Why Are Bachelors Increasing in America?

Married adults tend to be happier and have happier families, and happy families are stronger families. Strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. These statistics illustrate a problem that is growing.

In her article published in the Deseret News, Reagan Campbell reports that there are more bachelors in America in 2025 than there were in 2000. 

More American men remain bachelors than ever before. The Institute for Family Studies found that in 2025 there were 30.4 million single men ages 18 to 39. This is a stark contrast to the 20.7 million single men in 2000.

IFS said married adults generally report being happier than those who are unmarried and the “number of young men forgoing marriage could be adding to the happiness crash now unfolding among young adults across America.”

Brad Wilcox, an IFS fellow, noted “it’s never good for a society to have large numbers of unattached, dispirited and unhappy young men.” …

What’s driving the decline?

Wilcox believes the cause of the declining marriage rate is the “addiction economy” and that it “is a failure of social responsibility.” He calls out addictive electronics, unchallenging schools and no vision of masculinity as reasons for this.

He cites a Deseret News article “Who is to blame for the decline in ‘marriageable’ men?” written by Wilcox, Maria Baer and Jason Carroll. They called out easy access to online pornography as another explanation for the high rate of single men. “Young men (22-35) who are frequent porn users are about twice as likely to say that they avoid committing in dating relationships,” the article says.

The results? Young adults are less happy, specifically unmarried young adults. IFS said, “From 2010 to 2024, happiness among married young adults fell from 94% to 90%, compared to a decline from 82% to 68% among unmarried young adults.”

Campbell’s article quotes two statements made by Wilcox on X. The first is “We have a generation of young men [ages 18-29] trapped in the “addiction economy” – and the numbers are stagging: [1] 1-in-8 use porn, gamble & game daily. [2] Almost 1-in-4 gamble daily. [3] 1-in-4+ use porn daily.” The second is as follows:

So why are so many young men trapped in the “addiction economy”? A big part of the story: our core institutions and culture have failed them: [1] Too many homes w/o engaged fathers. [2] Schools that don’t engage or challenge them. [3} Big Tech hooking them on electronic opiates. [4] Shrinking opportunity in the marketplace – worsened by recent discrimination. [5] No clear, compelling, prosocial vision of masculinity. This is a failure of social responsibility re: how we raise, educate, and inspire young men. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we make young men without chests and wonder why they lack virtue and enterprise.

The article also reports statistics from the BYU student body: “Of BYU’s student body, 17% are married, more than double the national average for married students in the United States.” However, that percentage is down from 25% in 2021. BYU responded by creating “frequent Date Night events to encourage students to date. These events are held on campus, free of charge and include a variety of activities.” BYU also encourages students to “remove your earbuds on campus” and interact with other students.