Return to the PIE Home PageIn 1990, 50% of all men and women 15 years of age and over were currently married, a considerable decrease from the 61% married at the time of the 1970 census. In numeric terms, the number of people married at a given time has increased by just 4,000, while the population has increased by 140,000 from 1970 to 1990. The percentage of the population which was single at the time of the census increased from 26.4% in 1970 to 31.4% in 1990, and the percentage of people who were divorced increased from 4.7% to 10.5%. This data suggests that fewer people are getting married and staying married, while more people are staying single or divorcing. The percentage of people widowed and separated at a given time has remained relatively steady. The largest difference between males and females is in the number widowed. There were 7,241 males widowed (or 2.0% of all males), and 39,510 females widowed (or 9.9% of all females) at the time of the 1990 census.
Category 1970 1980 1990
Persons Percent Persons Percent Persons Percent
Males
single 85,546 29.3 106,818 33.3 126,045 34.9
married 185,527 63.5 179,131 55.9 189,718 52.6
separated 4,037 1.4 5,296 1.7 6,506 1.8
widowed 6,892 2.3 6,553 2.0 7,241 2.0
divorced 10,106 3.5 22,730 7.1 31,261 8.7
Total 292,108 100.0 320,528 100.0 360,771 100.0
Females
single 78,330 24.0 95,455 26.8 112,737 28.2
married 189,186 57.9 178,512 50.1 189,162 47.4
separated 6,668 2.0 7,984 2.2 9,224 2.3
widowed 33,801 10.3 37,777 10.6 39,510 9.9
divorced 19,024 5.8 36,647 10.3 48,560 12.2
Total 327,009 100.0 356,375 100.0 399,193 100.0
Total Population
single 163,876 26.5 202,273 29.9 238,782 31.4
married 374,713 60.5 357,643 52.8 378,880 49.9
separated 10,705 1.7 11,849 2.0 15,730 2.1
widowed 40,693 6.6 44,330 6.5 46,751 6.1
divorced 29,130 4.7 59,377 8.8 79,821 10.5
Total 619,117 100.0 676,903 100.0 759,964 100.0
Note: All figures above include males and females 15 years of age and over.
Source: Census of Population and Housing, U.S. Bureau of the Census
Filename: CD-021