Unmarried cohabitation increases in Tennessee, marriage rate drops 36% in ten years

Tennessean: “More Tennessee couples are opting to try before they buy, living together for years and even raising children together before marriage — or with no plans to marry at all. The result is a steep drop in the state’s marriage rate. While the U.S. marriage rate per thousand dropped 14.4 percent between 1998 and 2008, Tennessee’s dropped 36 percent, state health department and U.S. census figures show . . . “