Utah Dating & Marriage Statistics (2026)

How to read these numbers

Marriage and dating statistics use different denominators. A CDC crude marriage rate counts marriages per 1,000 total residents, including children and already-married adults, and it counts every wedding registered in the state — including destination ceremonies. An ACS “got married in the past year” rate among never-married 22- to 39-year-olds is closer to the odds that a single young adult in that place married during the year. Household figures such as “currently married, ages 35–64” describe stock, not flow. This page labels each denominator next to the number.

Vintage matters. The Institute for Family Studies Provo figure uses Census ACS microdata for 2020–2024. CDC rates below are for 2023. The Utah Foundation 2025 Social Capital Index reports compiled state household measures. Census ACS medians of age at first marriage for Utah versus the United States are shown from the 2013–2017 ACS vintage published by the Population Reference Bureau, because that is the latest official ACS extract we could verify with a public file during this build. Newer ACS table B12007 exists on data.census.gov; we do not reprint an unverified cell.

Young-adult marriage in the Provo area

Among never-married adults ages 22–39, the Provo, Utah, region had the highest marriage rate of the U.S. regions in the Institute for Family Studies Mapping Marriage in America brief (August 2026): **13.2%** married in the past year. The brief is built on IPUMS USA American Community Survey microdata for 2020–2024, grouped into regions of at least 500,000 people. The same project’s average grouped-region rate for women ages 22–39 was **6.6%**, and for men **5.5%**. Provo is roughly double that typical flow.

The brief also finds that the highest marriage rates for ages 22–29 sit in interior states — it names Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Kentucky — while several large coastal metros rank among the lowest for that younger band. Provo remains the top region when the age window is narrowed to 22–29. The maps are an approximation: they place people where they lived when they answered the ACS, not necessarily where the wedding was held.

That concentration of first marriages is the demographic backdrop for dating in Utah County and the Provo–Orem area. The valley holds four large campuses — BYU in Provo, UVU in Orem, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Utah State in Logan — so a large share of never-married adults in the region are students or recent graduates. This page does not reprint campus headcounts we could not verify from an official enrollment table during the build.

Household marriage in Utah versus other states

The Utah Foundation 2025 Social Capital Index reports that **58.2%** of Utah adults ages 35–64 were currently married, the highest share among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The same index file lists Idaho second at 55.8% and the District of Columbia last at 25.6%. The 2025 release is a compiled index; the underlying metric is “share of adults aged 35 to 64 who are currently married,” published with the open 2025 data file.

On family structure at birth, the same 2025 file reports that **78.7%** of Utah births were to married women, also the highest of the 50 states and D.C. That is a household statistic, not a dating-app statistic. It is included because journalists often pair Utah’s marriage stock with its marriage flow.

These shares describe people who are already married. They do not tell you how many 22-year-olds in Provo are going on first dates this week. For that, use the young-adult flow rates above and the national dating survey below.

CDC marriage and divorce rates

The CDC National Vital Statistics System publishes crude marriage and divorce rates: marriages or divorces per 1,000 total population. For **2023**, the national marriage rate was **6.1** per 1,000 and the national divorce rate was **2.4** per 1,000, continuing a long decline from 8.2 marriages and 4.0 divorces per 1,000 in 2000. See the CDC marriage and divorce page and the national rates PDF, 2000–2023.

In the 2023 NVSS state table, **Utah’s crude marriage rate was 11.2** per 1,000 residents and its crude divorce rate was **3.1** per 1,000. Crude rates mix residents with anyone who registers a wedding in the state. Utah’s figure is well above the U.S. average and below destination-wedding outliers such as Nevada. It should not be compared directly with the 13.2% Provo ACS flow rate above; they answer different questions.

Median age at first marriage: Utah versus the U.S.

The Institute for Family Studies dating-recession report notes that the **average age of first marriage in the United States is now approaching 30**. That is a national statement, not a Utah median. (State of Our Unions 2026: The Dating Recession.)

