The 2025 State-by-State Marriage & Wedding Report

FEBRUARY 20, 2026

Marriage patterns in the United States continue to evolve, shaped by demographic shifts, regional differences, and changing economic conditions. While national figures provide a broad overview, state-level data reveal substantial variation in how frequently Americans marry, when they enter their first marriage, how much they spend on weddings, and which wedding styles generate the most interest.

To examine these differences, Giggster evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia across four key indicators: marriage incidence, median age at first marriage, average wedding spending, and relative wedding style search interest.

This analysis highlights how marriage timing, wedding costs, and style preferences differ across regions, offering a comparative view of wedding trends nationwide. 

View the full methodology here.

Table of Contents

• State-by-State Marriage Rates in 2024
• Age at First Marriage By State in 2024
• Average Wedding Spending by State in 2025
• Top Searched Wedding Types in 2025
• Giggster Wedding Insights from 2025

Key Takeaways

• The District of Columbia leads the nation in both marriage timing and wedding spending, reporting the highest average age at first marriage (~32 years) and the highest average wedding spending at about $45K in 2025.
  
  
• Utah ranks first in marriage incidence, while also recording the lowest average age at first marriage (~26 years), making it the youngest and most marriage-dense state in 2024.
  
  
• Warehouse weddings ranked as the most-searched wedding type in 2025, peaking in July, with Alabama, Connecticut, and Iowa showing the highest interest in this style.
  
  
• Small weddings ranked first in four separate months, more than any other wedding format in 2025, making them the most consistently searched nationwide.

Marriage Rates By State in 2024

Marriage rates in 2024 show clear regional divides, with higher concentrations of marriages per capita in parts of the Mountain West and South, and lower rates more common in the Northeast and along the West Coast.

What the Data Shows:

• Utah ranks first in the marriage activity among all states in 2024.
  
  
• Vermont (No.51), Delaware (No. 50), Maine (No. 49), and Rhode Island (No.48) are among the states with the lowest marriage rates nationwide in 2024.
  
  
• Several high-population states, including New York (No. 32), California (No. 35, tied), Pennsylvania (No. 35, tied), Massachusetts (No. 38), and Illinois (No. 42), record marriage incidence levels below the national per-capita rate of about 7.1¹.

¹ See Methodology: Marriage Incidence.

Note: Rankings in this report are metric-specific. States are ranked separately within each category. Rankings do not represent an overall or combined score.

Marriage Age by State: Who Marries Earliest?

In 2024, the age at which Americans marry for the first time differs meaningfully by state, creating a noticeable spread between earlier- and later-marriage states nationwide. 

In nearly all states, men marry later than women, with average first-marriage ages for men generally in the late 20s to early 30s, while women marry two to three years earlier.

What the Data Shows:

• Average age at first marriage ranges from about 26 years in Utah (No. 1 - youngest) to roughly 32 years in Washington, D.C. (No. 51 - oldest), a gap of just over six years between the lowest- and highest-ranking jurisdictions.
  
  
• Utah (No. 1), Arkansas (No. 2), Idaho (No. 3), South Dakota (No. 4), and Alaska (No. 5) report the lowest average ages at first marriage, typically around 26 to 27 years.
  
  
• The highest average ages at first marriage cluster around 31 to 32 years, led by Massachusetts (No. 50), Rhode Island (No. 49), Connecticut (No. 48), California (No. 47), and New York (No. 45).

Note: Rankings in this report are metric-specific. States are ranked separately within each category based on the youngest to oldest average age at first marriage. Rankings do not represent an overall or combined score.

Top Wedding Types and Style Trends in 2025

Wedding style preferences in 2025 show clear differences by type and timing, with certain wedding formats attracting more search interest at different points in the year.  

What the Data Shows:

• Warehouse Wedding ranks as the highest overall–searched wedding style in 2025, peaking in July, with the strongest search activity coming from Alabama, Connecticut, and Iowa.
  
  
• Outdoor Wedding sees peak interest in May, with searches driven most heavily by Alaska, Utah, and Vermont.
  
  
• Backyard Wedding also peaks in May

To capture seasonality, we also looked at the #1 searched wedding style in each month of 2025.

What the Data Shows:

• Small weddings rank as the most searched wedding type in multiple months, leading interest mostly in winter, driven by Rhode Island, Arkansas, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
  
  
• Seasonal search trends in 2025 show hotel weddings leading in winter, backyard weddings in spring, outdoor weddings in summer, and warehouse weddings in fall.
  
  
• Outdoor Wedding appears as a monthly leader in early summer (June) and early fall (September), with peak overall interest in May.

