Where you live can have an impact on marriage choices and living in Chester County means a millenial’s odds of being married by age 26 are 1 percent below the national average.

Those are the findings of data compiled by Harvard economists who have been studying housing, tax policy and upward mobility as reported by the New York Times last week.

The team studied over five million people who moved as children in the 1980s and 1990s and believe they have found a correlation between geography and the role it plays in people’s lives.

The study presents some fascinating findings, including the effects that living in cities and highly partisan areas can have on marriage choices. For example, children growing up in highly liberal areas like New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco are about ten percentage points less likely to marry when compared to the rest of the country.

Philadelphia County at 6 percent less likely to be marriage by 26, fared slightly better than other urban, more liberal areas across the United States in the study.

Highly conservative areas, such as neighboring Lancaster County, are shown to encourage marriage more heavily in relation to the rest of the country.

The statistics analyzed a child’s odds of being married by age 26 and also looked for patterns all the way up to age 30 with both ages presenting similar patterns.

So how did Chester County fare in the study? Right around average, with young-adults who grew up in Chester County about one percent less likely to be married by age 26.

Let’s take a look at the numbers for the surrounding area:

• Montgomery County: 3% less likely
• Bucks County: 3% less likely
• Berks County 1% less likely
• Lancaster County: 7% more likely
• Delaware County: 7% less likely

The study presents detailed findings of the effect that political leanings have on marriage choices. Counties that generally encouraged marriage voted strongly Republican in the 2012 election, while the more liberal counties had the opposite effect.

Other features of the findings include how race and income can impact marriage.

Learn more about the findings here and use the interactive map to take a look at each county throughout the U.S.
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Top photo credit: Chris & Bex-376 via photopin (license)