For a verified Utah-versus-U.S. comparison by sex, the Population Reference Bureau’s public ACS extract — sourced to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey — reports **2013–2017** median ages at first marriage of **26.2 for Utah men** and **24.2 for Utah women**, versus **29.6 for U.S. men** and **27.7 for U.S. women**. Files: men and women. The Census Bureau’s current table for this concept is ACS B12007, Median Age at First Marriage; see also the Census marriage and divorce topics page.

That 2013–2017 vintage is older than the rest of this briefing. We include it because it is the latest Utah/U.S. sex-specific ACS median we could verify from a public file, and because it documents a long-standing gap: Utah men and women have married several years younger than the national median. We do not update those medians by estimation.

The national dating recession

In February 2026 the Institute for Family Studies published State of Our Unions 2026: The Dating Recession, based on the 2025 National Dating Landscape Survey: a nationally representative sample of **5,275 unmarried U.S. adults ages 22–35**. The report focuses on the **86%** (N = 4,539) who said they expect to marry someday.

Among that marriage-expecting group, only about **30%** said they were dating, casually or exclusively. **31%** were active daters (once a month or more): **26% of women** and **36% of men**. **74% of women** and **64% of men** said they had not dated, or had dated only a few times, in the last year. About half (**51%**) said they were single and interested in starting a relationship — **60% of men** and **47% of women**.

The same survey found that money is the most-cited barrier to dating (**52%** overall; **58% of men** and **46% of women**). **83% of women** and **74% of men** said dating should be aimed at forming serious relationships. The report also states that U.S. first-marriage rates have fallen by more than **10%** over the past two decades, and that demographers now estimate **a third** of young adults born in the early twenty-first century will never marry. Those last two claims are quoted from the IFS report; they are not independently recomputed here.

This is a national survey. It is not a poll of BYU or UVU students. It is the best recent public measure we found of how little unmarried 22- to 35-year-olds are dating, including people who say they want a marriage. Utah’s higher marriage *flow* does not cancel a national pattern in which many young adults who hope to marry are not currently going on dates.

What this means for dating in Utah

Put the sources side by side and the picture is specific, not mysterious. Around Provo, never-married 22- to 39-year-olds marry at the highest regional rate in the ACS-based IFS maps. Statewide, Utah still has the highest share of 35- to 64-year-olds who are currently married. Nationally, most unmarried 22- to 35-year-olds who expect to marry are not dating in a given month, and many name cost as the reason. A short, public, named plan is a practical response to that last fact: it is easier to accept than an open-ended “we should hang out,” and it does not require an expensive evening.

If you want a concrete night in this valley, start with Utah date ideas, shuffle the date idea generator, or use the how to plan a first date checklist. Campus-specific public plans live at dating at BYU, dating at UVU, dating at the University of Utah, and dating at Utah State. Keep the first night public, timed, and easy to leave: a parkway walk and the Creamery, Roots of Knowledge, a named stretch of trail, a campus museum. That is Honor-Code-friendly on purpose.

Rove is a plan-first dating app for men and women, iOS only, $1/week after a 30-day free trial. Men post the activity, the time, and a public place, with their photo first. Women browse the person and the plan together, then can mark Interested or share the night with friends over iMessage. There is no website signup. Get Rove on the App Store.

Source list

Every statistic on this page is repeated below with its publisher and URL. Figures that could not be checked against a public file or report during this build were left out, including current ACS median ages at first marriage by sex for Utah, campus enrollment headcounts, and national dating-app usage percentages from reports we could not retrieve in full.

Plans like this, with the person first

Example nights a man could post in Utah Valley. The feed shows his photo first, then the plan. A woman would mark Interested in that plan — not a generic “Requested.”

Ethan, 24

Parkway walk, then the Creamery

Provo · Wednesday 6:30 PM

Tyler, 26

Thanksgiving Point gardens

Lehi · Saturday 11:00 AM

Sam, 23

Swig, then Kiwanis Park

Orem · Tuesday 7:00 PM

See all dating guides →

How to cite this page

Please cite the Rove Dating team as the author of this briefing, and cite the primary agency or institute for any individual statistic you reuse. Suggested citation:

Rove Dating team. “Utah Dating & Marriage Statistics (2026).” Rove Dating, November 2026, https://rovedating.com/guides/utah-dating-statistics.

Last updated: November 2026

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