Marriage rates in the United States have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, with nearly 2.1 million marriages recorded in 2022, marking a 4% increase from the previous year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released this data on Friday, although marriage statistics for the previous year have not yet been made available.
In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant decline in marriages, with only 1.7 million weddings taking place — the lowest number since 1963. Pandemic-related restrictions, such as stay-at-home orders and bans on large gatherings, disrupted many marriage plans during this time.
While marriages saw a modest increase in 2021, they did not reach pre-pandemic levels. However, in 2022, marriage rates surged once again, surpassing 2019 statistics by a slight margin.
New York, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii experienced the largest increases in marriages from 2021 to 2022. Nevada, renowned for its famous wedding chapels in Las Vegas, maintained the highest marriage rate in the nation, albeit with a slight decrease from 2021.
Meanwhile, the number and rate of divorces in 2022 slightly declined, continuing a downward trend, according to the CDC.
Despite these recent fluctuations, marriages remain less common in the US compared to previous decades. Historical data dating back to 1900 indicates that the peak of weddings occurred in 1946, with a marriage rate of 16.4 per 1,000 people. Since then, the marriage rate has steadily declined, reaching 6.2 per 1,000 population in 2022.
