In 2023, the U.S. median age at first divorce was 43.3 years for men and 41.9 for women, according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research. These are middle ages among people experiencing a first divorce. They cannot tell you the age when a marriage is most likely to end.
Read what marriage-duration figures count→
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Who got counted?
The first-divorce profile uses the 2023 American Community Survey through IPUMS, a service that supplies survey data. It was published in 2025. Its first-divorce estimates keep men and women separate; they do not give one combined average for all divorces.
The Census question guide distinguishes current marital status, changes during the past 12 months, and lifetime marriages. Someone who is currently divorced may have divorced years ago. A figure for that group answers a different question from a figure about a recent divorce.
U.S. median age at first divorce, 2023
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| Source group | Median age, years |
|---|---|
| Men | 43.3 |
| Women | 41.9 |
“Denominator” means the full group used to calculate a percentage or rate.
How to read it: Source: NCFMR FP-25-23, Figure 1; 2023 U.S. American Community Survey through IPUMS. First-divorce medians, in years, shown separately for men and women. These are published estimates, not means for all divorces or personal-risk estimates.
Download the table (CSV) ↓What does median age mean?
The median is the middle value when ages are put in order. The mean adds all ages and divides by the number of people. You cannot average the two published medians to obtain a combined median. That needs the underlying distribution of ages.
For a hypothetical group with ages 30, 35, 40, 45 and 70, the middle age is 40. By Research Desk arithmetic, the mean is (30 + 35 + 40 + 45 + 70) ÷ 5 = 44. This example shows how a median and mean can differ. These five ages are invented for explanation; they are not survey observations.
Median age does not measure divorce risk
An age-specific rate asks how often divorce occurred relative to the married people in an age group. The separate NCFMR rate profile uses divorces per 1,000 currently married people. Its denominator includes people who stayed married. A median among people who divorced cannot supply that denominator or identify a highest-risk age.
Choose the measure that fits your question
Use the first-divorce medians when you need a typical age for that event. For years spent married, read the marriage duration and survival figures. Adding a marriage-age median to a duration median from another group does not produce an observed divorce age.
For annual comparisons, the first-divorce rates by race and ethnicity keep their own population and units. The U.S. marriage measures explain other ways to count marriages. Keep the source year and the people counted beside any number you share. A group estimate cannot explain a partner's motives or decide what will happen to your relationship.
