Child marriage in the United States

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Child marriage, defined by the United Nations as a marriage in which at least one party is under 18 years of age occurs legally in the United States. The United States is the only UN member state that has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Its Committee on the Rights of the Child "reaffirms that the minimum age limit should be 18 years for marriage". Within the United States, each state and territory as well as Washington, D.C. set the marriage age in its jurisdiction. As of September 2026, Mississippi and New Mexico are the only two states that have no statutory minimum age when all exemptions are taken into account. As of September 2026, child marriage is legal in thirty-two states. Eighteen states have banned underage marriages, with no exception. The first to do so was Delaware in 2018. This was followed by New Jersey (2018), Pennsylvania (2020), Minnesota (2020), Rhode Island (2021), New York (2021), Massachusetts (2022), Vermont (2023), Connecticut (2023)...

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