New research shows that a man’s income has become increasingly important for his chances of getting married in the U.S. over the past century.
This suggests men face growing pressure to earn higher pay to attract a wife.
Key Facts:
- A man’s income explained only 2.5% of whether he ever married if born in 1890. This jumped to over 20% for those born in 1973.
- For women, income had the opposite effect. Higher pay meant lower marriage rates for early cohorts.
- Education showed similar patterns to income for both genders.
- Home ownership became more predictive of marriage over time for both men and women.
Source: Biodemography Soc Biol. 2023 Jun 5;1-19
No More ‘For Better or Worse’
A new study looking at over 100 years of U.S. census data indicates that money matters more than ever when it comes to marriage.
Researchers found that a man’s income predicts his odds of getting married now more than it did in the past.
This effect got stronger over time, especially for men born after 1945.
In contrast, women with higher incomes had lower chances of marrying. But this faded in recent decades.
What does this mean? It suggests men face increasing pressure to earn more money in order to find a wife.
The results provide a surprising historical peek behind the longtime marriage vows of ”for better or for worse, for richer or poorer.”
At least for American men, the ‘for richer’ part seems increasingly important.
Tracking Marriage Trends
The study used U.S. census data from 1940 through 2019.
This covered adults aged 45-55 born between 1890 and 1973.
In total, the researchers analyzed marriage patterns of over 7 million men and women across different decades.
They also looked at other factors like education level and home ownership.
These provided additional measures of social status over time.
For men born around 1890, income explained only about 2.5% of whether or not they ever married.
But this number rose dramatically in more recent generations.
Income accounted for over 20% of ever marrying for those born around 1973.
In other words, a man’s income became much more predictive of his marriage prospects over time.
For women, the reverse was true. Income explained 6% of ever marrying for those born around 1890.
But this declined to 0% for those born in the 1970s.
Similar patterns emerged for education level.
More schooling meant higher marriage rates for modern men, but lower rates for early 20th century women.
Home ownership also became more predictive of marriage over time for both genders.
This suggests it gained importance as a status symbol.
More Pressure on Men to Earn a High Income
So what explains these historical shifts?
Why has men’s income become so much more important for marriage in recent decades?
The researchers speculate it reflects an increasing pressure on men to earn more to attract a wife.
As American women gained more financial independence last century, their standards for a husband’s earnings likely rose.
Even as women’s roles changed, a lingering gender imbalance remains.
Marriage still appears to hinge more heavily on the man’s income.
The study can’t prove this explanation directly.
But the striking historical trends are consistent with the idea of growing economic pressures on husbands.
Other forces may also be at work, like increasingly delayed marriage.
More Americans now cohabit rather than marry right away.
But the data still suggest that without a solid paycheck, a man’s marital prospects look decidedly weaker compared to the past.
Evolutionary Forces?
Do the findings reflect any biological or evolutionary trends?
The historical snapshot is far too limited to draw definitive conclusions.
But the results do hint at recent evolutionary-like pressures on men.
In evolutionary terms, income may represent a novel, potent force acting on male mating success.
This is because money provides a universal metric of status.
Across history and cultures, women have prioritized social status in choosing a mate.
In today’s world, income appears to override other status markers.
From an evolutionary perspective, this could generate intense selection pressures on career success.
Men who can’t meet new income expectations may have trouble finding a long-term partner.
However, any evolutionary speculation remains highly tentative.
The patterns may primarily reflect shifting cultural factors rather than biology.
For instance, the decline of early marriage traditions or increasing inequality could contribute.
More research is needed to understand the forces at work.
Never married adults are increasing
But while the root causes are unclear, the census data are crystal clear on marriage trends.
The share of never-married adults has climbed over time.
In more recent cohorts, men are increasingly less likely to have ever married compared to women.
This gap has widened mainly since 1945.
In the past, shortages of men due to wars explained delayed marriage.
But that doesn’t fit the modern trends.
Today’s surplus of unmarried men reached 15% by 1973.
This suggests they are losing out in the mating game.
Without enough income, they struggle to attract or retain a wife.
Other evidence supports this idea…
Remarriage Rates
Some clues come from research into divorce and remarriage patterns.
Studies find that higher income men are more likely to remarry after divorce.
This benefits men with good careers. But it disadvantages lower earners once back in the mating pool.
Each remarriage of a high earner leaves fewer available women for the less well-off men.
Over time, this may widen disparities in marriage rates across income levels.
Rising Inequality
Another factor may be rising income inequality since the 1970s.
Bigger gaps between haves and have-nots could make financial stability even more important for marriage.
Women today likely expect more from a husband’s earnings than in the past.
This reflects their own increased education and economic power.
But this modern reality clashes with the persistent gender imbalance in marriage’s dependence on income.
On this playing field, many men now struggle to make the grade.
Of course, correlation does not mean causation.
More research is needed on whether rising income requirements actually cause the declines in male marriage rates.
