Executive Summary

This report analyzes the demographic and economic characteristics of newlyweds who marry spouses of a different race or ethnicity, and compares the traits of those who “marry out” with those who “marry in.” The newlywed pairs are grouped by the race and ethnicity of the husband and wife, and are compared in terms of earnings, education, age of spouse, region of residence and other characteristics. This report is primarily based on the Pew Research Center’s analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) in 2008-2010 and on findings from three of the Center’s own nationwide telephone surveys that explore public attitudes toward intermarriage. For more information about data sources and methodology, see Appendix 1.

Key findings:

• The increasing popularity of intermarriage. About 15% of all new marriages in the United States in 2010 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another, more than double the share in 1980 (6.7%). Among all newlyweds in 2010, 9% of whites, 17% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 28% of Asians married out. Looking at all married couples in 2010, regardless of when they married, the share of intermarriages reached an all-time high of 8.4%. In 1980, that share was just 3.2%.
• Gender patterns in intermarriage vary widely. About 24% of all black male newlyweds in 2010 married outside their race, compared with just 9% of black female newlyweds. Among Asians, the gender pattern runs the other way. About 36% of Asian female newlyweds married outside their race in 2010, compared with just 17% of Asian male newlyweds. Intermarriage rates among white and Hispanic newlyweds do not vary by gender.
• At first glance, recent newlyweds who “married out” and those who “married in” have similar characteristics. In 2008-2010, the median combined annual earnings of both groups are similar—$56,711 for newlyweds who married out versus $55,000 for those who married in. In about one-in-five marriages of each group, both the husband and wife are college graduates. Spouses in the two groups also marry at similar ages (with a two- to three-year age gap between husband and wife), and an equal share are marrying for the first time.
• However, these overall similarities mask sharp differences that emerge when the analysis looks in more detail at pairings by race and ethnicity. Some of these differences appear to reflect the overall characteristics of different groups in society at large, and some may be a result of a selection process. For example, white/Asian newlyweds of 2008 through 2010 have significantly higher median combined annual earnings ($70,952) than do any other pairing, including both white/white ($60,000) and Asian/Asian ($62,000). When it comes to educational characteristics, more than half of white newlyweds who marry Asians have a college degree, compared with roughly a third of white newlyweds who married whites. Among Hispanics and blacks, newlyweds who married whites tend to have higher educational attainment than do those who married within their own racial or ethnic group.
• Intermarriage and earnings. Couples formed between an Asian husband and a white wife topped the median earning list among all newlyweds in 2008-2010 ($71,800). During this period, white male newlyweds who married Asian, Hispanic or black spouses had higher combined earnings than did white male newlyweds who married a white spouse. As for white female newlyweds, those who married a Hispanic or black husband had somewhat lower combined earnings than those who “married in,” while those who married an Asian husband had significantly higher combined earnings.
• Regional differences. Intermarriage in the United States tilts West. About one-in-five (22%) of all newlyweds in Western states married someone of a different race or ethnicity between 2008 and 2010, compared with 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast and 11% in the Midwest. At the state level, more than four-in-ten (42%) newlyweds in Hawaii between 2008 and 2010 were intermarried; the other states with an intermarriage rate of 20% or more are all west of the Mississippi River. (For rates of intermarriage as well as intra-marriage in all 50 states, see Appendix 2.)
• Is more intermarriage good for society? More than four-in-ten Americans (43%) say that more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society, while 11% say it has been a change for the worse and 44% say it has made no difference. Minorities, younger adults, the college-educated, those who describe themselves as liberal and those who live in the Northeast or the West are more disposed than others to see intermarriage in a positive light.
• Public’s acceptance of intermarriage. More than one-third of Americans (35%) say that a member of their immediate family or a close relative is currently married to someone of a different race. Also, nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) say it “would be fine” with them if a member of their own family were to marry someone outside their own racial or ethnic group. In 1986, the public was divided about this. Nearly three-in-ten Americans (28%) said people of different races marrying each other was not acceptable for anyone, and an additional 37% said this may be acceptable for others, but not for themselves. Only one-third of the public (33%) viewed intermarriage as acceptable for everyone.
• Divorce. Several studies using government data have found that overall divorce rates are higher for couples who married out than for those who married in – but here, too, the patterns vary by the racial and gender characteristics of the couples. These findings are based on scholarly analysis of government data on marriage and divorce collected over the past two decades.

About the Report

This report was researched and written by Wendy Wang, research associate at the Social & Demographic Trends project of the Pew Research Center. Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Research Center, participated in the initial planning of the project and prepared the couple-level ACS datasets for the analysis. Paul Taylor, director of the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project, provided the editorial guidance and also edited the report. Kim Parker, associate director of the Social & Demographic Trends project, provided valuable comments and suggestions. Research Assistants Eileen Patten and Seth Motel did the number checking, and Marcia Kramer copy-edited the report.

Marriage across racial and ethnic lines continues to be on the rise in the United States. The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from each other increased to 15.1% in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%.¹

The upward trend of intermarriage is many decades old. In 1980, fewer than 7% of new marriages were intermarriages, less than half the share now.² Among all marriages, the share of intermarriages in 1980 was about 3%.

At first glance, newlyweds between 2008 and 2010 who “married out” are very similar to those who “married in,” judging by characteristics such as education, income and age. In about one-in-five of each group, both the husband and wife are college graduates. The couples’ combined (median) annual earnings are about $56,700 for the intermarried and $55,000 for those who married in. The average age of brides is about 32 years for both groups, and the age gap between the husband and wife is similar. One exception is geographic differences: Intermarried newlyweds are more likely than newlyweds who married in to live in the Western states of the U.S. (35% vs. 22%) and less likely to live in the Midwest region (16% vs. 23%).

However, there are sharper differences among newlyweds based on the race, ethnicity and gender partnerships of the couples. Some of these differences appear to reflect the overall characteristics of different groups in society at large, and some may be a result of a selection process. For example, among intermarried newlywed couples involving whites, white/Asian couples have the highest combined annual earnings (nearly $71,000), much higher than the earnings of white/Hispanic couples (about $58,000) as well as white/black couples (about $53,000).

Also, white/Asian couples have higher combined earnings than either white/white or Asian/Asian couples. Meanwhile, the combined median earnings of white/Hispanic couples are lower than those of white/white couples but higher than those of Hispanic/Hispanic couples. The earnings of intermarried white/black couples fall between those of white/white and black/black couples.

