The Data
Prenups just became the majority.
For most of modern history, a prenuptial agreement signalled either great wealth or great suspicion. That is no longer what the data shows. Among couples under 45, signing one is now more common than not.
53%
of engaged or married Americans under 45 have signed a prenup
The Harris Poll for Bloomberg · May 2026 · 2,148 adults
How fast this changed
Historical estimates · 1990s
The Harris Poll · 2022
The Harris Poll for Bloomberg (n=2,148) · 2026
That is roughly a 6.6-fold increase in a single generation — and the steepest change is among the youngest cohorts.
What actually changed
It is now the majority, not the exception
For couples under 45, signing a prenuptial agreement is more common than not signing one. The social assumption that a prenup signals doubt is roughly a generation out of date.
It stopped being about wealth
The earlier generation of prenups protected inherited money. Today they far more often address student debt, a business someone built, equity that has not vested, or a first home bought before the wedding — the ordinary financial complexity of marrying later.
Marrying later means arriving with more
The median first-marriage age has risen by roughly six years since 1990. People now marry with careers, retirement accounts, property, and debt already in place. There is simply more to sort out than there was for couples marrying at 22.
Both people are protected, not one
A well-drafted agreement defines expectations in both directions. It is as likely to protect the lower-earning spouse — by documenting support terms in advance — as it is to protect the higher-earning one.
The default is not neutral
Every state already has a rule for what happens to your property. Declining to sign an agreement is not opting out of rules — it is opting into your state's defaults, whatever they happen to be.
Where do you actually stand?
Your state already has default rules for your property. The free two-minute quiz shows you what those defaults are, and what a prenup would and would not change.
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