A new Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data has revealed that more 40-year-old Americans have never been married than ever before. The number of never-married 40-year-olds in 1980 had only been six percent. By the previous Census, that number had risen to 20 percent in 2010 and now sits at 25 percent per the latest data in 2020. Men are more likely to have never married by 40 than women, with African American men more likely to have never married than other ethnic groups. Forty-six percent of black 40-year-old men reported having never been married. Respondents with lower education, high school or lower, also had the highest share of 40-year-olds who have never married. The study also noted that most unmarried 40-year-olds were not living with a romantic partner, with 22 percent of never-married 40–44-year-olds stating they were cohabitating. The analysis was also concerned that despite the growing number of people with bachelor's degrees, a group that is more commonly married, the number of never-married 40-year-olds continues its upward trend. "The overall decrease in the share of 40-year-olds who have married is especially notable because the share of 40-year-olds who had completed at least a bachelor's degree was much higher in 2021 than in 1980 (39 percent vs. 18 percent). More highly educated 40-year-olds are more likely to have married, but the growth of this group has not reversed the overall trend of delaying or forgoing marriage," the study noted.

 The data is just the latest confirmation of the continued decline of marriage in the United States. A report from "The Hill" noted that Americans are waiting longer and longer to get married and that more are foregoing marriage completely. "In the prime adult years, ages 25 to 54, the share of married Americans has dwindled from more than two-thirds in 1990 to barely half today. Roughly 1 adult in 10 cohabits with a partner. Everyone else, in romantic terms, lives alone," the report noted. Millennials and Gen Z are delaying marriage and other marks of "adulthood" such as having a full-time job and buying a house. Richard Fry, the senior researcher who wrote the analysis for Pew, stated that the economy was another factor. "As an economist, I think some of the trends, particularly for less educated young men, are working against them. Economically, they're not as attractive partners as they once were. The nation's labor market is working against them."

Nancy Pearcey, a university educator, apologist, and author who explores cultural issues of gender, sexuality, and the family, noted on Twitter that the study further highlighted the growing number of children being raised in single-parent households. "Not being married does not mean not having children," she wrote. "Today, around 40 percent of children live apart from their natural fathers. Most of these children see their fathers seldom, if at all. The US has the highest rate of single parenthood in the world." Pearcey's new book, "The Toxic War on Masculinity," explores the issues that things like less fatherly involvement cause in society. In another Tweet, Pearcey noted, "Children with absent fathers are 63 percent of youth suicides, 90 percent of runaway children, 85 percent of children with behavior disorders, 71 percent of high school dropouts, 85 percent of youths in prison. The strongest predictor of whether a boy will end up behind bars is whether he had a father in the home."