When it comes to education, white newlyweds who married Asians are more educated than whites who married whites, blacks or Hispanics. More than half of the white men (51%) and white women (57%) who married an Asian spouse are college-educated, compared with only 32% of white men and 37% of white women who married a white spouse. Also, about six-in-ten Asian newlyweds who married whites are college-educated.

Newlywed Hispanics and blacks who married a white spouse are more likely to be college-educated than those who married within their group. About 23% of Hispanic men who married a white wife have a college degree, compared with just 10% of Hispanic men who married a Hispanic woman. Likewise, one-in-three (33%) Hispanic women who married a white husband are college-educated, compared with about 13% of Hispanic women who “married in.” The educational differences among blacks who “marry in” and “marry out” are less dramatic but follow a similar pattern.

Public Attitudes

Findings from a number of recent Pew research surveys show that just as intermarriage has become more common, public attitudes have become more accepting. More than four-in-ten Americans (43%) say that more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society, while only about one-in-ten think it is a change for worse. Being a minority, younger, more educated, liberal and living in the Eastern or Western states are all traits associated with those who think more positively about intermarriage.

Americans’ growing acceptance of intermarriage is echoed on a personal level. More than a third (35%) of adults say they have an immediate family member or close relative who is married to someone of a different race. And nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) say they “would be fine” if a family member were to marry someone outside their own racial or ethnic group. Back in 1986, the public was divided about this. Nearly three-in-ten Americans (28%) said people of different races marrying each other was not acceptable for anyone, and an additional 37% said this may be acceptable for others, but not for themselves. Only one-third of the public (33%) viewed intermarriage as acceptable for everyone.³

Demographic Traits

Race and Ethnicity: Among the four major racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., Asians and Hispanics have the highest level of intermarriage rates. In 2010, more than a quarter of newlyweds in each group married someone of a different race or ethnicity. The intermarriage rate among blacks is somewhat lower; about one-in-six (17%) newlywed blacks married non-blacks. Less than one-in-ten whites (9%) married someone who is not white, the lowest among all groups.

Whites are by far the largest racial group in the U.S., meaning that even though the intermarriage rate is relatively low among whites, marriages between whites and minority groups are the most common types of intermarriage.⁴ In 2010, seven-in-ten (70%) new intermarriages involved a white spouse. Of approximately 275,500 new interracial or interethnic marriages in 2010, white/Hispanic couples accounted for more than four-in-ten (43%), white/Asian couples made up 14% and white/black couples made up 12%.

Gender: Among blacks and Asians, there are significant differences by gender in the tendency to marry outside their racial group. Black men are more than twice as likely as black women to marry someone outside their race, and the reverse pattern holds true for Asian men and women. In 2010, nearly one-quarter of black male newlyweds (24%) married outside their race, compared with just about 9% of black female newlyweds. In contrast, more than one-in-three (36%) Asian female newlyweds in 2010 married someone who is non-Asian, compared with only about one-in-six Asian male newlyweds (17%).

Among whites and Hispanics, there are no gender differences in intermarriage rates. About 9% of both male and female white newlyweds in 2010 married a nonwhite spouse, and about a quarter of both male and female Hispanic newlyweds in 2010 married someone who is not Hispanic.

Nativity Status: Marrying out is much more common among the native-born population than among immigrants. Native-born Hispanics were nearly three times as likely as their foreign-born counterparts to marry a non-Hispanic in 2010. The disparity among native- and foreign-born Asians is not as great, but still significant: Nearly four-in-ten native-born Asians (38%) and nearly a quarter (24%) of foreign-born Asians married a non-Asian in 2010.

Among Asian newlyweds, the intermarriage gap between native and the foreign born is much bigger for Asian men than for Asian women. In 2010, native-born Asian male newlyweds were about three times as likely as the foreign born to marry out (32% vs. 11%). Among newlywed Asian women, the gap between native and foreign born is much smaller (43% vs.34%). The gender differences are not significant among Hispanic native- and foreign-born newlyweds.

Regions and States: Intermarriage in the United States tilts West. About one-in-five (22%) of all newlyweds in Western states married someone of a different race or ethnicity between 2008 and 2010, compared with 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast and 11% in the Midwest.

At the state level, more than four-in-ten (42%) newlyweds in Hawaii between 2008 and 2010 were intermarried; the other states with an intermarriage rate of 20% or more are all west of the Mississippi River. For marriages between whites and Hispanics, states with the highest prevalence rates are New Mexico (19%), Arizona (12%) and Nevada (11%). The highest shares of intermarried white and Asian couples are in Hawaii (9%), District of Columbia (7%) and Nevada (5%). And the top states for white/black intermarried couples are Virginia (3.3%), North Carolina (3.2%) and Kansas (3.0%).

Backdrop and Recent Changes: The increasing popularity of intermarriage in the U.S. happens at a time when fewer people are getting married and the share of adults currently married has reached a historic low.⁵ The number of new marriages in the U.S. has declined from approximately 2.3 million in 2008 to 2.1 million in 2010. Only about half of U.S. adults (51%) are currently married. The share is highest among Asians (61%) and lowest among African Americans (31%), with whites (55%) and Hispanics (48%) in between.

The overall upward trend of intermarriage has masked some group differences in the past few years. The share of Asian newlyweds who intermarry has actually declined from 30.5% in 2008 to 27.7% in 2010.⁶ In contrast, intermarriage has become more popular among blacks: the share of black newlyweds who intermarry increased from 15.5% to 17.1% during the same time period. The share among Hispanic newlyweds remains the same, and there is a slight increase (0.5 percentage points) among whites who intermarried. Despite the small shifts of intermarriage among Asians and blacks, the overall racial and ethnic composition in pairings among intermarried newlyweds has been steady.

The slight decline of intermarriage rates among Asian newlyweds between 2008 and 2010 is on a similar scale for both Asian males and females (about a 3-percentage-point drop for each). However, the increase in the intermarriage rate among black newlyweds is slightly more pronounced among males than females. The share of black male newlyweds marrying a non-black spouse increased from 21.7% in 2008 to 23.6% in 2010, a rise of nearly 2 percentage points. The rate for black female newlyweds increased by 1 percentage point.

