The number of single young men in America has gone up significantly over the past 25 years, especially among working-class men.
There are approximately 30.4 million unmarried men between the ages of 20 and 39, a startling 47% increase since 2000. In contrast, there were only 20.7 million young bachelors in 2000.
According to the Institute for Family Studies, in 2025, about 15.4 million young men were married, or around half as many as were unmarried. In 2000, 18.1 million men were young husbands, or just 12 to 13 percent fewer than those who were unmarried. Put another way, it was estimated that there were 15 million more bachelors than husbands between the ages of 20 and 39 in 2025, versus a difference of just 2.6 million in 2000.
Why aren’t young men in America getting married anymore?
Speaking to The Washington Times about the growing number of single young men in America, Brad Wilcox, a University of Virginia sociologist, said, “The digital revolution has exacted a major toll on their social skills, their opportunities to mix and mingle, and their educational attainment. Our schools also do them a disservice, as they tend not to cater to the interests and educational orientations of boys.”
Additionally, he pointed out that working-class males have seen the sharpest declines in marriage and child-rearing rates due to societal shifts that deprive them of conventional role models.
Other analysts who spoke with The Washington Times noted that blue-collar salaries are stagnating, forcing men to work low-paying jobs or pursue higher education, which often delays marriage until after age 40. Also, in 2025, young males were less likely to own a car, buy a home, or find a spouse because of growing struggles to excel academically or secure well-paying jobs.
“Economic instability plays a major role,” said Donna R. Turner, an educational psychologist in Indiana. “When wages are unstable, and housing feels out of reach, many men feel they cannot qualify as husbands. Women are understandably reluctant to tie their futures to economic precarity.”
There is also the fact that, as Angelica Gianchandani, a New York University finance instructor said, “Women have less structural need for marriage than past generations did.”
“Rising income and education give many women a financial independence marriage once provided, and donor sperm and fertility treatment have decoupled motherhood from a partner altogether,” she said.
Another recent study found that about 10% of Gen Zers reported having no face-to-face interactions each day. According to the study, this group, aged 23 to 29, never fully recovered from pandemic-induced isolation. This also contributes to the lower number of people getting married.
Can and will this trend ever be reversed?
“Improving educational attainment, labor-force attachment, housing affordability and opportunities for young adults to become economically independent would probably do more than any explicitly pro-marriage government program,” said Scott Beaulier, a University of Wyoming economist.
“You cannot manufacture marriages through public policy,” he added. “But you can make it easier for young people who want marriage, children and a home to believe those goals are attainable.”