Average Wedding Spending by State in 2025 

Average wedding spending in 2025 varies widely by state, with budgets ranging from under $17K to nearly $45K, depending on location.

The data shows that higher wedding spending is concentrated along the East and West Coasts, while lower averages are more common across parts of the South and Midwest.

What the Data Shows:

• Five states report average wedding costs of $37K or more, District of Columbia (No. 1), Massachusetts (No. 2), Hawaii (No,3), California (No. 4), and New Jersey (No. 5), well above the national average of roughly $27K
  
  
• The difference between the highest- and lowest-spending states exceeds $28K, from roughly $45.0K in the District of Columbia (No. 1) to about $16.9K in West Virginia (No. 51).
  
  
• States with the lowest average wedding spending typically fall between $17K and $20K, including Mississippi (No. 50), Arkansas (No. 49), Alabama (No. 48), and Oklahoma (No. 47).

Note: Rankings in this report are metric-specific. States are ranked separately within each category. Rankings do not represent an overall or combined score.

Wedding Spending Distribution by Tier

• 5 states exceed $37K in average wedding spending.
  
  
• The majority of states fall between $22K and $37K
  
  
• 12 states report average wedding costs below $22K.

Giggster Platform Insights on Wedding Bookings (2025) 

State averages show how much weddings cost overall—but what does that look like in practice? Platform booking data from 2025 offers a closer view of hourly venue pricing, team size, and event duration for wedding-related bookings.

Methodology

This report evaluates state-level marriage patterns, wedding spending, and wedding style trends across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. To maintain accuracy and consistency, the analysis drew on four primary data sources, including federal demographic data, indexed search trend data, industry-reported wedding expenditure estimates, and aggregated platform insights.

Marriage Incidence 

This category measures the frequency of marriages relative to state population size.

Marriage rates were calculated using American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 data.

• State population: ACS Table B01003 (Total Population)
• Marriage data: ACS Table B12501 (Individuals aged 15+ who married within the past 12 months)

To estimate annual marriages per state:

• The total number of individuals who reported marrying in 2024 was divided by two to approximate couples.
• This figure was divided by each state’s total population.
• The result was multiplied by 1,000 to calculate estimated marriages per 1,000 residents.
• States were then ranked from highest to lowest based on the resulting marriage incidence values.

Because ACS data is survey-based, figures represent population-level estimates rather than official marriage license counts. 

In cases where multiple states share the same value, those states are assigned the same rank.

Age at First Marriage 

This category measures the average age at which individuals enter their first marriage.

Age data was sourced from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 data. 

• Age at first marriage estimate: ACS Table B12007 (Median Age at First Marriage)

To rank states according to the age at marriage:

• State-level averages were evaluated separately for men and women.
• Where referenced, overall averages represent the midpoint between male and female first-marriage ages.
• All figures reflect first marriages only.
• For ranking purposes, “States were ordered from lowest to highest based on the overall midpoint age (youngest to oldest), calculated as the midpoint between male and female values.

As with all ACS data, results are survey-based estimates.

In cases where multiple states share the same value, those states are assigned the same rank.

Wedding Style Search Trends 

This category evaluates the relative popularity of selected wedding formats.

Search interest data was retrieved using Google Trends (2025).

Google Trends scores are indexed from 0 to 100, where:

• 100 represents peak popularity within a selected geography and time frame.
• Scores reflect relative search interest, not absolute search volume.

For clarity, this report does not display the full 0–100 index scale and instead reports only the highest-ranking results by month and state.

Average Wedding Spending 

This category measures average reported wedding expenditures by state.

Spending data is derived from the WithJoy Wedding Report, which provides the most recent state-level estimates for 2025 wedding expenditures.

Figures represent reported mean wedding expenditures and are presented in rounded form for consistency. Spending estimates may vary based on reporting methodology and local market conditions.

Giggster Wedding Insights

This category evaluates operational wedding-related production activity.

Metrics are based on aggregated 2025 data from Giggster.

The analysis includes:

• Average hourly venue price
• Average crew size
• Average booking duration

All figures represent platform-wide averages.

Things to Keep in Mind

While this research reflects the most current information available for 2024–2025, marriage patterns and wedding-related trends are subject to change.

• ACS data reflects survey-based estimates and may be subject to sampling variability.
• Google Trends data reflects relative popularity, not total search demand.
• Wedding spending figures represent reported averages and may vary by region and market conditions.
• Giggster data reflects platform activity and does not represent total national wedding production volume.

Readers should consult official data sources for the most up-to-date information.