U.S. states
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As of May 2026, child marriage is legal in 33 states.[2][3][5] 17 states have banned underage marriages, with no exception. The first one was Delaware in 2018.[6][2] Then came New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts,[51] Vermont, Connecticut,[14] Michigan,[52] Washington,[53] Virginia,[4] New Hampshire,[54] Oregon,[55] Maine[56] Missouri,[57] and Oklahoma.[19] The remaining 33 states allow underage marriage in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following circumstances apply:
consent of a court clerk or judge (sometimes the consent of a superior court judge, rather than a local judge, is required)
consent of the parents or legal guardians of the minor
if one of the parties is pregnant, or if the minor has given birth to a child
if the minor is emancipated.
In California, for instance, the general marriage age is 18, but children may be married with parental consent and judicial approval with no minimum age limit.[58]
As of May 2026, the lower minimum marriage age when all exceptions are taken into account, are:
3 states have no minimum age (possibly 0, but minimum ages of 12 for girls and 14 for boys under common law may apply).[59][60]
2 states have a minimum age of 15.
20 states have a minimum age of 16.
8 states have a minimum age of 17.
17 states have a minimum age of 18.
From 2017[61][62] to 2026,[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] several states changed their law to set a minimum age, to raise their minimum age, or to make more stringent the conditions under which an underage marriage may occur.
U.S. territories
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In the District of Columbia, minors can't marry as of 2025.[74][22] The general age of marriage in Puerto Rico is 21; however, 18-year-olds can marry, with exceptions (the age of majority in Puerto Rico is 21).[75] In Guam, the general age is 18, but 16-year-olds can get married with the consent of at least one parent or guardian.[76] In American Samoa, the marriage age has been changed to 18 for both sexes. This reflects a change in policy by Governor Lolo Moliga, who signed into law a bill that changed the marriage age for girls from 14 to 18 in September 2018.[20] In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the age of marriage is 18 for both sexes. Prior to 2019, the age of marriage was 14 for females and 16 for males.[77] In the Northern Mariana Islands males must be 18 to marry, while females can marry at 16 with parental consent.[78]
Comparison with other countries
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Further information: Child marriage
Critics have pointed out that laws regarding child marriage in the United States compare unfavorably to laws regarding child marriage in other countries. For instance, in 2017, Human Rights Watch pointed out that Afghanistan had a tougher law on child marriage than parts of the United States: in Afghanistan the minimum age of marriage is 15, and that is only with permission from their father or a judge; otherwise it is 16.[79] As of that date, 25 U.S. states had no minimum marriage age at all if one or more of the grounds for exception existed; this number has continually decreased sinc #islam #ഇസ്ലാം #ദീനുൽ ഇസ്ലാം #🙋♀️ എൻ്റെ സ്റ്റാറ്റസുകൾ #ഇസ്ലാം സ്വീകരിച്ചവർ.