Other Social Forces
Beyond income, many other social forces shape marriage trends, muddying any simple explanations.
More acceptance and availability of birth control loosened the bonds between marriage and reproduction last century.
A wider menu of lifestyles opened up.
Cohabiting without marriage also grew more prevalent and accepted.
This provided an alternative model for couples to live together without wedding vows and rings.
Women’s expanding work roles increased their economic leverage and options.
This allowed more flexibility in partner choice and timing.
Racial disparities in unemployment and incarceration rates also disproportionately reduce marriage prospects for black men.
Plus, shifting cultural expectations and attitudes continually recreate the social landscape of marriage.
Objectives like companionship may now outweigh pragmatic concerns like finances.
Psychological Contrast
Another layer comes from psychology research on what sways attraction.
Studies show women prefer men with higher status and resources than themselves.
However, they prefer men with similar education levels.
So hypergamy, or marrying up, applies more to status and income than schooling.
This fits with the rising financial pressures on husbands over time.
But it contrasts with evidence that spouses match more closely on education now than decades ago.
Similar schooling levels may enable closer communication and understanding.
So an interesting psychological paradox emerges – hypergamy for income, but homogamy for education.
Money matters, but mental matching does too.
Of course, these aggregate patterns miss huge individual variation.
Many couples defy such gendered trends and expectations.
But the broad historical shifts highlight how financial forces shape not just economic inequality, but also romantic realities.
Marriage Squeeze
Overall, the cascading trends create a kind of marriage squeeze effect on modern men.
Women’s rising economic power allows more selectivity, raising expectations for a husband’s earnings.
Coupled with stagnant male wages since the 1970s, many men now fall short on income prospects.
This economic mismatch may exclude more working-class men from marriage.
It widens gaps in marital success between income brackets.
Such skewed demographics pose big questions for society.
What happens if marriage further recedes as a realistic goal for large numbers of men?
Can substantial cohorts remain disenfranchised and disconnected from family life without destabilizing consequences?
Policy solutions like education, job training, and employment programs could help more men achieve career success.
But obstacles and uncertainties exist here too.
For now, the marriage landscape reflects growing gender imbalances.
Women continue progressing while many men tread water or fall behind.
Brains over Brawn
Evolutionary scientists propose that women have evolved a preference for men with resources because it improves survival.
But in today’s society, it is brains, not brawn, that generates money.
The mental capacity for high earning is now sexually selected over physical formidability.
This represents a dramatic shift from environments where physical strength governed male status.
Some argue this selective pressure spawned an evolutionary mismatch: modern conditions rewarding smarts rather than strength, but mating instincts still reflecting the distant past.
However, women also evolved advanced social intelligence to evaluate complex cultural dynamics beyond brute resources.
So in selecting clever, motivated partners, female choice adapts to changing conditions, favoring flexible mental abilities over fixed physical traits.
Rather than a mismatch, selective preference for income-generating cognitive talents reflects evolved psychology keeping pace with shifting cultural priorities.
Beneath the surface, core mating aims endure, even as their preferred markers rapidly evolve.
Declining Duty
The research also belies any nostalgia for the good old days when marriage was guided by nobler motives.
The data indicates otherwise.
In the early 1900s, women with higher incomes were less likely to marry.
This suggests economic dependence drove marriages more than affection back then.
Marriage also provided broader kin networks for survival.
It was less about romance and more about necessity and duty.
But over the decades, such pragmatic motivations receded.
More affordable birth control reduced pressures to wed.
Women gained financial freedom. Self-expression eclipsed obligation.
Marriage could finally prioritize personal happiness and chemistry over social conformity.
So despite modern stresses, marriage today emerges from more individual values.
Partners can shape their own paths, even if economic forces squeeze some harder than before.
Declining duty opens new dimensions of freedom.
The Price of Love
The results reveal that even the most romantic rite remains afflicted by the almighty dollar.
The price men pay for love keeps ratcheting up.
But the news isn’t all bad for marriage.
The trends show that financial stability increasingly enables wedding bells for educated, higher-earning Americans.
Marriage is receding out of reach primarily for those on lower rungs of the economic ladder.
Widening inequality may be a core driver.
This casts doubt on the notion of “involuntary celibacy” or that many men are unjustly denied sex and romance.
Disadvantaged economic status, not female discrimination against men, may represent the bigger issue.
But the shopping-style mindset encouraged by swipe-right dating apps does seem to dehumanize mating.
Restoring more humanity and compassion to gender relations could help marginalized men gain dignity and purpose beyond material measures.
Deeper relationship values could guide society toward concern for those left behind, regardless of one’s views on what ultimately drives human pair bonding.
Appeals to our shared humanity may replace market mentalities.
For now, money talks loudest. But whispered hopes remain for again reciting higher vows – promising one’s heart, not just one’s bank account.
References
- Study: Increasing pressure on U.S. men for income in order to find a spouse
- Authors: Martin Fieder & Susanne Huber (2023)
