrementally, reaching a low of 13% among those ages 50 years or older.
Intermarriage is more common among newlyweds in the nation’s metropolitan areas, which are located in and around large urban centers, than it is in non-metro areas, which are typically more rural. About 18% of those living in a metro area are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity, compared with 11% of those living outside of a metro area.
The increased racial and ethnic diversity of metro areas means that the supply of potential spouses, too, will likely be more diverse. This fact may contribute to the higher rates of intermarriage for white metro area newlyweds, since the marriage market includes a relatively larger share of people who are nonwhite. Indeed, recently married whites are the only major group for which intermarriage is higher in metro areas.
The link between place of residence and intermarriage varies dramatically for different racial and ethnic groups.
Shifting the analysis to the racial and ethnic composition of intermarried newlywed couples shows that the most prevalent form of intermarriage involves one Hispanic and one white spouse (42%). The next most prevalent couple type in 2015 among those who were intermarried included one Asian and one white spouse (15%).
That intermarriage patterns vary by gender becomes apparent when looking at a more detailed profile of intermarried couples that identifies the race or ethnicity of the husband separately from the race or ethnicity of the wife. For instance, while 11% of all intermarried couples involve a white man and an Asian woman, just 4% of couples include a white woman and an Asian man.
Historical Context
In 1967, when miscegenation laws were overturned in the United States, 3% of all newlyweds were married to someone of a different race or ethnicity. Since then, intermarriage rates have steadily climbed.
In 2012 The U.S Census Bureau released a report that studied the history of marriage in the United States. They discovered some startling statistics when calculating marriage by race. They found that African Americans age 35 and older were more likely to be married than White Americans from 1890 until sometime around the 1960s.
Not only did they swap places during the 60s but in 1980 the number of NEVER married African Americans began a staggering climb from about 10% to more than 25% by 2010 while the percentage for White women remained under 10% and just over 10% for White men.
The median age at first marriage has risen for both men and women. In 1970, the median age at first marriage was 23.2 years for men, and 20.8 years for women. For all groups, the percentage of never married men in 1970 was 28.1%, compared to 22.1% of women. By 2020, these figures rose to 35.8% and 30.0%, respectively.
From 1910 until 1970, about 6 million Black people migrated from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West, a period known as the Great Migration.
Previously, the largest racial minority in the United States, the Hispanic population now outnumbers the African American population. African Americans live throughout the United States but are predominantly located in the South East and along the Eastern seaboard.
Community Initiatives and Support
Given the challenges, several initiatives aim to support and strengthen African American marriages and partnerships.
