The Washington area’s men are marrying more often than women and they’re doing it most often in Virginia, a report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows. Virginia has the region’s highest marriage rate — but also the highest divorce rate — while the District’s urban environment attracts the greatest percentage of singles, the data show. The report assesses data collected in 2009 on marital events — marriage, divorce or widowhood — that occurred within the prior year for respondents who are at least 15 years old.
In Virginia, men got married in 2009 at a rate of 20.5 per 1,000, according to the report. Virginia women married at a rate of 18.8 per 1,000. Both rates are slightly above the national average, while D.C. and Maryland fall below the average. For all jurisdictions, the rate for men is significantly higher than for women.
The simple fact is that men “need” to be married, said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. It’s literally better for their health.
* Data for people 15 years and older
| Serial monogamists | ||||||||
| District | Maryland | Virginia | U.S. | |||||
| Men* | 233,036 | 2.2m | 3.1m | 119.7m | ||||
| Never married | 57.11% | 36.44% | 34.29% | 35.22% | ||||
| Of those married | ||||||||
| Once | 80.12% | 77.51% | 75.44% | 75.36% | ||||
| Twice | 16.51% | 18.65% | 19.91% | 19.37% | ||||
| Three or more | 3.37% | 3.83% | 4.65% | 5.28% | ||||
| Married in 2009 | 1.77% | 1.83% | 2.05% | 1.91% | ||||
| Divorced in 2009 | 0.63% | .088% | 0.89% | 0.92% | ||||
| Widowed in 2009 | 0.14% | 0.34% | 0.30% | 0.35% Women* | 271,773 | 2.4m | 3.3m | 125.4m |
| Never married | 54.66% | 31.73% | 28.18% | 28.58% | ||||
| Of those married | ||||||||
| Once | 83.60% | 78.44% | 76.09% | 75.52% | ||||
| Twice | 14.84% | 18.41% | 19.46% | 19.32% | ||||
| Three or more | 1.56% | 3.14% | 4.45% | 5.15% | ||||
| Married in 2009 | 1.69% | 1.61% | 1.88% | 1.76% | ||||
| Divorced in 2009 | 0.83% | 0.82% | 1.02% | 0.97% | ||||
| Widowed in 2009 | 0.70% | 0.77% | 0.72% | 0.78% | ||||
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau | ||||||||
“Because what do they do? They go out and drink and then they drive; they’re much more likely to get into fights,” he said. “They also don’t eat as well. …. There’s a whole series of lifestyle choices that are much worse for men who are single than men who are married.”
The commonwealth is also home to a higher percentage of second and third marriages, according to a Washington Examiner analysis. Of Virginia men and women who have been married, nearly one of every five has been married twice. Roughly 4.5 percent have been married three or more times.
A higher marriage rate typically goes hand in hand with a higher education, according to the report. This has especially been true among women, it said.
However, the story for divorces is reversed — Virginia men and women had a higher divorce rate in 2009 than their counterparts in Maryland and the District. That’s partly because of the higher marriage rate, Haskins said.
Men and women in the District also combine for the region’s lowest divorce rate, and its marriage rate is comparable with Maryland’s. That’s likely because the District tends to attract a young population. More than half have never been married — a roughly 20-point difference from neighboring jurisdictions — and those who are married are doing it for the first time.
Nationwide, divorces are most common among 34- to 44-year-olds, an underrepresented age group in the District, according to census data.
The District also has a lower occurrence of new widows, although the gap is greater with men than women. Women tend to live longer and marry older men, contributing to their higher rate of widowhood, according to the report.
