US demographics by marital status and age group

These tables, compiled from information published by the US Census Bureau, show the proportion of American men and women by age group and marital status. "NM" means never married, "Single" includes never married, divorced, and widowed. Numbers given are in thousands. The difference between the numbers of men and women in each category is shaded in pink where there are more men (theoretically favoring women) and blue where there are more women (theoretically favoring men). Note that people in long-term relationships but are not married are still counted as single, so if we posit that the demographics of unmarried partners are comparable to those of married partners, it's fair to conclude that percent difference column would be larger (in both directions) if only single people  without long-term partners were counted.

In the first chart, note that single men outnumber single women in the younger age groups, by about 6:5 in the early 30s. This can be attributed in part to birth rates that slightly favor boys, but more to the societal norm of the man being the older partner in the majority of relationships. The difference evens out and then reverses itself in middle age and beyond, with single women outnumbering single men by 2:1 and higher in the retirement years. The aforementioned societal norm plays a part here, along with the tendency for women to outlive men in old age.

The second chart shows the age differences between married partners. In most cases, the difference is not more than a few years. Where an age difference of at least two years exists, marriages where the man is older outnumber those where the woman is older by at least 3:1, and when the age difference approaches 20 years, that proportion is closer to 6:1.

Age group
Men
Women
%Dif
Single Men
Single Women
%Dif
NM Men
NM Women
%Dif
15-17
6668
6314
-5.31
6611 (99.1)
6263 (99.2)
-5.27
6608 (99.1)
6259 (99.1)
-5.28
18-19
4503
4339
-3.64
4444 (98.7)
4266 (98.3)
-4.01
4440 (98.6)
42.62 (98.2)
-4.00
20-24
10925
10458
-4.28
10120 (92.6)
9245 (88.4)
-8.64
10077 (92.2)
9177 (87.8)
-8.93
25-29
11212
10889
-2.88
8415 (75.1)
7189 (66.0)
-14.57
8218 (73.3)
6858 (63.0)
-16.55
30-34
11596
11383
-1.84
6365 (54.9)
5293 (46.5)
-16.84
5842 (50.4)
4579 (40.2)
-21.63
35-39
11322
11050
-2.40
4606 (40.7)
4034 (36.5)
-12.41
3728 (32.9)
2885 (26.1)
-22.63
40-44 10702
10660
-0.39
3783 (35.3)
3689 (34.6)
-2.49
2638 (24.7)
2170 (20.4)
-17.77
45-49
9867
9915
+0.48
3218 (32.6)
3313 (33.4)
+2.93
1837 (18.6)
1485 (15.0)
-19.15
50-54
10419
10473
+0.52
3346 (32.1)
3602 (34.4)
+7.64
1659 (15.9)
1332 (12.7)
-19.75
55-59
10439
10702
+2.53
3393 (32.5)
3874 (36.2)
+14.15
1497 (14.3)
1193 (11.2)
-20.29
60-64
10514
11160
+6.15
3309 (31.5)
4289 (38.4)
+29.64
1274 (12.1)
1114 (10.0)
-12.61
65-74
15905
17874
+12.38
4560 (28.7)
7763 (43.4)
+70.25
1279 (8.0)
1275 (7.1)
-0.33
75-84
7116
9035
+26.96
2047 (28.8)
5273 (58.4)
+157.63
344 (4.8)
453 (5.0)
+31.66
85+
2171
3792
+74.65
944 (43.5)
3138 (82.8)
+232.33 89 (4.1)
174 (4.6)
+96.37
Total
133358
138042
+3.51
65161
71231
+9.31
49530
43215
-12.75

Age difference
Count
Percent
Cumu-M
Cumu-F
Eq. & Opp.
+20 or above
588
1.0
99.0

3.46:1
+15 to +19
890
1.5
97.5
1.0
5.78:1
+10 to +14
3105
5.1
92.4
2.5
4.77:1
+6 to +9
7103
11.8
80.6
7.6
4.46:1
+4 to +5
7674
12.7
67.9
19.4
3.92:1
+2 to +3
12953
21.5
46.4
32.1
3.26:1
-1 to +1
19574
32.4
14.0
53.6

-2 to -3
3972
6.6
7.4
86.0
1:3.26
-4 to -5
1957
3.2
4.2
92.6
1:3.92
-6 to -9
1593
2.6
1.6
95.8
1:4.46
-10 to -14
651
1.1
0.5
98.4
1:4.77
-15 to -19
154
0.2
0.3
99.5
1:5.78
-20 or below
170
0.3

99.7
1:3.46