Intermarriage rates for both native- and foreign-born Asians declined between 2008 and 2010, but the drop is much more significant for native-born Asians (from 47% to 38%) than for foreign-born Asian newlyweds (from 26% to 24%). In comparison, the intermarriage rate has declined slightly for native-born Hispanics (from 39% to 36%) during the same period, but increased slightly for foreign-born Hispanics (from 12% to 14%).

Looking back in time: Variances between newlywed couples who married out and those who married in were also found among couples who married at an earlier time, but in a somewhat different manner. For example, in the 2008 to 2010 period, there is virtually no difference in the share of first-time marriages between those who married out and married in (58% for those who married in; 59% for those who married out). However, among the couples who got married prior to 1980 and are still married, the share of marriages between spouses who married for the first time is higher among intra-married couples than intermarried couples (84% vs. 74%).

Among couples who got married before 1980 and are still married, intermarried white/black couples have somewhat higher education level than white/white couples: about 20% of white/black couples are college-educated, compared with 18% of white couples. But about 17% of white/black couples who got married in the past decade (2000-2010) are college-educated, compared with 26% of white couples.

As far as the age difference goes, intermarried white men are slightly older than their Asian wives (1.2 years) for the cohort that got married prior to 1980; the age difference increases to nearly five years (4.8) among the same type of couples who married in the past decade. The age difference among white couples is the same for both cohorts.

Divorce. Several studies using government data have found that overall divorce rates are higher for couples who married out than for those who married in—but here, too, the patterns vary by the racial and gender characteristics of the couples. An analysis conducted a decade ago found that 10 years after they married, interracial couples had a 41% chance of separation or divorce, compared with a 31% chance among couples who married within their race, according to a study based on the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).⁷ A subsequent study which analyzed 2002 NSFG data found that “although interracial marriages overall are more vulnerable to divorce, this reflects the experience of some but not all couples.” It found that after 10 years of marriage, interracial marriages that are most vulnerable to divorce involve white females and non-White males (with the exception of white females/ Hispanic white males) relative to white/white couples. Conversely, there is little or no difference in divorce rates among white men/non-white women couples, and white men/black women couples are actually substantially less likely than white/white couples to divorce by the 10th year of marriage.⁸

Another study using 1990 to 2001 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) suggests that on the whole, interracial marriages are less stable than same-race/ethnicity marriages, but marital dissolution was found to be strongly associated with the race or ethnicity of the individuals in the union. The authors found that “the results failed to provide evidence that interracial marriage per se is associated with an elevated risk of marital dissolution.”⁹ Mixed marriages involving blacks and whites were the least stable followed by Hispanics-white couples, whereas mixed marriages involving Asians and whites were even more stable than same-race white marriages.

This chapter provides a detailed look at the economic and demographic characteristics of intermarried newlyweds in comparison with those who married in. To include a bigger sample size for subgroups, analyses of characteristics of newlyweds in this report are based on a combined three-year (2008-2010) dataset of newlyweds.

The analyses start with the overall comparison between intermarried and intra-married couples, and then present a second layer of comparisons among seven pairs of newlyweds who are either of same race/ethnicity or intermarried with whites (white/Hispanic, white/Asian, white/black), and a third layer of comparisons among all newlyweds by the race or ethnicity of the husband and wife. Only intermarried couples involving a white spouse were analyzed for characteristic comparisons, and they represent about 68% of all intermarried newlyweds from 2008-2010.

In addition to couples’ characteristics, this chapter presents the individual level characteristics of men and women who married out compared with those who married in.

Except for a few areas, newlywed intermarried couples are not that different from newlyweds who married within their own racial or ethnic group, measured by a series of demographic and economic characteristics.

Newlyweds who married out differ the most from those who married in by nativity and region of residence. Mixed couples are less likely than non-mixed couples to be both native born. Nearly seven-in-ten mixed couples (68.5%) are both native-born U.S. citizens, compared with 81% of non-mixed couples who fall in the same category.

Geographically, mixed couples are more likely to live in the Western states of the U.S. and less likely to live in the Midwest region than the same-group couples, perhaps in part because of the population diversity of these regions.

However in many ways these two groups are not that different: Couples in a mixed union have somewhat higher combined earnings than those who are from the same racial or ethnic group ($56,711 vs. $55,000). Newlyweds in mixed couples are equally likely as those in non-mixed couples to be both college educated.

Age of the spouses in the two types of unions is similar, and the age difference between husband and wife is only slightly bigger in mixed couples than for couples of same race and ethnicity (2.8 years vs. 2.4),

When looking at detailed combinations of newlywed couples by race and ethnicity, sharper differences emerge.

Earnings: White-Asian intermarried couples have higher earnings than both same-race white and Asian couples. Among seven pairs of newlyweds who are either of same race or intermarried with whites, the white/Asian newlywed couples have the highest combined (median) annual earnings of nearly $71,000, followed by couples whose husband and wife are both Asian ($62,000), and those whose husband and wife are both white ($60,000).

White/Hispanic intermarried couples have higher combined earnings than Hispanic couples (same ethnicity), but make less than white couples. A similar pattern applies to white/black couples in comparison to (same race) black couples and white couples. Newly married couples whose husband and wife are both Hispanic make the lowest combined earnings of about $35,600 per year. Black couples are doing better, with about $12,000 more than the Hispanic couples. In contrast, Hispanics who married whites have a combined earning of $57,900, much higher than Hispanics who married in. Similarly, black/white couples make higher earnings than black/black couples (about $53,200 vs. $47,700). Meanwhile, both white/Hispanic and white/black intermarried newlyweds have a lower combined earning than newlyweds whose husband and wife are both white.

The earning differences of couples reflect the general pattern of income disparity among families of different racial and ethnic background in the U.S. In 2009, the median family income was $75,027 for Asians, $62,545 for whites, $39,730 for Hispanics, and $38,409 for black families.¹⁰

College Education: Higher education is often associated with higher income, although it is not exactly true for couples whose husband and wife are both Asian. More than half of Asian newly married couples (53%) are college-educated (including both husband and wife). In contrast, about four-in-ten white/Asian newlyweds (41%) are college-educated. Yet, Asian couples have less combined earnings than white/Asian intermarried couples.¹¹

Consistent with the pattern found in couples’ combined earnings, education level of intermarried white/Hispanic couples falls between white couples and Hispanic couples. The share of college-educated couples (both husband and wife) is nearly a quarter (23%) among newly married white couples, less than one-in-five (19%) among intermarried couples between white and Hispanic, and only 5% among Hispanic couples. Similarly, intermarried white/black newlyweds are more likely than black couples to be college-educated (15% vs. 10%), but less likely than white couples (23%).

