Reference Source

Minimum marriage age and exceptions by state

What is the youngest age someone can legally marry in this state, and what exceptions exist? Sixteen states and DC set an absolute minimum of 18 with no exceptions. The remaining states allow marriage below 18 through some combination of parental consent, judicial approval, emancipation, or pregnancy exceptions, with age floors ranging from 15 to 17 -- and a handful of states set no statutory age floor at all. This area is changing fast: Oklahoma eliminated its no-floor status in May 2026, Oregon's 18-minimum ban took effect in 2026, and California AB 1267 is pending for the 2026 session. The best existing compilation (Tahirih Justice Center, September 2025) is already stale on these changes and is a PDF. One record per state, each quoting the statutory text verbatim -- taken from the state's own code where the compilation is stale, and otherwise from the compilation's reproduction of that text. Answers 'can a 16 year old get married in Texas', 'minimum marriage age in California', 'which states allow child marriage', 'states that ban marriage under 18'. This is a statutory reference, not legal advice.

Records56
Sources36
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The data

Exception typeStateMinimum ageAdditional conditionsStatutory citationWhere the exception is set outAge with judicial approvalAge with parental consent
Emancipation onlyGeorgia17At least 15 days shall have passed since such emancipation shall have occurred by operation of law or pursuant to a petition filed with the court;Ga. Code Ann. § 19-3-2
Emancipation onlyIndiana16one (1) of the individuals is not more than four (4) years older than the other individual if the other individual is sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years of age;Ind. Code § 31-11-1-5
Emancipation onlyKentucky17Ky. Rev. Stat. §402.020KRS 402.210
Emancipation onlyTexas16Sec. 2.003Sec. 2.101
Judicial approvalAlaska16the other party to the marriage is not more than three years olderAlaska Stat. § 25.05.171the age of 16
Judicial approvalColorado16Pregnancy alone does not establish that the best interests of the party would be served.14-2-108sixteen or seventeen years of age
Judicial approvalHawaii15§572-1under the age of sixteen years, but in no event under the age of fifteen years
Judicial approvalKansas1523-250515 years of age
Judicial approvalMississippiNo age floor set by statutethe parents or other person in loco parentis of the person or persons so under age consent to the marriageMiss. Code Ann. § 93-1-5
Judicial approvalMontana1640-1-20216 years of age
Judicial approvalNew MexicoNo age floor set by statutein settlement of proceedings to compel support and establish parentage, or where an applicant for the marriage license is pregnantN.M. Code § 40-1-6
Judicial approvalOhio17The other person to be joined in marriage is not more than four years older.Section 3101.02seventeen years
Judicial approvalUtah16Utah Code § 81-2-30116 or 17 years old
Judicial approvalWyoming1620-1-102sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years of age
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)American Samoa18
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Connecticut18Sec. 46b-20a
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Delaware18§ 123
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)District of Columbia18§ 46–411
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Maine18Title 19-A, §652
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Massachusetts18Chapter 207, Section 7
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Michigan18551.51
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Minnesota18517.03
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Missouri18451.090
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)New Hampshire18457:4
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)New Jersey18N.J. Stat. § 37:1-6
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)New York18N.Y. Dom. Rel. Code Article 3, § 15-a
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Oregon18106.010
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Pennsylvania18§ 1304
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Rhode Island18R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-2-14
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)United States Virgin Islands1816 V.I.C. § 36
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Vermont1818 V.S.A. § 5142
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Virginia18§ 20-48
None (18 minimum, no exceptions)Washington18RCW 26.04.010
Parental consentAlabama16the consent of a parent or guardian of the minor to the marriage shall be requiredAla. Code § 30-1-4Ala. Code § 30-1-5at least 16 years of age
Parental consentArizona16the person's prospective spouse is not more than three years older than the person25-102at least sixteen years of age
Parental consentFlorida17The older party to the marriage is not more than 2 years older than the younger party to the marriage.F.S. 741.04at least 17 years of age
Parental consentIdaho16A minor under eighteen (18) and not less than sixteen (16) years of age may not contract marriage with a person of the age of majority where there is an age difference of three (3) years or greater between them.32-202under eighteen (18) and not less than sixteen (16) years of age
Parental consentNebraska17Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-102Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-105the age of seventeen years
Parental consentNorth Dakota1614-03-02sixteen to eighteen years of age
Parental consentNorthern Mariana IslandsNo age floor set by statute8 N. Mar. I. Code § 12058 N. Mar. I. Code § 1201
Parental consentPuerto Rico18PR Laws tit. 1, § 6595PR Laws tit. 1, § 6596
Parental consentSouth Carolina16SECTION 20-1-250between the ages of sixteen to eighteen
Parental consentSouth Dakota16S.D. Codified Laws § 25-1-9between the age of sixteen and eighteen
Parental consentTennessee17Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-3-105Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-3-106at least seventeen (17) years of age
Parental consentWest Virginia16a marriage license may not be issued to an applicant who is under the age of 18 but who is at least 16 years of age if the person whom the applicant seeks to marry is more than four years older than the applicant§48-2-301under the age of 18 but at least 16 years of age
Parental consentWisconsin16765.02between the age of 16 and 18 years
Parental consent and judicial approvalArkansas16the female is pregnantArk. Code Ann. § 9-11-103older than sixteen (16) years of ageat least seventeen (17) years of age
Parental consent and judicial approvalCaliforniaNo age floor set by statuteCalifornia Code, FAM 303
Parental consent and judicial approvalIllinois16750 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/203the age of 16 years
Parental consent and judicial approvalIowa16§595.2sixteen or seventeen years of age
Parental consent and judicial approvalLouisiana16A minor sixteen or seventeen years of age may not contract marriage with a person of the age of majority where there is an age difference of three years or greater between them.La. Child. Code § 1545sixteen or seventeen
Parental consent and judicial approvalMaryland17§2–30117 years old
Parental consent and judicial approvalNevada17NRS 122.02517 years of age
Parental consent and judicial approvalNorth Carolina16may marry a person no more than four years older§ 51-2over 16 years of age and under 18 years of age
Parental consent and judicial approvalOklahomaNo age floor set by statuteEvery person under the age of sixteen (16) years is expressly forbidden and prohibited from entering into the marriage relation except when authorized by the court43 O.S. § 3sixteen (16)
PregnancyGuamNo age floor set by statute19 Guam Code Ann. § 3202

Where this came from

Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 36 sources this dataset was assembled from.

Machine-readable

From your own code

Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.

pip install refsource
refsource lookup state-minimum-marriage-age-exceptions state=Georgia

npx -y refsource lookup state-minimum-marriage-age-exceptions state=Georgia

Set your AI assistant up to use this

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{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project

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56 records. last verified against source . due for re-check by .

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