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provo ranks #1 in america for new marriages but who's behind the study?
Institute for Family Studies map crowns Provo highest marriage rate in US; findings independently corroborated by Census data, but source has an openly stated agenda.
Provo ranks #1 in America for new marriages but there’s more context behind the study.
The ranking comes from the Institute for Family Studies, an organization that openly advocates for strengthening marriage and family life.
IFS also has ties to Utah’s marriage-research ecosystem, including collaborations with BYU’s Wheatley Institute. BYU and the Church-owned Deseret News separately partner on the annual American Family Survey examining marriage and families nationwide.
The Provo result itself was calculated using U.S. Census Bureau data meaning the underlying marriage numbers aren’t simply an opinion poll from a pro-marriage organization.
So is Provo really America’s marriage capital? According to the Census-based numbers used in the study, yes. The organization presenting those numbers, however, has a clearly stated interest in promoting marriage.
