As marriage becomes less popular among younger generations, Seattle men have hit a milestone of singledom: For the first time, half of the men living in the city have never been married.
The latest census data, which is for 2023, shows a record 173,700 Seattle men aged 15 and older had never been hitched. That represents 50.4% of the 344,700 Seattle men in that age group.
This marks the first time Seattle’s never-married men have crossed the 50% threshold. In 2022, there were an estimated 165,600 never-married men here, making up 49.1% of the city’s 15-and-older male population of 337,400.
The data comes from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The marital status data is tabulated for the population age 15 and older, which I’m sure many readers will feel seems far too young as a baseline age for marriage. I agree, but there is a reason for it.
The minimum marriage age varies from state to state, with most allowing marriage at 16 with parental consent, but there are states where the threshold for marriage is 15 or younger. Washington had no minimum age for marriage until the law was changed last year, setting it at 18. Of course, the share of the population married at such a young age is tiny.
Among Seattle women, never-married singles remain a sizable minority. In 2023, 138,600 never-married women aged 15 and older lived in the city, representing 43.3% of the total 319,900 women in this age group.
Half of Seattle men are never-married singles
The latest census data, from 2023, shows that for the time, half of Seattle men aged 15 and older have never been married. Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle is one of 14 in which never-married men are 50% or higher of the male population.
This gender gap among never-married singles isn’t unique to Seattle — it’s consistent across the nation, and there are reasons behind it. For one, men tend to marry later than women.
In Washington, for example, the median age of first marriage for men was 30.4 years in 2023, compared with 28 years for women. Also, because men tend to have a shorter life expectancy than women, there are more widows than widowers in the total population. The larger number of widows lowers the share of women who are never-married singles.
Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle was one of 14 in which the majority of men had never been married. The highest percentage was in Detroit, at nearly 60%, followed by Boston at around 57% and Atlanta at 56%. The lowest percentage of never-married men was in Colorado Springs, Colo., at around 34%; followed by Virginia Springs, Va., at 36%; and Mesa, Ariz., at 38%.
In 2010, 48% of Seattle men were never-married singles. It might seem like a surprisingly small movement in the number from then to 2023, but there’s one important development to keep in mind: the legalization of same-sex marriage.
More people than ever can get married now, thanks to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring all states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Even before that, several states had extended marriage rights to same-sex couples, including Washington in 2012.
In 2023, there were nearly 3,800 men in same-sex relationships in Seattle, according to census data. But even with the extension of marriage rights, the share of men who have never been married increased in Seattle over the past decade.
This is also true of most other major cities. Among the 50 most-populous U.S. cities, Seattle was one of 37 that saw an increase from 2010 to 2023 in the share of men who were never married.
Among the 13 cities that saw a drop in the share of men who had never wed, two stand out for having large declines. In Washington, D.C., the percentage fell from 59% to 54%, and in San Francisco, it fell from 52% to 48.5%. Both of these cities have large gay populations, and it’s likely the legalization of same-sex marriage is one reason behind the drops.
English (US) ·