Will You Get Married If You're From North Hills?

Growing up in North Hills does affect your odds of marrying, according to a new study by Harvard University, which was recently analyzed by 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. While growing up in a conservative part of America, increases your likelihood of getting married.

If you grew up in North Hills, you are 6 percentage points less likely than the rest of the country to be married by the age of 26.

For the state overall, growing up in Pennsylvania makes you 0.9 percentage points less likely to get married by the age of 26.

The greater Philadelphia area was listed as one of the regions which most discouraged marriage, along with metropolitan areas surrounding New Orleans and San Francisco.

The data covers more than 5 million people who moved as children in the 1980s and 1990s and the economists believe that they have identified a causal role that geography plays in people’s lives.

The data analyzes a child’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.

Currently, the children are not old enough for data to be analyzed beyond this age.

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.

Image credit: Harvard University.