In the 2025 Census survey, more than one-third of opposite-sex couples living together were within one year of each other.
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A wider age range gives a different result
Pew used a two-year range for opposite-sex spouses who lived together. In 2022, 51% were within that range, up from 46% in 2000. The Census Bureau’s 2025 figure uses a tighter one-year range and also includes unmarried opposite-sex couples who share a home. A larger share at the two-year threshold is expected, but the change in both year and group means we cannot calculate the difference between thresholds from these headlines.
'Same age' sounds exact, yet researchers have to draw a line somewhere. Pew's line includes spouses whose recorded ages differ by zero, one, or two years. The Census 2025 statement concerns partners within one year. Neither number means the partners were born on the same date or in the same calendar year. A person born late in December and a partner born early in January may be close in time while their birth years differ. The survey groups people by reported ages and its chosen cutoff.
The 51% is a share of observed opposite-sex marriages with co-resident spouses in 2022. It is not a share of every relationship in the country. The Census figure, more than one-third within one year, covers opposite-sex couples living together in 2025, including unmarried partners. State the range and group when quoting either result. Otherwise a reader cannot tell whether two different headlines disagree or simply count different people.
Two meanings of close in age
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| Measure | Result | Who and when |
|---|---|---|
| Within one year | More than one-third | Opposite-sex couples sharing a home; 2025 CPS |
| Within two years | 51% | Opposite-sex married couples sharing a home; 2022 ACS |
| Within two years | 46% | Opposite-sex married couples sharing a home; 2000 |
Compare across years: The two-year marriage rows show a change over time. The one-year row uses a different threshold and group.
How to read it: These are household-based estimates. None counts couples who live apart.
Download the table (CSV) ↓Who is included
Both studies pair people in the same household, so a couple living apart is outside either count. Imagine partners whose birthdays are exactly one year apart: they fit either threshold. Partners born exactly two years apart fit the wider threshold only. That example explains the rule, not the share of couples at either age.
Pew used Census and American Community Survey records to pair married spouses at one address. In the 2022 survey, it analyzed roughly 680,000 opposite-sex marriages with both spouses living together. That is a large set of observed records, but it still leaves out spouses who live apart and every unmarried pair. The Census Bureau's separate Current Population Survey estimate broadens the marital-status group to married and unmarried co-resident partners. The two sources have different sampling and question designs as well as different age cutoffs.
A dating relationship does not become 'same age' in these studies unless both partners appear as a couple in the household data. Two people living apart can have identical birthdays and still be absent from these particular couple counts. That does not make their relationship less real; it defines the survey's reach. If you are asking about all people who date, you need a study of dating pairs rather than a household-based estimate.
What changed between 2000 and 2022
Pew's within-two-years share rose from 46% of observed opposite-sex marriages in 2000 to 51% in 2022. By our subtraction, that is a five-percentage-point increase. Imagine 100 co-resident married couples in each year's survey. The rounded shares correspond to about 46 close-age marriages in the earlier snapshot and 51 in the later one. These are illustrations of published percentages, not counts of couples in one town or evidence that the same couples changed their age gaps.
The average spousal age gap in Pew's analysis moved from 2.4 years in 2000 to 2.2 in 2022. That average and the within-two-years share point in the same direction, but they measure different things. The average uses all observed gaps; the share counts couples that meet one boundary. Neither tells how many marriages had a gap of exactly two years. It would also be wrong to say the within-two-years share rose by five percent; the published change is five percentage points.
A trend in marriage records cannot identify the cause by itself. The mix of first marriages and remarriages, the ages at marriage, and the people living together may all differ between the two years. Pew's study describes who was married and sharing a home at each time. It does not follow a fixed set of couples or randomly change their ages. The trend is a finding about the observed population, not an explanation for anyone's partner choice.
Same-age shares differ within marriages
Pew found that 56% of husbands in their first marriage had a wife within two years of their age. Among husbands who had married more than once, the share was 32%. The two figures compare groups of existing marriages, using the husband's marriage history. They do not say a remarriage causes a wider gap. They do show why a single national share may fit some groups better than others.
The education comparison tells a similar cautionary story. Fifty-five percent of husbands with at least a bachelor's degree were in a within-two-years marriage, compared with 48% of husbands with some college education or less. Education here identifies a subgroup in the observed married population. The report does not hold every other factor constant or claim that education determines a spouse's age. Use the subgroup when that is the question; use 51% for the overall opposite-sex marriage group.
The threshold also works symmetrically. A wife one year older and a husband one year older both sit within Pew's close-age band. The 51% does not divide those cases by which spouse is older. Pew separately reported that in 40% of observed marriages the husband was at least three years older, and in 10% the wife was at least three years older. Those categories help locate the rest of the distribution, with small rounding differences in the published shares.
Use the figure without making it a rule
If someone asks whether couples with a one-year gap are common, the Census 2025 result is the closer published match: more than one-third of opposite-sex co-resident couples were within one year. If they ask about married spouses within two years in 2022, Pew's answer is 51%. If they ask whether those marriages became more common since 2000, compare Pew's 46% and 51% using the same two-year rule. The table keeps the group and cutoff beside each percentage so you can choose deliberately.
None of these figures is a compatibility score. It does not measure affection, consent, power, or satisfaction, and it cannot tell whether a particular couple should date or marry. A pair with a three-year difference sits outside one researcher's 'same age' band but can still be close in life stage. The research offers a picture of frequency among observed households. Your own relationship is a separate question that the household data never asked.