First Marriage: For more than four-in-ten (42%) newlyweds who got married in 2008-2010, it was not the first marriage for either one or both spouses. First-time newlyweds (for both bride and groom) made up about 58% of all newly married couples in that period. About one-in-five (20.5%) new marriages were for couples of whom both the bride and the groom had been married before, and the rest involved one who had been married before, one not.

The vast majority of Asian and Hispanic couples who “married in” are first-time newlyweds (79% and 68%). The share among intermarried white/Hispanic couples as well as white/Asian couples is lower, about six-in-ten (59%).

First-time marriage rates among whites who married in are slightly lower (55%), and a similar share of black and intermarried white/black couples wed for the first time (about 54%).

Regions and States: Compared with couples who married in, intermarried couples are more likely to live in the West (35% vs. 22%) and less likely to live in the Midwest (16% vs. 23%). Consistent with the general population distribution in the U.S., more newlyweds live in the South and fewer of them in the Northeast. About four-in-ten newlyweds (39%) live in the South, and only 15% of them live in the Northeastern states. About one-quarter of newlyweds (24%) live in the West and the rest live in the Midwest (22%).

There are some regional patterns about where different intermarried couples live, and the differences are more significant in the South and the West. Compared with all newlyweds, white-Hispanic and white-Asian newlyweds are more likely to live in the Western states (37% and 43%, respectively). Yet intermarried white/black newlyweds are more likely to call the Southern states home: Over half of the white/back couples live in the South, while only about one-in-six (16%) of them live in Western states.

The geographic distribution of intermarried couples is generally in line with where the minority groups are concentrated. According to the same data source of 2008 to 2010 American Community Survey, nearly six-in-ten adult African Americans (57%) live in the South, while almost half of Asian Americans (48%) and four-in-ten Hispanics (41%) live in Western states.

The intermarriage rate in the Unites States tilts West as well, judging by the share of intermarried newlyweds out of all newlyweds. About one-in-five (22%) of all newlyweds in the Western states between 2008 and 2010 married someone of a different race or ethnicity, compared with 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast, and 11% in the Midwest.

At the state level, Hawaii has the highest intermarriage rate among newlywed couples. More than four-in-ten (42%) newlyweds in Hawaii from 2008-2010 were intermarried. Out-marriage rates of 20% or more occurred in Oklahoma (26%), Nevada (26%), New Mexico (25%), Alaska (24%), California (23%), Arizona (22%), Washington (21%) and Oregon (20%)—all situated west of the Mississippi River.

Nearly one-in-five (19%) of all newlyweds in New Mexico between 2008 and 2010 were white/Hispanic couples, which makes New Mexico the No. 1 state in terms of the prevalence of white/Hispanic couples. States with the next highest shares of newlywed white/Hispanic couples were Arizona (12%) and Nevada (11%).

The highest rates of newlywed white/Asian couples are in Hawaii (9%), the District of Columbia (7%) and Nevada (5%). And the top three states for white/black intermarried couples are Virginia, North Carolina and Kansas, which all have rates of about 3%.

In contrast, white couples are more prevalent in the Midwest, where 77% of newlywed husbands and wives from 2008 to 2010 were both white. Western states have the lowest share of white couples among newlyweds; only about half of the newlyweds are white couples. On the state level, Vermont has the highest proportion of newlywed white couples. Among newlywed married in 2008-2010, 94% in Vermont were white couples, followed by Maine (92%) and West Virginia (88%). At the same time, in Hawaii, only a quarter of newlyweds were white couples, and the share in New Mexico and California was only 34% and 36%, respectively.

For more details about the state and region level information of newlyweds, see Appendix 2.

Ranking the Newlyweds by Husband and Wife’s Race/Ethnicity

By husband and wife’s race or ethnicity, newlyweds are further divided into 10 groups, including four groups of intra-married couples (white, Hispanic, Asian and black) as well as six types of mixed couples involving a white husband or wife. The couple is indicated in the format that the husband’s race/ethnicity goes first and the wife’s race/ethnicity goes second. For example, “Asian/white” refers to couples in which the husband is Asian and the wife is white.

Earnings: Newly married couples formed between an Asian husband and a white wife represent less than 1% of overall newlyweds, yet they have the highest combined earnings among all newlyweds, with combined (median) annual earnings of $71,800. The second-highest earnings are for couples in which the husband is white and the wife is Asian; their combined earnings are nearly $71,000.

Newlywed couples whose husband and wife are both Asian make $62,000 a year, which puts them third on the earnings list. They are also the highest-paid couples among all four types of newlyweds composed of a bride and groom from the same race or ethnicity.

Both male and female Asian newlyweds who married whites have higher combined earnings with their spouse than those who married other Asians. The same pattern goes for white newlyweds who married Asians: Their combined earnings with their Asian spouses are higher than those of their counterparts whose spouse is white.

Some noticeable gender patterns: In addition to Asian men, all intermarried white male newlyweds, as well as black and Hispanic newlyweds who married a white woman, have higher combined earnings with their spouses than their counterparts who married in. Combined median earnings for Hispanic grooms with a white wife are $53,000, but only about $35,600 for Hispanic grooms who married a Hispanic wife. Similarly, combined couple earnings for black grooms who married a white wife (around $52,700) are higher than blacks who married in ($47,700). The earning difference is less significant for white grooms, but those who married a Hispanic or black wife still have slightly higher combined earnings with their wife than their counterparts who married a white wife.

It is a somewhat different story for brides: Asian brides who married a white husband have higher combined earnings than their counterparts who married an Asian husband. Hispanic and black brides who married a white husband also have significantly higher combined earnings with their husbands (around $61,ooo) than their counterparts who married within their own racial or ethnic group (less than $48,000). White brides who married Hispanic or black husbands, on the other hand, have slightly lower combined earnings than their counterparts who married a white husband. However, combined earnings for white brides with an Asian husband are much higher than for white brides who married in.

College Education: Consistent with their highest educational achievement in general, Asian newlywed couples (both bride and groom are Asian) rank as the most highly educated couple. More than half of Asian couples (53%) include a husband and wife who are both college-educated.

