PMC full text:
J South Hist. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Dec 15.
Published in final edited form as:
J South Hist. 2010 Feb; 76(1): 39–70.
TABLE 1
Nuptiality Measures for the White Population of the United States, 1850–1880a
| Census Year | Mean Age at Marriage | Percent Married 15–19 | Percent Married 20–24 | Percent Married 25–29 | Percent Married 30–34 | Percent Married 35–39 | Percent Single 45–54 | Sex Ratio Ages | Marital Sex | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | 20–29b | Ratioc | |
| United States | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.8 | 23.1 | 1.7 | 12.2 | 23.3 | 52.7 | 58.5 | 77.3 | 78.0 | 85.6 | 86.4 | 90.3 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 104.7 | 1.01 |
| 1860d | 26.9 | 22.8 | 1.6 | 12.4 | 22.9 | 54.0 | 59.5 | 78.4 | 78.4 | 87.4 | 86.2 | 90.4 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 103.1 | 1.00 |
| 1870d | 26.8 | 23.2 | 1.6 | 10.9 | 24.6 | 52.6 | 59.3 | 76.5 | 78.1 | 85.2 | 86.2 | 89.8 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 96.1 | 0.86 |
| 1880 | 27.1 | 23.4 | 1.1 | 11.0 | 20.5 | 49.4 | 57.6 | 76.1 | 75.9 | 85.4 | 84.9 | 89.1 | 8.3 | 7.1 | 104.9 | 1.01 |
| Northern Census Regions | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.9 | 23.4 | 1.3 | 10.3 | 22.2 | 50.6 | 59.3 | 76.6 | 79.2 | 85.4 | 87.1 | 89.8 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 101.6 | 0.98 |
| 1860d | 26.6 | 23.0 | 1.1 | 10.7 | 22.3 | 52.4 | 62.2 | 78.1 | 81.4 | 87.4 | 88.2 | 90.6 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 98.3 | 0.93 |
| 1870d | 27.0 | 23.3 | 1.1 | 9.7 | 22.9 | 51.3 | 58.8 | 76.4 | 78.8 | 85.8 | 87.3 | 90.0 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 97.3 | 0.89 |
| 1880 | 27.4 | 23.8 | 0.7 | 9.0 | 18.4 | 46.6 | 56.3 | 75.0 | 76.6 | 85.5 | 85.9 | 89.3 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 103.0 | 0.98 |
| Southern Census Regions | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.5 | 22.4 | 2.7 | 16.5 | 29.0 | 57.4 | 60.4 | 79.3 | 78.1 | 86.4 | 85.9 | 91.9 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 102.9 | 0.94 |
| 1860d | 26.6 | 22.3 | 2.8 | 15.8 | 27.4 | 57.4 | 60.5 | 79.4 | 79.0 | 87.6 | 85.4 | 89.9 | 6.4 | 7.2 | 104.0 | 0.94 |
| 1870d | 25.9 | 23.0 | 2.6 | 13.2 | 32.7 | 55.0 | 64.4 | 76.7 | 82.0 | 83.2 | 87.9 | 88.7 | 5.1 | 7.0 | 87.5 | 0.70 |
| 1880 | 25.9 | 22.4 | 2.1 | 16.7 | 27.6 | 55.7 | 66.8 | 78.1 | 79.8 | 84.3 | 88.0 | 87.4 | 7.6 | 9.0 | 103.5 | 0.96 |
