Same-sex Marriage Statistics 2004

April 14, 2005 Ruling - The Oregon Supreme Court's ruling voided the same sex marriage certificates issued by Multnomah county and registered with the state vital records office. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested that the Center for Health Statistics stop issuing certified copies of these marriage records. No other action related to the certificates will be taken until the Center gets further instructions from the DOJ.

See Also:

Frequently Asked Questions about Same-Sex Marriage in Oregon

2004 YTD Preliminary Data Tables on this page:

Contact: Center for Health Statistics, 971-673-1180

Same-sex Marriages, Oregon Occurrence, 2004 YTD Preliminary 1
	Count	Percent of Total
Total	2,968	100%
Male/Male	869	29.3%
Female/Female	2,099	70.7%
1 Preliminary data are undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes. Please use caution when interpreting these data. Data can be used for tracking recent events but are not appropriate for use in statistical analyses.

Previous Marriages for Both Spouses, Oregon Occurrence, 2004 YTD Preliminary 1
		Total	Number of Marriages for Spouse 1*
		Total	1st	2nd+	Unk.
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Male/Female Total	11,004	6,652	4,228	124
	First Marriage	6,502	5,432	1,061	9
	Second or More Marriages	4,373	1,203	3,140	30
	Unknown Marital Status	129	17	27	85
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Male/Male Total	869	720	146	3
	First Marriage	746	633	113	-
	Second or More Marriages	120	86	33	1
	Unknown Marital Status	3	1	-	2
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Female/Female Total	2,099	1,591	498	10
	First Marriage	1,523	1,188	335	-
	Second or More Marriages	571	403	162	6
	Unknown Marital Status	5	-	1	4
		Percents
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Male/Female Total	100%
	First Marriage		49.4%	9.6%	0.1%
	Second or More Marriages		10.9%	28.5%	0.3%
	Unknown Marital Status		0.2%	0.2%	0.8%
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Male/Male Total	100%
	First Marriage		72.8%	13.0%	0.0%
	Second or More Marriages		9.9%	3.8%	0.1%
	Unknown Marital Status		0.1%	0.0%	0.2%
Number of Marriages for Spouse 2	Female/Female Total	100%
	First Marriage		56.6%	16.0%	0.0%
	Second or More Marriages		19.2%	7.7%	0.3%
	Unknown Marital Status		0.0%	0.0%	0.2%
1 Preliminary data are undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes. Please use caution when interpreting these data. Data can be used for tracking recent events but are not appropriate for use in statistical analyses.
* Spouse 1 is the first individual listed on the marriage license, for male/female marriages this is the male.
- Quantity is zero.

Mean Age of Spouses by Previous Marriages, Oregon Occurrence, 2004 YTD Preliminary 1
Mean Age		Total	Number of Marriages for Spouse 1*			Number of Marriages for Spouse 2
Mean Age		Total	1st	2nd+	Unk.	1st	2nd+	Unk.
Male/Female	Spouse 1	34.7	27.8	45.5	38.9	28.3	44.1	38.6
Male/Female	Spouse 2	32.1	26.3	41.1	37.0	25.5	41.8	35.1
Male/Male	Spouse 1	43.0	41.9	48.4	42.0	42.6	45.5	38.0
Male/Male	Spouse 2	41.3	40.8	43.6	47.0	40.5	46.5	34.7
Female/Female	Spouse 1	42.6	40.9	47.9	45.9	41.6	45.0	50.0
Female/Female	Spouse 2	42.2	41.0	45.7	47.4	40.3	47.0	48.2
1 Preliminary data are undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes. Please use caution when interpreting these data. Data can be used for tracking recent events but are not appropriate for use in statistical analyses.
* Spouse 1 is the first individual listed on the marriage license, for male/female marriages this is the male.

Marriages by Years of Education, Oregon Occurrence, 2004 YTD Preliminary 1
Total		No College	Either Spouse College
Male/Female	11,004	7,000	4,004
Male/Male	869	240	629
Female/Female	2,099	466	1,633
Percents
Male/Female	100%	63.6%	36.4%
Male/Male	100%	27.6%	72.4%
Female/Female	100%	22.2%	77.8%
1 Preliminary data are undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes. Please use caution when interpreting these data. Data can be used for tracking recent events but are not appropriate for use in statistical analyses.

Marriages by Residency, Oregon Occurrence, 2004 YTD Preliminary 1
Total		Both Spouses Oregon Residents	One Spouse	Neither Spouse Oregon Resident
Total	13,972	11,543	699	1,730
Male/Female	11,004	9,523	677	804
Male/Male	869	595	8	266
Female/Female	2,099	1,425	14	660
Percents
Male/Female	100%	86.5%	6.2%	7.3%
Male/Male	100%	68.5%	0.9%	30.6%
Female/Female	100%	67.9%	0.7%	31.4%
1 Preliminary data are undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes. Please use caution when interpreting these data. Data can be used for tracking recent events but are not appropriate for use in statistical analyses.

Profile of Same-sex Marriages for Licenses issued by Multnomah County from March 3, 2004 through April 20, 2004

2,968 same-sex marriages have been registered and the data have been analyzed. Fifty-six (56) marriage licenses are still being processed by the state vital records office or are being followed up by Multnomah County.

Comparisons are made to 11,004 non same-sex (male/female) marriages that occurred statewide from January through June.

Marriages among same-sex couples were more likely to be women. Between Male/Male (M/M) and Female/Female (F/F) unions, 2.4 times as many F/F unions occurred than M/M unions.

As might be expected, since the option for marriage was not previously possible for couples of the same gender, these unions were more likely to be first marriages. First marriages for M/M was 72.8% and 56.6% for F/F unions; while for the Male/Female (M/F) unions, 49.4% were first marriages for both spouses. Previous marriages for both partners in a couple was more common for M/F unions; 28.5% of both spouses in M/F unions had previously been married, while for M/M 3.8% had both been married, and for F/F 7.7% of both spouses had previously been married.

Also possibly due to the unavailability of marriage previously, couples in same-sex unions are on average older. Spouses in same-sex marriages are about 10 years older than male/female couples. The mean age for M/M unions was 43 for the 1st spouse listed on the marriage record and 41 for the 2nd spouse listed; for F/F unions the mean age was 42 for both spouses. For M/F unions the mean age of the groom was nearly 35 and for the bride it was 32. For first marriages among M/F unions, the mean age drops to approximately 28 and 26. For same-sex marriages there is no substantial difference in mean age between total and first marriage.

Education levels completed are higher for same-sex couples. Among F/F marriages, in 78% of the unions at least one of the spouses had 4 years of college or more. Among M/M marriages that percentage was 72%, and among M/F marriages around 36% had 4 years of college or advanced degrees.

Approximately 68% of both spouses in same-sex marriages were residents of Oregon; while in male/female marriages 86.5% of both spouses reside in Oregon. In M/F unions 6.2% of the marriages had one spouse that lived in Oregon and in 7.3% Oregon was the destination spot for their marriage (neither spouse resided in Oregon). In approximately 30% of same-sex marriages, both spouses lived in other states and Oregon was the destination site for their marriage.