How Does Growing Up in Clinton Affect Your Chances of Getting Married?

Written By FEROZE DHANOA (Patch Staff)

Growing up in Clinton does impact your odds of marrying, according to an article in the New York Times.

Overall, the data suggests that growing up in a liberal part of the country makes you about 10 percentage points less likely to get married, relative to the rest of the country. Growing up in a conservative part of America reportedly increases your likelihood of getting married.

“Spending childhood nearly anywhere in blue America — especially liberal bastions like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington — makes people about 10 percentage points less likely to marry relative to the rest of the country,” the report stated.

If you grew up in Clinton, you are 5 percentage points less likely to be married by the age of 26.

For the state overall, growing up in Connecticut makes you 6.6 percentage points less likely to get married by the age of 26.

The Role Geography Plays

“The data, which covers more than five million people who moved as children in the 1980s and 1990s, suggests that children who move from, say, Idaho to Chicago really do become less likely to marry, even if the numbers can’t explain exactly why these patterns exist,” according to the report.

The data analyzes a person’s odds of being married by the age of 26, however researchers found that the effect does not simply delay marriage. They found similar trends when these children turned 30.

“The places that made marriage more likely at 26 also tended to make it more likely at age 30,” according to the study. “The children in the study aren’t yet old enough for conclusions beyond age 30. But the best guess for now is that these differences aren’t only about timing. Children who grow in New York, among other places, appear less likely to be married by 26, less likely to be married by 30 and probably less likely to marry at any point.”

Another factor the study identifies is the “Small-Town Effect”, which shows that less densely populated places seem to promote marriage even after taking political affiliation into account. In general, the Northeast discourages marriage at all income levels.

To view the full study and get a more comprehensive look at the data, read the article at the New York Times.

Jaimie Cura contributed to this report.

Photo Credit: Patch archives

Editor’s Note: This article originally ran on May 17.