PATCH: Is Your MN City A 'Marriage Garden' Or 'Marriage Desert'? New Report

William Bornhoff, Patch, October 8, 2026

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Where you live in the Twin Cities may say a lot about how likely your neighbors are to be married, according to a new national report.

The Institute for Family Studies, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, released "Marriage Deserts: Mapping America's Family Divide" this month. The report, written by Chris Bullivant and Ken Burchfiel, uses 2020 Census data to rank areas across the U.S. by the share of householders ages 15 to 64 who are married.

The researchers call areas where fewer than 33 percent of those householders are married "marriage deserts." Areas where at least 61 percent are married are "marriage gardens."

Read in full at Patch.