As State Mulls Over License Fee, A Look Marriage Data in Michigan & Oakland County
(Kurt Metzger, Jan. 7, 2025)
Oakland County, MI – Before the end of the year, The Michigan House of Representatives voted to increase the cost of a marriage license to $50, up from $20 currently. HB 4547 was sent to the Senate and on Dec. 18 it was referred to the Senate Government Operations Committee where it could be considered this year.
The fee had been set at $20 since 1963. In 2024 dollars that 1963 fee equates to $208. So increasing the fee to $50 would have the dual effect of an increased cost to marry, but also a much lower cost than when the fee was first established.
The proposed fee prompted us to take a look at marriage trends from the 1960s to today. In 1963, Michigan saw 68,160 couples take the plunge, even though the cost of the license was more than four times that which is currently proposed based on the value of the dollar.
Overall, marriage has been on the decline since the last century.
As can be seen in the two charts below, the number of marriages in both the State and Oakland County have been slowly decreasing in recent years.
Michigan experienced its highest marriage number in 1973 when 94,486 couples took their vows. Oakland County hit its peak six years later when 9,912 couples shared vows.
Recent high marks were reached in 2016 when Michigan registered 59,383 marriages and Oakland County registered 7,494. The spike could be attributed to the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. Though the rise did not last long, and the data is not separated by the genders of the applicants.
Between 2016 and 2023, the number of marriages has decreased by 15.8 percent in the State and 24.5 percent in Oakland County.
While marriages took a big hit during COVID – only 41,977 and 4,689, respectively – both have recovered to the low pre-COVID levels of 2019.
Michigan has been actively looking at population decline in the state, as well as the increasing proportion of older adults, as young people leave the state. Our next story will look at divorce rates through the decades. Sign up for Daily Headlines for this and other stories delivered right to your inbox!
For more stories about the Census and other interesting numbers, visit the Data-Base Stories Archives on Oakland County Times. Thanks to Data Expert Kurt Metzger for this work!
