Record-high number of 40-year-olds in US have never been married

[Kamaji]

Record-high number of 40-year-olds in US have never been married: study

By Aaron Kliegman, Fox News
July 1, 2023

A record number of 40-year-olds in the United States have never been married, and most of them are living alone, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

The Pew Research Center analyzed Census Bureau data from 2021 and found 25% of 40-year-olds that year had never been married, a sharp increase from 20% in 2010.

Many of these individuals lived alone, with just 22% of never-married adults ages 40 to 44 reporting last year that they cohabitated with a romantic partner.

The 2021 data marks a new peak in what’s been a decades-long trend.

The share of unmarried 40-year-olds has steadily been increasing since 1980, when just 6% of them had never been married.

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/07/01/record-high-number-of-40-year-olds-in-us-have-never-been-married-study/

[Smokin Joe]

Two factors in play, here.

Why risk half of what you own, a nasty divorce, and years of paying child support/alimony (whether or not the kid is yours) in a system rigged against the male?

Why buy the proverbial cow when the milk is free?

Harsh as that may sound, it is a definite mindset out there.

[Wingnut]

That age group is married to their electronic devices and don't have the skills to enter into an interpersonal relationship longer than to order a Starbuck double latte with two pumps of nondairy gluten free imatation milk and extra foam.

[Kamaji]

Two factors in play, here.

Why risk half of what you own, a nasty divorce, and years of paying child support/alimony (whether or not the kid is yours) in a system rigged against the male?

Why buy the proverbial cow when the milk is free?

Harsh as that may sound, it is a definite mindset out there.

I doubt its that simple.

[Idiot]

That age group is married to their electronic devices and don't have the skills to enter into an interpersonal relationship longer than to order a Starbuck double latte with two pumps of nondairy gluten free imatation milk and extra foam.

LOLOLOL!  Very true!

[corbe]

   By 40 I'd already been through 2 Divorces (slow learner).
   I vowed Never Again.

[Kamaji]

   By 40 I'd already been through 2 Divorces (slow learner).
   I vowed Never Again.

I know someone who's been through 5, and counting.

[corbe]

   My current GF has been through 6.

[Kamaji]

   My current GF has been through 6.

Yikes!

I feel like a wuss; I'm still on divorce 0, and I intend to keep it that way.

[Bigun]

I've been married to the same great woman for more than fifty-five years now. None of our three children ever married. What does that say?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Too many feminists and too many 40 year old guys still living at home collecting Star Wars crap.

[Gefn]

Marriage isn’t for everyone.

I’d rather be single than in an abusive relationship because I’m turning 40 and my clock is ticking so loud it’s deafening

[Gefn]

I've been married to the same great woman for more than fifty-five years now. None of our three children ever married. What does that say?

@Bigun

It means you and your wife set the bar so high by your marriage that your children couldn’t find anyone to hold a candle to them when they think of being with someone for 50 years.

It’s a good thing.

And some people just prefer being single which is perfectly understandable too

[Wingnut]

I think most 22 to 40 y/o heterosexual males only have deep, meaninful sexual relations with Rosie, who wears his ring, and not a biological female.

[LMAO]

@Bigun

It means you and your wife set the bar so high by your marriage that your children couldn’t find anyone to hold a candle to them when they think of being with someone for 50 years.

Yup

Marriage is also a job. We are not perfect people so we have to find somebody who is also imperfect, but somebody who we can get along with. So maybe the kids are making a rational decision, and want to find the right person that they can be married to for life

My wife and I got married in August 1995 and still are married. Divorce sounds like too much work, anyways.

It doesn’t mean that my wife and I have never had arguments. But when I was younger, and so many of my friends got married at a young age and divorced, I always said if I got married, it would be until death do we part. When I chose to get married, I didn’t let the flight of emotion guide my decision.

[Kamaji]

Yup

Marriage is also a job. We are not perfect people so we have to find somebody who is also imperfect, but somebody who we can get along with. So maybe the kids are making a rational decision, and want to find the right person that they can be married to for life

My wife and I got married in August 1995 and still are married. Divorce sounds like too much work, anyways.

