IDEX Online Research: Target 20-Somethings for Diamond Engagement Ring Sales

(IDEX Online) – Twenty-something consumers remain the target market for jewelers trying to reach the bridal market. The average age for a first-time groom in America was 28.2 years old, based on 2010 data. The average age for the first-time bride was 26.1 years old.

Despite reports to the contrary, the average age of brides and grooms really hasn’t increased substantially in the past 120 years. In 1890, when the government first began keeping statistics, the typical first-time groom was 26.1 years old; today, he is only two years older. The typical first-time bride was a young and blushing 22.0 years old; today, she is only four years older.

The graph below illustrates the average age of the first-time bride and groom for the past 120 years.

Source: Conference Board / Census Bureau

We note that The Knot, perhaps one of the most credible sources of wedding data in the American market, says the average age of their universe of respondents is closer to 30 years old. The Knot focuses on major metro markets where brides and grooms are typically older when they marry.

However, there are an equal number of brides and grooms in their late teens and early twenties who marry in rural areas (and who buy their diamond engagement ring at Wal-Mart). Hence, the overall average age of the estimated 2.1 million couples who married in 2010 were in their mid-twenties, as the graph illustrates.

One final statistic: the average age of a woman having her first baby: 25.1 years old, according to the Census Bureau. Yes, that’s one year younger than the average age of the first-time bride.