Asian husbands with a white wife rank second in terms of college education; slightly less than half of couples in this group are both college-educated (47%). In contrast, about four-in-ten couples (39%) comprising a white husband and an Asian wife are both college-educated, which ranks them third.

Intermarried couples between whites (men and women) and Hispanics or blacks are less likely to both be college-educated than couples in which both husband and wife are white. About 21% of couples made up of a white husband and a Hispanic or black wife are college-educated, compared with 23% of white couples. And the gaps between white couples and couples involving a white wife and a Hispanic or black husband are bigger. Only about 17% of couples consisting of Hispanic men and white women and 12% of couples consisting of black men and white women are college-educated, compared with nearly a quarter of the white couples (23%).

On the flip side, compared with their counterparts who married in, Hispanics and blacks (both men and women) who married whites are more likely to be in a union where both partners are college-educated.

First Marriage: For newlyweds who married between 2008 and 2010, nearly six-in-ten (58%) were married for the first time (both bride and groom).

Nearly eight-in-ten Asian couples (79%), well above the average share, were first-time newlyweds, the highest share among all researched newlyweds in this study.

Couples made up of an Asian husband and a white wife rank second: about seven-in-ten (70%) of them were first-time newlyweds. However, when the husband is white and the wife is Asian, the share of first-time newlyweds is only 54%.

Hispanics couples ranked third on the list, with 68% of them being first-time newlyweds. Intermarried couples between Hispanic and white are slightly less likely to be first-time newlyweds than Hispanic couples. Unlike Asian-white couples, the difference is not big between Hispanic husband/white wife couples (61%) and white husband/Hispanic wife couples (57%).

For about 55% of white newlyweds (both husband and wife white), it was their first marriage. This share is virtually equal among couples of black husband/white wife, white husband/Asian wife, and black husband/black wife (black couples). The newlywed couples consisting of a white man and a black woman have the lowest share of being first marriage for both (50%); about half of them have at least one spouse who has been married before.

Age Difference: Among newlyweds married between 2008 and 2010, the husband is on average about 2.5 years older than his wife. With an age difference of more than five years, newlyweds involving a white husband and an Asian wife top the list in terms of age differences.

Asian and black newlywed couples who “married in” also have a relatively larger age difference between the husband and wife. On average, an Asian husband is more than three years (3.3) older than his wife who is also Asian, and a black husband is nearly three years (2.9) older than his wife of same race.

The age difference between husband and wife is more similar among the rest of couples, which ranges from 2.1 years (Hispanic husband/white wife) to 2.7 years (white husband/black wife).

Intermarried Men and Women

Differences between couples who intermarried and those who married in are largely due to the characteristics of individual men and women who made the choices about whom to marry.

Are the individuals who choose to marry out any different from their counterparts who marry in? This section compares the education levels of newlyweds by whom they marry. Whites, Hispanics, blacks and Asians are examined separately, for both men and women in each group.

Newlywed white men who married Asian wives are more likely than those who married in to be college graduates (51% vs. 32%). White men who married Hispanic or black women are about equally educated as those who married white women. Similarly, newlywed white women who married Asian men are significantly more educated than those who married white men. About 57% of white women who married Asian men are college-educated, compared with 37% of white women who married in. Yet newlywed white women who married Hispanic men are somewhat less likely to be college graduates than their counterparts who married in (33% vs. 37%). And newlywed white women who married black men are least likely to be college graduates (26%).

For newly married Hispanic men and women, marrying a white person is associated with a higher education. More than one-in-five (23%) Hispanic men who married a white woman are college-educated, compared with only 10% of Hispanic men who married a Hispanic woman. Similarly, nearly one-in-three (33%) Hispanic women who married a white husband are college-educated, compared with only 13% of their counterparts who married a Hispanic husband.

The education selection of those who married out among newlywed Asian men and women are minimal. About six-in-ten newly married Asian men are college-educated, regardless of whether their spouse is white or Asian. Asian women who married whites are slightly less likely than those who married Asians to be college-educated (60% vs. 63%), even though both groups of wives are highly educated.

Finally, newlywed black men and women who married a white spouse are somewhat more educated than their counterparts who married a black spouse, but the difference is not as big as among newlywed Hispanics. About one-in-five (20%) black men who married white women are college-educated, compared with about 18% of black men who married in. For black women, the education selection is a bit more pronounced. More than three-in-ten (31%) black women who married white men are college-educated, compared with less a quarter (24%) of black women who married in.

For more characteristics of individual men and women who marry out, see Appendix 3.

To see whether the differences between newlywed intermarried couples and those who married in hold true among couples who are not newlyweds, this chapter looks at all currently married couples between 2008 and 2010, dividing them into four groups based on the time period in which the couples got married. The four cohorts of currently-married couples got married either prior to 1980, in the ’80s, in the ’90s, or in the decade that ended in 2010.

Within each cohort, selected characteristics were compared between the couples who intermarried and those who married within their own racial or ethnic group. The purpose of the comparison is to see whether the difference between the two groups have changed over the cohorts, rather than comparing the earlier cohorts with later cohorts within each group.¹² Similar to the previous chapter, the analysis starts with the overall comparison between the intermarried couples and the intra-married couples within each cohort, and then extends to specific pairs of different race/ethnicity within each cohort.

Among couples who got married before 1980, inter-married couples were less likely than intra-married couples to be married for the first time (by a difference of 10 percentage points), however, the gap has narrowed over the cohorts. Among couples who married in the 21st century, it has nearly closed. About 57% of mixed couples who married in 2000 or later were married for the first time, compared with about 59% of same-group couples who married during the same period. For newlyweds in 2008-2010, the pattern has even reversed slightly.

The earning gap between intermarried and intra-married couples widens among couples who married earlier. Among couples who got married prior to 1980, intermarried couples have combined earnings of $31,000, nearly double the earnings of intra-married couples ($16,811). One related factor is the work status of couples. Almost seven-in-ten (69%) intermarried couples who married before 1980 are still working (either one spouse or both), compared with 61% of their counterparts who married in. The gap in working status is not significant among couples who married later.

Mixed couples who married prior to 1980 were slightly less likely than their counterparts who married in to be college-educated (15% vs. 17%), but the gap has closed among the couples who married in later time periods.

