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Summary
- No verse sets an age for marriage; Isaac and Esau married at forty (Genesis 25:20; 26:34), and Moses married in Midian after he left Egypt at forty.
- Paul called singleness good and marriage “no sin” (1 Corinthians 7:8–9, 36), and named no age.
- Catholic canon law sets minimum ages of sixteen for men and fourteen for women (canon 1083); no church sets an upper age.
- In the United States the median age at first marriage in 2025 was 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women (Census Bureau).
- Marriages made at 25 or older were the most likely to last ten years (NCHS, 2012), but one analysis found divorce odds rising again after about 32 (Wolfinger, 2015).
- ACOG says fertility starts to decline by age 30 and declines faster from the mid-30s.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Genesis 25:20; 26:34; 41:45–46; Exodus 2:21; Ruth 3:10; Psalm 127:3; Proverbs 5:18; Acts 7:23–29; 1 Corinthians 7:8–9, 26, 32–36). https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Code of Canon Law (1983), canons 1072 and 1083. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1632. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM
- Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia (2016), paragraph 217. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia.html
- Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016), “The Sacrament of Marriage and its Impediments.” https://www.holycouncil.org/-/marriage
- Westminster Assembly, The Directory for the Public Worship of God (1644), “Of the Solemnization of Marriage.” https://www.truecovenanter.com/worship/westminster_assembly_directory_for_public_worship_1645.html
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 24.3. https://www.opc.org/wcf.html
- U.S. Census Bureau, Table MS-2, “Estimated Median Age at First Marriage, by Sex: 1890 to Present” (released December 2025). https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/marital.html
- Casey E. Copen, Kimberly Daniels, Jonathan Vespa and William D. Mosher, “First Marriages in the United States: Data From the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth,” National Health Statistics Reports 49 (March 22, 2012). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr049.pdf
- Nicholas H. Wolfinger, “Want to Avoid Divorce? Wait to Get Married, But Not Too Long,” Institute for Family Studies, July 17, 2015. https://ifstudies.org/blog/want-to-avoid-divorce-wait-to-get-married-but-not-too-long
- Norval D. Glenn, Jeremy E. Uecker and Robert W. B. Love, “Later first marriage and marital success,” Social Science Research 39, no. 5 (2010): 787–800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.06.002
- Kay Hymowitz, Jason S. Carroll, W. Bradford Wilcox and Kelleen Kaye, Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage in America (National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and the Relate Institute, 2013). https://nationalmarriageproject.org/sites/nationalmarriageproject/files/2025-06/Knot-Yet-The-Benefits-and-Costs-of-Delayed-Marriage-in-America.pdf
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Having a Baby After Age 35: How Aging Affects Fertility and Pregnancy,” FAQ060 (last updated February 2023, last reviewed April 2025). https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/having-a-baby-after-age-35-how-aging-affects-fertility-and-pregnancy
- Mark Regnerus, “The Case for Early Marriage,” Christianity Today, July 31, 2009. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/07/case-for-early-marriage/
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