| New England Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 27.5 | 24.9 | 1.9 | 7.7 | 18.1 | 39.7 | 53.9 | 69.2 | 77.3 | 80.2 | 83.7 | 84.4 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 96.6 | 0.91 |
| 1860d | 26.9 | 24.1 | 1.6 | 7.1 | 21.5 | 41.5 | 59.9 | 71.7 | 79.5 | 80.7 | 87.5 | 87.4 | 6.4 | 9.6 | 89.3 | 0.80 |
| 1870d | 27.7 | 25.0 | 1.3 | 6.9 | 19.3 | 40.4 | 56.2 | 67.7 | 74.9 | 78.9 | 84.0 | 84.3 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 90.2 | 0.77 |
| 1880 | 27.5 | 24.9 | 1.1 | 6.7 | 19.3 | 37.7 | 52.5 | 64.9 | 73.7 | 79.9 | 86.2 | 84.1 | 8.2 | 11.1 | 93.9 | 0.83 |
| Mid-Atlantic Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 27.0 | 23.8 | 1.3 | 8.5 | 20.4 | 46.4 | 59.4 | 72.9 | 78.4 | 83.1 | 86.5 | 88.2 | 7.4 | 7.9 | 97.2 | 0.93 |
| 1860d | 26.6 | 23.7 | 1.1 | 8.7 | 21.4 | 46.7 | 61.8 | 73.4 | 80.1 | 84.1 | 87.7 | 88.6 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 90.9 | 0.83 |
| 1870d | 26.7 | 23.9 | 1.5 | 8.3 | 22.6 | 45.4 | 58.7 | 72.4 | 79.3 | 82.5 | 87.5 | 87.7 | 7.1 | 8.7 | 92.3 | 0.81 |
| 1880 | 27.4 | 24.5 | 0.7 | 6.5 | 18.7 | 41.1 | 56.7 | 70.0 | 76.5 | 81.3 | 85.6 | 86.6 | 6.9 | 8.4 | 92.4 | 0.83 |
| East–North Central Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.1 | 22.2 | 1.1 | 12.4 | 24.9 | 61.8 | 64.5 | 85.0 | 83.1 | 91.4 | 91.4 | 94.5 | 5.1 | 3.6 | 108.2 | 1.05 |
| 1860d | 26.1 | 22.1 | 1.0 | 12.9 | 22.2 | 61.0 | 65.6 | 84.9 | 84.5 | 92.6 | 91.1 | 93.5 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 107.0 | 1.04 |
| 1870d | 26.5 | 22.8 | 0.7 | 10.5 | 23.1 | 56.2 | 61.7 | 80.3 | 81.1 | 90.1 | 90.5 | 93.6 | 5.2 | 4.1 | 99.0 | 0.90 |
| 1880 | 27.3 | 23.5 | 0.6 | 9.8 | 18.1 | 49.2 | 58.5 | 79.1 | 79.1 | 88.8 | 87.3 | 91.6 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 108.1 | 1.03 |
| West–North Central Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.6 | 21.4 | 1.0 | 20.5 | 27.5 | 66.2 | 58.1 | 90.9 | 78.1 | 90.9 | 90.0 | 97.0 | 5.9 | 2.6 | 121.0 | 1.29 |
| 1860d | 26.6 | 21.5 | 1.1 | 16.0 | 23.7 | 66.6 | 60.1 | 85.9 | 81.9 | 94.9 | 87.3 | 95.1 | 6.1 | 3.2 | 115.7 | 1.24 |
| 1870d | 27.0 | 22.2 | 1.5 | 13.3 | 23.7 | 64.0 | 57.7 | 85.7 | 78.1 | 91.7 | 86.4 | 93.7 | 6.2 | 2.6 | 112.8 | 1.15 |
| 1880 | 27.6 | 22.3 | 0.7 | 13.0 | 18.0 | 58.0 | 54.5 | 85.0 | 74.7 | 92.6 | 83.9 | 95.3 | 7.4 | 3.1 | 120.3 | 1.27 |