Couple Comparison by Cohorts

Within each cohort, this section compares the intermarried couple with a pair of intra-married couples that either husband or wife of the mixed union could have formed if they married someone of their own group. For example, mixed white/Hispanic couples will be compared with white couples and Hispanics couples, separately.

First Marriage: Intermarried white/Hispanic couples who got married prior to 1980 are less likely than either white or Hispanic couples to be first-time married couples. Among cohorts of couples who got married after 1980, the gap between white/Hispanic couples and the white couples has closed, but the gap between white/Hispanic couples and Hispanic couples remains.

Intermarried white/Asian couples follow a similar pattern to the white/Hispanic couples. For couples married before 1980, intermarried white/Asian couples were less likely than either white couples or Asian couples to be first-time married couples. Even though the gap between white/Asian couples and Asian couples has remained or even slightly increased in cohorts who got married in the past three decades, the difference between white/Asian and white couples has faded among recent cohorts. For couples who married in 2000 or later, white/Asian couples are even slightly more likely to be first-time married couples (57% vs. 55%).

Similar to other mixed couples, white and black mixed couples who married before 1980 were less likely to be first-time married than white or black couples. However, the gap has narrowed over the cohorts. For couples who married in the recent decade, the differences between white/black couples and their corresponding same race couples are minimal: It was the first marriage for slightly over half of white/black mixed couples (53%), 55% of white couples and 56% of black couples.

College Education: Education levels of intermarried couples often fall between the two groups of intra-married couples corresponding to them. About one-in-five intermarried white/Hispanic couples who married in 2000 or later are college-educated. That is lower than white couples (26%) but higher than Hispanic couples (6%). A similar pattern exists among those couples who married in earlier years, but the shares are somewhat lower, especially for couples who married prior to 1980.

White/Asian couples also fall in between white couples and Asian couples in terms of level of education, although in a different direction. White/Asian couples are more likely than white couples to be college-educated, but less likely than Asian couples to be college-educated. The gaps between these three groups are pretty even among couples who married before 1980. The education levels of intermarried white/Asian couples and Asian couples, but not the white couples, have increased dramatically among couples who got married in more recent times. For couples who got married in the past 10 years, the share of college-educated couples among white/Asian couples is more than 1.5 times that of white couples (42% vs. 26%), and the share among Asian couples is twice that of white couples (53% vs.26%).

White/black intermarried couples follow a somewhat different pattern from the other two mixed couples. Among the cohort who married before 1980, the mixed white/black couples have the highest educational attainment. About one-in-five (20%) of these couples are college-educated, compared with 18% of white couples and 11% of black couples. Yet, intermarried white/black couples who got married later are less likely to be college-educated than their counterparts who got married earlier (among three pairs of intermarriages with whites, this happens only among white/black pairs). Thus, the education gap between white/black couples and white couples has been reversed among couples who married later. About 17% of white/black intermarried couples who got married in the past 10 years are college-educated, compared with more than a quarter of white couples (26%). But regardless of when they got married, intermarried white/black couples are more educated than black couples.

More about Asian and Black Intermarriages

Because of the gender differences of intermarriages among Asians and African Americans, this section takes a special look at various couple combinations (husband/wife specific) between these two racial groups and whites by cohort.

College Education: Among all white and Asian couples who got married before 1980, Asian husbands who marriedwhite wives have the highest education level. In nearly four-in-ten (37%) couples in this group both the husband and wife are college-educated, compared with 28% of Asian couples, 18% of white couples and 17% of white husband/Asian wife couples. However, among the cohort who got married in the recent decade, same-race Asian couples have the highest education; more than half (53%) are college-educated. The pair of Asian husband/white wife ranked second (46%), then white husband/Asian wife (41%). White couples have the lowest share of both husband and wife being college-educated (26%).

For couples involving whites and blacks, the pair of white husband/black wife who married before 1980 stands out. One-third (33%) of white husband/black wife couples who married before 1980 are college-educated, compared with 18% of white couples, 16% of black husband/white wife couples and about 11% of black couples who married during the same time period. In contrast, the more recently married white husband/black wife couples are somewhat less educated than the earlier cohort: Less than a quarter of the pair (22%) are college-educated. And their share of college-educated is also lower than white couples (26%) who married in 2000 or later, even though the white-black pair is still more educated than the black husband/white wife couple (15%) and black couple (13%).

Age Difference: The age difference between the husband and wife is another factor that changes dramatically over different cohorts. For Asian and white couples who married before 1980, the age difference between Asian husband and white wife (3.3 years) is nearly three times as much as the difference between a white husband and Asian wife (1.2 years). However, this pattern is completely flipped among comparable couples who married in the past 10 years. The age difference jumped to nearly five years (4.8) between a white husband and Asian wife, but reduced to two years between an Asian husband and white wife. The husband-wife age differences for both white couples (2.3 years) and Asian couples (3.4 years) have been stable over different cohorts.

In contrast, the changes of age difference among different cohorts of black/white intermarried couples are less dramatic. Among couples who got married prior to 1980, the age difference is the largest for black husband/white wife couples (three years); the difference is 1.7 years for the white husband/black wife pair, 2.5 years for black couples and 2.3 years for white couples. For couples married in 2000 or later, the age difference between a white husband and black wife is three years, which is almost double the age difference for their counterparts who married earlier (1.7 years). But the age differences for other white and black couples have hardly changed.

More than four-in-ten Americans (43%) view more intermarriages as a change for the better in our society, while about one-in-ten (11%) say it has been a change for the worse,¹³ according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. The rest of the public says it doesn’t make a difference.

Being minorities, younger, more educated, liberal and living in the Northeast or Western states are a few characteristics associated with those who think more positively about intermarriage.

More than half of blacks (51%) and 48% of Hispanics say that the increase in intermarriage has been a change for the better in society, compared with four-in-ten whites. Asians are not included in the analysis here given the limited sample size of the group in the survey.¹⁴

Younger adults, especially those under 30, are much more positive about intermarriage than older adults. A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds (61%) think more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better for society; of adults ages 65 and older, only 28% share the same opinion.

College-educated adults are most likely to think positively about intermarriage than those with less education. More than half of college graduates (including postgraduates) say that more intermarriage is better for society, while only about one-third of adults who have a high school diploma or less and 48% of adults with some college education agree.

Favorable views about intermarriage increases when one is more liberal: Nearly six-in-ten liberals (59%) think that more people of different races marrying each other has been a better change for our society, nearly half (48%) of moderates agree, compared with less than one-third (32%) of conservatives who say so.

