What’s the ideal age to reach a life milestone? Many Americans say it depends
What do you consider a life milestone?
Maybe it’s buying a home, starting a family or finally finishing that manuscript you’ve been working on.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday sought to find out what Americans think are the ideal times for some of those traditional milestones to take place. Spoiler alert: it depends!
Three things to know:
- In April of last year, Pew asked 3,600 U.S. adults what they would consider to be the ideal ages for getting married, having a first child, buying a home and retiring.
- On average, the people surveyed say that the best age to get married is 26.5; the best age to become a parent is 27.3; the best age to purchase a home is 28.8; and the best age to retire is 61.8.
- But! A significant portion of each group also said that there was actually no ideal age for any of these milestones. Half of respondents said there’s no best age to get married or purchase a home; four in 10 said there was no best age to have children; and a third said there was no ideal retirement age.
From the White House to your home — get political news and analysis that matters sent straight to your inbox, with the NPR Politics newsletter.
A shift from previous generations
These averages are reflective of a larger cultural trend among younger Americans — they’re hitting these milestones later in life than previous generations, according to a Pew analysis from 2023.
The study, which looked at Census Bureau data, showed that adults under 21 were hitting major life milestones later than adults from 40 years prior.
That tracks with the most recent census data, which says the median age for first-time marriage in 2024 was 30.2 years for men and 28.6 years for women. In 1974, those respective ages were 23.1 and 21.1.
Dive deeper with NPR:
- Homeownership is more complicated than ever. Read about how young homebuyers are being forced to compete with investors.
- From A to Zika, get the latest global health and development news, sent weekly to your inbox, with the Goats and Soda newsletter.
Auburn completes sweep of No. 1 seeds into Final Four, beating Michigan State
The South Region champion Tigers, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, became the last of the No. 1 seeds to advance to the Final Four — joining Florida, Duke and Houston.
Some progress made in recovering U.S. Army soldiers submerged in Lithuanian swamp
U.S. Navy divers managed to successfully attach a line to a hoist point on the submerged vehicle. The goal is to hook up more hoists in order to pull the vehicle carrying the soldiers out of the mud.
Trump is ‘not joking’ about third term, though Constitution says he can’t serve
In remarks to NBC News, Trump also said "there are methods which you could do it." Trump would need either a two-thirds vote in Congress or a constitutional convention to serve a third term.
U.S. Institute of Peace staff is laid off, escalating legal battle with Trump administration
The think tank is laying off nearly all of its staff, as its former board sues to stop what it calls a "takeover" by the Trump administration.
Nine home runs for the Yankees lead to questions about their new bats
Some Yankees players used a new bat during the second game in the Major League Baseball series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Sears, Alabama can’t duplicate record 3-point night, fall to Duke with Final Four at stake
Duke handcuffed Alabama's All-American, Mark Sears, and did a pretty good job stifling the rest of the high-scoring Crimson Tide, too.
