Examining the Education Gap Among Married Couples

A new study from the Pew Research Center finds that for the first time in the 50 years it has been collecting data on the subject, the number of women who marry men who have less education than they do, now exceeds the number of men who marry women with less education.

As late as 1990, 22.4 percent of all men in married couples had a higher educational level than their spouse. At that time, only 14,5 percent of women in married couples were more educated than their husbands.

But in 2012, 20.7 percent of all women in married couples were more educated than their husband whereas 19.9 percent of men in married couples were more educated than their wives.

The study also found that the trend is more pronounced for younger women. In 2012, 27 percent of newlywed women married a man with less education. Only 15 percent of newlywed men married a woman with less education. Among newlywed women with a college degree, nearly 40 percent married a man with a lower level of education.

In 1960 nearly 80 percent of married couples had similar levels of education. Today the figure is 60 percent.