There are significant geographic differences associated with people’s opinion on the impact of intermarriages on society. About half of the residents living in the Northeast and the West think more intermarriages is better for society, compared with fewer than four-in-ten residents who live in the South and Midwest.

Among the major demographic trends that have transformed Americans’ family life in recent decades, the public is the least critical in its attitudes toward intermarriage.

A 2010 Pew Research survey asked respondents to judge whether a number of trends, ranging from “Single women having children” to “Mothers of young children working outside the home,” are generally a good thing for our society, a bad thing, or don’t make much difference. The trend that elicits the most negative reaction from the public is the increasing number of single women having children without a male partner to help raise them. Nearly seven-in-ten (69%) say this is a bad thing for society. Only 4% say this is a good thing, and 24% say it doesn’t make much difference.

The public is least critical of the increase in interracial marriages: About a quarter say this is good for society, 14% say it is bad and 60% say it doesn’t make much difference. In fact, this is the only trend on the list that more people say it is good than bad.

Other trends in less traditional family arrangements get mixed reviews from the public. More than four-in-ten (43%) say that the trend toward more people living together without being married is bad for society. The same share says it is bad for society if more same-sex couples or unmarried couples raise children.

The Fading of a Taboo

Today’s attitudes and behaviors regarding intermarriage represent a sharp break from the not-too-distant past. For most of this nation’s history, a majority of states had anti-miscegenation laws that made it illegal for whites and nonwhites to marry. Many states repealed these laws after World War II, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 had the effect of declaring unconstitutional anti-miscegenation laws in the 16 states where they were still on the books.

However, attitudinal and behavioral change did not come overnight. As of 1987, two decades after the Supreme Court ruling, just 48% of the public said it was “all right for blacks and whites to date each other.” By 2009, that share had grown to 83%. Acceptance has risen among all age cohorts, but it is highest among young adults. Among adults ages 18 to 29, 93% approve; among adults ages 65 and older, 67% approve.¹⁵

Attitudes about interracial marriage are an even a bigger hurdle to get over. In a 1986 Roper Organization survey (through personal interviews), 28% of respondents found “people of different races marrying each other” completely unacceptable, 37% said it would be acceptable for others but not themselves, and only one-third of respondents considered intermarrying acceptable for everyone.¹⁶

[white American/African American/Hispanic American/Asian American]

Survey respondents were asked about all major racial and ethnic groups except their own. Overall, 63% say it would be fine with them if a family member married “out” to any of the three other major racial and ethnic groups tested in the survey, and 80% say they would be fine with a new member of their family who came from at least one of the specified “out” groups.

As far as the white-black marriages (not dating), nearly two-thirds of whites (64%) say they would be fine with a family member marrying a black person; an additional 27% say they would be bothered but would come to accept it. Among blacks, eight-in-ten (80%) say it would be fine with them if a family member were to marry a white person, and an additional 16% say they would be bothered about it but would accept it. Just 6% of whites and 3% of blacks say they could not accept a black-white interracial marriage in their family.

The survey found that acceptance of out-marriage to whites (81%) is somewhat higher than is acceptance of out-marriage to Asians (75%), Hispanics (73%) or blacks (66%). The survey also showed the flip side of the coin: Black respondents are somewhat more accepting of all forms of intermarriage than are white or Hispanic respondents. More than seven-in-ten blacks (72%) say it would be fine with them if a family member chose to marry someone who was white, Hispanic or Asian. By contrast, 61% of whites and 63% of Hispanics say they would be fine with a family member marrying someone from any of the other groups.

These racial gaps in acceptance have narrowed in the past decade. Compared with responses to the same questions in 2001, whites have grown somewhat more accepting of interracial marriage and blacks somewhat less.

All in the Family. About a third (35%) of all adults say they have an immediate family member or close relative who is married to someone of a different race.¹⁷ Whites are less likely than nonwhites to say this (29% versus 50%), and those ages 50 and over are less likely to say this than those under age 50 (26% versus 41%). Also, 44% of adults living in the West say a family member is in an interracial marriage, compared with 38% of those in the South, 31% in the Northeast and 25% in the Midwest.

A closer look at the public opinion suggests that people’s attitudes toward intermarriage within their own families are mostly consistent with their general views about intermarriage, though with a few disparities.

Similar to their views about intermarriage in general, blacks are more likely than other races to say that they are fine with their family members marrying someone (all three other major racial or ethnic groups) outside their race group. Young adults are much more likely than older adults to accept intermarriage. A vast majority of young adults (85%) of 18- to 29-year-olds accept intermarriage of their family members, compared with fewer than four-in-ten (38%) adults ages 65 and older.

Education is positively linked to people’s personal acceptance of intermarriage. College-educated adults are more likely than those with a high school education or less to accept their family members marrying outside their race or ethnicity. Adults with some college education, though not as positive as college graduates in their views of intermarriage being a change for the better for society, are as likely as college graduates to accept intermarriage at a personal level.

Similar to their general opinions to intermarriages, at the family level, liberals are more likely to accept intermarriage (73%) than are moderates (61%) or conservatives (60%).

Americans who live in the West are more likely than others to say that they are OK with their family members marrying outside their own race or ethnicity. Residents in the Northeast were also more likely than the Southern and Midwestern residents to say intermarriage has been a good change for society, though at the personal level, their acceptance for intermarriage is about the same as residents of the South and Midwest.

Age and Marriage Outside One’s Own Racial/Ethnic Group

The overall differences between white and black attitudes toward intermarriage are primarily driven by differences among older Americans. Regardless of race, younger Americans (18- to 29-year-olds) overwhelmingly say they would be fine with a family member’s marriage to someone in another ethnic or racial group, with no significant racial differences among this age group. And while 30- to 49-year-olds are somewhat less likely to be accepting of interracial marriage than are younger people, the opinions of whites ages 30-49 are comparable to those of blacks in that age group.

Across racial groups, racially conservative views about interracial marriage are strongly correlated with age. Americans ages 50 and older, and particularly those 65 and older, are considerably less accepting of interracial marriage than are those in younger age groups. While this is true of blacks, it is more strongly pronounced among whites. Just over half of whites ages 50-64 (52%) and only 36% of whites 65 and older say they would be fine with a relative marrying someone from any other racial groups (this is 15 points and 23 points less than blacks in their age groups, respectively).

