Study: Cohabitation More Prevalent Among Less Educated

The number of unmarried couples living together has risen dramatically since the 1990s, with the greatest increase among those without a college degree, according to a new Pew Research Center study analyzing recent Census Bureau data.

In 2009, 58 percent of those aged 30-44 were married while 7 percent were living with their partner but not married. Thirty-five percent were neither married nor a cohabitant. The rate of cohabitation for this age group has doubled since 1995 when it was 3 percent. The study, authored by Richard Fry and D'Vera Cohn, also noted that rates of cohabitation before marriage have risen sharply. In 2010, 58 percent of all women aged 19-44 had lived with a partner outside of marriage, up from 33 percent in 1987.

The increased rate of cohabitation came mostly from those with lower levels of education, however. Cohabitation was twice as high among those without a college degree (8 percent) than among college graduates (4 percent).

Cohabitation also showed opposite effects on the income levels of non-college graduates versus college graduates. Among those without a college degree, cohabitating couples had less income on average ($46,540) than married couples ($56,800). Among those with a college degree, however, cohabitating couples had more income on average ($106,400) than married couples ($101,160), though the difference is not as great as for those without a college degree.

“The presence of children detracts from economic well-being because children require time and care; they likely lead to a reduction in hours devoted to paid work on the part of the parent or the partner of the parent,” Fry and Cohn write. The study concludes, therefore, that the income differences found between less educated cohabitating couples versus married couples, as opposed to those differences among college educated couples, can be explained by the presence of children.

Among the college-educated, married couples are much more likely to have children in the home (81 percent) than cohabitating couples (33 percent). Among couples without a college degree, however, a large portion of cohabiters (67 percent) have children. By comparison, 85 percent of married adults without a college degree have children.

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