| South Atlantic Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 26.2 | 22.9 | 2.8 | 15.2 | 27.4 | 52.4 | 60.2 | 76.3 | 78.1 | 82.9 | 87.4 | 90.7 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 98.9 | 0.88 |
| 1860d | 26.4 | 22.9 | 2.7 | 12.5 | 25.3 | 51.3 | 60.3 | 75.4 | 80.7 | 84.1 | 87.5 | 88.3 | 6.7 | 9.4 | 96.0 | 0.82 |
| 1870d | 25.6 | 23.4 | 2.7 | 10.9 | 31.9 | 52.6 | 65.0 | 74.1 | 82.3 | 79.4 | 89.2 | 86.2 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 86.1 | 0.66 |
| 1880 | 25.8 | 23.2 | 2.2 | 12.4 | 25.6 | 51.1 | 67.3 | 73.9 | 79.5 | 82.3 | 89.5 | 84.4 | 7.9 | 11.0 | 100.2 | 0.89 |
| East–South Central Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 25.9 | 22.1 | 2.8 | 16.0 | 29.8 | 62.4 | 64.1 | 81.9 | 82.9 | 90.5 | 88.7 | 93.2 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 105.9 | 0.95 |
| 1860d | 26.3 | 22.3 | 2.9 | 16.8 | 29.7 | 60.6 | 64.3 | 81.8 | 80.7 | 90.8 | 87.1 | 90.9 | 5.2 | 4.2 | 106.0 | 0.97 |
| 1870d | 25.7 | 23.3 | 2.6 | 12.5 | 32.7 | 54.8 | 65.6 | 77.0 | 84.4 | 83.8 | 89.4 | 90.4 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 84.3 | 0.67 |
| 1880 | 25.8 | 22.4 | 2.0 | 17.9 | 31.4 | 54.8 | 69.2 | 79.0 | 82.2 | 82.7 | 87.8 | 87.8 | 5.2 | 8.5 | 101.3 | 0.91 |
| West–South Central Census Region | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 27.2 | 20.9 | 1.8 | 24.6 | 30.3 | 63.8 | 53.7 | 85.2 | 68.6 | 88.4 | 78.0 | 93.8 | 12.4 | 5.9 | 112.2 | |
| 1860d | 26.7 | 20.5 | 3.0 | 23.8 | 26.1 | 70.2 | 56.2 | 85.8 | 73.8 | 90.7 | 80.3 | 92.9 | 11.2 | 6.3 | 125.0 | 1.36 |
| 1870d | 26.1 | 21.4 | 2.8 | 20.9 | 33.5 | 63.1 | 62.6 | 83.6 | 79.0 | 93.0 | 84.5 | 92.7 | 6.7 | 5.1 | 99.3 | 0.88 |
| 1880 | 26.0 | 21.0 | 2.1 | 24.1 | 25.4 | 67.1 | 63.0 | 85.5 | 77.3 | 91.7 | 85.3 | 94.0 | 10.5 | 4.5 | 114.1 | 1.22 |
| Mountain and Pacific Census Regions | ||||||||||||||||
| 1850d | 5.5 | 16.3 | 23.0 | |||||||||||||
| 1860d | 32.8 | 1.8 | 32.4 | 9.2 | 68.1 | 20.9 | 77.3 | 35.6 | 84.1 | 46.7 | 32.2 | 289.2 | ||||
| 1870d | 30.2 | 20.1 | 0.8 | 27.5 | 13.6 | 71.0 | 30.3 | 80.9 | 46.5 | 85.3 | 55.8 | 93.2 | 27.8 | 9.6 | 153.5 | |
| 1880 | 29.2 | 21.9 | 1.0 | 15.1 | 12.3 | 62.6 | 31.3 | 85.7 | 52.2 | 90.1 | 61.2 | 95.2 | 29.2 | 3.9 | 158.7 | 2.55 |
Source: 1850–1880 IPUMS samples (Ruggles et al., 2004).
Notes:
aBlank cells had less than 100 cases in sample. Italicized values are based on 100–200 cases.
bNumber of white males age 20–29 per 100 females age 20–29.
cRatio of expected male to female marriages.
d1850–1870 estimates based on imputed relationships.