It doesn’t mean that my wife and I have never had arguments. But when I was younger, and so many of my friends got married at a young age and divorced, I always said if I got married, it would be until death do we part. When I chose to get married, I didn’t let the flight of emotion guide my decision.

[Bigun]

@Bigun

It means you and your wife set the bar so high by your marriage that your children couldn’t find anyone to hold a candle to them when they think of being with someone for 50 years.

It’s a good thing.

And some people just prefer being single which is perfectly understandable too

Thank you @Gefn! Truly appreciate the kind words.

I often think I was a bit too hard on my children.

[Bigun]

Yup

Marriage is also a job. We are not perfect people so we have to find somebody who is also imperfect, but somebody who we can get along with. So maybe the kids are making a rational decision, and want to find the right person that they can be married to for life

My wife and I got married in August 1995 and still are married. Divorce sounds like too much work, anyways.

It doesn’t mean that my wife and I have never had arguments. But when I was younger, and so many of my friends got married at a young age and divorced, I always said if I got married, it would be until death do we part. When I chose to get married, I didn’t let the flight of emotion guide my decision.

Anyone who tells you that marriage is a fifty fifty proposition doesn't know what he's talking about!

[LMAO]

Anyone who tells you that marriage is a fifty fifty proposition doesn't know what he's talking about!

Yup

And I think that misconception that marriage is a 50-50 proposition is probably a major reason why marriages end

[Bigun]

Yup

And I think that misconception that marriage is a 50-50 proposition is probably a major reason why marriages end

Very likely true @LMAO

[berdie]

Just my 2 cents worth...but I really think that waiting to get married until one is older could also contribute to staying single. It's a lot harder to forge a relationship when one's set in their ways.

I do agree with most of the opinions on this thread.

[jmyrlefuller]

I have said my peace on this topic. For those who don't remember, it's a deeply personal hurt for me.

For those who want to blame me for other women's rejections, please go pound salt. But I would love nothing more than to find a woman capable of having children who would be willing to marry me. Or even consider me.

[LMAO]

I have said my peace on this topic. For those who don't remember, it's a deeply personal hurt for me.

For those who want to blame me for other women's rejections, please go pound salt. But I would love nothing more than to find a woman capable of having children who would be willing to marry me. Or even consider me.

Have you tried online? I work with several women who met their husbands online

[Smokin Joe]

Anyone who tells you that marriage is a fifty fifty proposition doesn't know what he's talking about!

Exactly. It is 100/100 most of the time, with that ranging up to 110 on occasion (or more).

I was talking with my daughter who recently went through a divorce. Like her mom, she and I can have frank discussions and it finally came out that she wanted a guy who was ''outlaw' enough to be exciting, and stable enough to be secure with (like her mom got).

There it is.
That marker moves up and down a sliding scale for different people, with the balance point differing, but that is part of the equation. Another part is the ability to talk with each other, to calmly convey needs, desires, wants and don't wants, while being able to count their blessings, too. For an awful lot of people that is most easily achieved in the absence of mood altering substances (including alcohol), others do what they do and it works, of not. 

After that, shared interests and passions pull things together, including family/progeny.

I don't think it is much different for us guys, and the ladies we look for.

But in a day and age where so many people hide behind screens of one sort or another, those connections and skills are hard to come by.

[berdie]

Exactly. It is 100/100 most of the time, with that ranging up to 110 on occasion (or more).

I was talking with my daughter who recently went through a divorce. Like her mom, she and I can have frank discussions and it finally came out that she wanted a guy who was ''outlaw' enough to be exciting, and stable enough to be secure with (like her mom got).

There it is.
That marker moves up and down a sliding scale for different people, with the balance point differing, but that is part of the equation. Another part is the ability to talk with each other, to calmly convey needs, desires, wants and don't wants, while being able to count their blessings, too. For an awful lot of people that is most easily achieved in the absence of mood altering substances (including alcohol), others do what they do and it works, of not. 

After that, shared interests and passions pull things together, including family/progeny.

I don't think it is much different for us guys, and the ladies we look for.

But in a day and age where so many people hide behind screens of one sort or another, those connections and skills are hard to come by.

Absolutely agree.  The only thing I would add, is both people need to have a great sense of humor. Laughter can carry people thru a lot of dire situations....as well as being friends.