For whites, blacks and Hispanics, older respondents express greater discomfort with the possibility of a family member marrying someone of a difference race or ethnic group. Resistance to a family member marrying an African American is especially strong among older whites; just 55% of those ages 50-64 and 41% of those 65 and older say they “would be fine” with this. By contrast, more than seven-in-ten older blacks (76% of those ages 50-64 and 71% of those 65 and older) say they would be fine with a family member marrying a white American; among blacks ages 18-29, 89% would be fine with it. And among older whites, acceptance of a relative’s marriage to an African American lags behind acceptance of a family member’s marriage to an Hsipanic or Asian spouse. Among 18- to 29-year-olds there are no differences by race of respondent in the acceptance of marriage to those in other racial and ethnic groups.

American Community Survey and Decennial Census

Analysis of the new marriages and currently married population are mainly based on the most recent American Community Survey (ACS) data as well as a three-year (2008-2010) combined ACS data set on the couple level, constructed by the Pew Research Center.

The American Community Survey is a household survey developed by the U.S. Census Bureau to replace the long form of decennial census program. It is collected throughout the year using mailed questionnaires, telephone interviews, and visits from Census Bureau field representatives to about 3 million household addresses annually.

[Machine-readable database]

Married Population: The currently married population is selected as individuals whose marital status is “married, spouse present.” The spouse must be present in the data set to ascertain his/her race, Hispanic origin and nativity. In these data sets all married couples consist of a man and a woman. The unit of analysis in this report is the couple. The IPUMS database includes linkages of spouse records and supplies “attached variables” that place the value for the spouse’s variable on each record. Thus, by selecting only records of married, spouse present males (or females) and “attaching” values of all variables for the spouse, we constructed a data set where each record represents a married couple and the data set includes all married couples in the sample. For the analyses in the current study, we included attached variables such as the spouse’s age, race, Hispanic origin, nativity, year of immigration, other social and economic variables and weighting information.

Newly Married Population: The newly married population is a subset of the currently married population drawn from ACS 2008 and later. The 2008 ACS was the first to include questions relating to date of marriage. One question asked respondents if they had been married (or divorced or widowed) in the “past 12 months.”¹ Those saying they had married are the basis for the analyses of “newlyweds” and “new marriages” in this report. Further questions asked how many times the respondent has been married and in what year the most recent marriage occurred. To increase the sample size of subgroups, analyses of characteristics of newlyweds in this report were based on combined three-year data (2008-2010) for newlyweds.

A Note on Historical Intermarriage Trend: Because the information on new marriages is available only starting in the 2008 ACS, historical comparisons of new marriage or intermarriage rates can be challenging. Using unique information provided by the 1980 Census, we were able to estimate the newly married population in 1980, although the definition of “newly married” is slightly different.

The 1980 Census asked respondents if they had been married once or more than once, the month and year of marriage (first marriage in the case of multiple marriages), and if the first marriage had ended by the death of the other spouse. With this information, we derived the year in which the first marriage occurred and identified persons whose first marriage occurred in the year before the 1980 Census. The newly married couples for 1980 reported here consist only of those marriages in which either the bride or groom was marrying for the first time, since marriages in which both spouses had been married more than once could not be assigned a year of marriage (around 10% of the married population). While this means that the 1980 data do not include all new marriages that year, it is not likely to have a significant impact on the comparisons presented between rates of intermarriage in 1980 and the present. About 90% of the married population in 1980 included one or both spouses in a first marriage, and the intermarriage rates for those in first marriages differed little from all married persons.

Weighting and Other Technical Issues: All of the estimates for marriages, currently married population and people getting married are based on weighted data from the IPUMS microdata files. The Census Bureau provides the weights based on a complicated weighting process so that the resulting estimates reflect the actual population. In the data from the 1980 Census, the weights for each person in a husband-wife couple are forced to be equal. This is not the case for the data files from the ACS or the 1990 and 2000 Censuses. Consequently, the number and characteristics of wives estimated using their husbands’ weights will be different from the same estimates based on the wives’ weights; similarly for characteristics of men estimated from their wives’ weights. For this report, we created a “couple weight” as the average of the husband’s weight and the wife’s weight (similar to the 1980 Census process). This weight is used in all ACS analyses to ensure that the number of husbands equals the number of wives.²

In processing the ACS data for this report, we identified a small percentage of couples (less than 0.1% in each year) in which the year of marriage reported by the husband differed from the wife’s report. In an even smaller share of cases (less than 0.01% each year or about 50 unweighted couples), the linkages supplied by IPUMS appear to have linked the wrong individuals in households with two or more married couples, based on reported year of marriage. In the data used for this report, these few cases have been corrected.³

Race and Ethnic Groups: Individuals are identified as Hispanic or non Hispanic with a direct question on Hispanic origin. The wording and placement of the question have changed somewhat over the 1980-2010 period, but the underlying concept has remained essentially unchanged. Individuals who are not Hispanic are further subdivided by race group. Throughout the period of analysis, we use data for whites, black, Asians and Pacific Islanders⁴ (“Asians”), American Indians and Alaska natives (“American Indians”) and a residual category usually labeled as “Some Other Race.”

Beginning with the 2000 Census, individuals could choose to identify with more than one group in response to the race question; about 4.6 million non-Hispanics, or slightly less than 2% of the non-Hispanic population, chose more than one race. We treat these people as an additional racial grouping and reserve the specific races listed above for persons identifying as a single race only. This change in data collection methods may have accounted for a significant share of the increase in intermarriage observed in the currently married population between 1990 and 2000. In the 2000 Census, about 720,000, or 19% of the 3.8 million marriages with spouses of a different race, were between a non-Hispanic person reporting a single race and a non-Hispanic person reporting more than one race. Had the race question remained the same as in 1990, some of these interracial marriages in 2000 would not have been so classified. This type of marriage accounted for almost half of the increase in interracial marriages between 1990 and 2000. In 2008, roughly the same number of interracial marriages, about 700,000, were between single- and multiple-race non-Hispanics. They represent a somewhat smaller share (15%) of the 4.6 million interracial marriages in 2008.

Public Opinion Surveys

The survey findings presented in this report are based on a series of Pew Research Center national telephone survey of adults conducted on landlines and cell phones. Major surveys used are shown below.