The Rise of Intermarriage

On February 16th, the Pew Research Center released new data on The Rise of Intermarriage: Rates, Characteristics Vary by Race and Gender. You can download the full report here. This expands on the 2010 Pew Research Center report, Marrying Out: One-in-Seven New U.S. Marriages is Interracial or Interethnic.

Interesting findings:

• 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." 
• About 24% of all Black male newlyweds in 2010 married outside their race, compared with just 9% of Black female newlyweds.
• 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.  

Regional Differences:

• 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.