Can Living in Cheshire Affect Your Marriage Chances? The New York Times Says Yes

A new report from the New York Times has recently been published, showing the odds of people from different places getting married under age 26. The article’s data covers more than 5 million people worldwide who moved as children in the 1980’s and 1990’s and are now at least 26 years of age.. Economists think that geography plays a causal role in people’s marriage lives. Researchers came up with the “Small-Town Effect”, which shows less densely populated places seem to promote marriage. In simpler terms, people in small towns grow up together with a circle of friends and possibly a circle of enemies. Marriage is promoted between two children that might come from families who are friendly, and have known each other all their lives. Also, religion in less populated areas- such as Mormon in Utah, will also promote marriage at a young age. So, the big reveal- how does living in Cheshire affect your chances of getting married? Living in a liberal part of the country decreases your chance of marriage by 10% alone. Living in Connecticut decreases your chances by 6%. Finally, living in Cheshire decreases your chances of marriage before 26 by 7% compared to the rest of the country.

I think that this data is definitely true, and that the “small town effect” certainly makes sense, but personally I don’t think that not living in a small down and not bettering my chances of getting married younger is necessarily a disadvantage. I would not want to have the “small town effect” working on me, because having this effect active in me would mean that I would feel pressured to marry any family friend at a young age. I do not think this is necessarily a good thing, because I’d rather not up & marry someone that I don’t love and end up divorcing. Than I would be unhappily married and divorced instead of just happily married at a later age. . Although I think that the New York Times article is very accurate and interesting, I don’t believe that the way the article depicts not being married before 26 as a bad thing.

~Kelsea