Adjacent States - The states bordering Indiana which are Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Age - Age refers to age in years as reported by the applicants on the Record of Marriage (State Form 27553). If a birthday occurs between the date of submitting the application form and the date of the marriage ceremony, the age at the time of the actual marriage ceremony may be one year older than that reported on the license application form. The application form is valid for 90 days.
In Indiana, marriages involving persons 15-17 years of age require parental consent and/or court order, depending on the actual age.
Mean Age -
The mean age is the arithmetic average of the age for those individuals for whom age was reported.
Median Age
-The median age is the age that divides the number of brides or grooms into two equal groups. One half of the grooms are older than their median age, and one half of the brides are older than their median age. Because the distribution of age is skewed (not normally distributed or bell shaped), the median is a better measure than the mean.
Ceremony Type - Whether the ceremony was a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony is determined by the title and name of the officiating individual or the location of the ceremony. If the title reflects a government official, such as mayor, magistrate, or judge, the ceremony is categorized as civil. If the title reflects a religious entity, such as reverend, father, or priest, or the location of the marriage was a place of worship, the ceremony is categorized as religious.
County of Issuance - The county that issued the marriage license. According to IC 31-11-4-3, individuals must obtain a marriage license from the clerk of the circuit court of the county of residence of either of the individuals. If neither of the individuals is a resident of Indiana, they must obtain the marriage license from the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the marriage is to be solemnized.
County of Residence - The Indiana county of residence recorded at the time of application of the marriage license.
Education Level - The education levels reported in these reports reflect the highest grade completed.
Previous Marital Status - Marital status prior to the marriage is reported for both the bride and the groom. Individuals are categorized as never married or, if previously married, by how the last marriage ended (death, divorce, or annulment). The number of previous marriages is also reported. In the tables in this report, annulments are included in the category labeled Divorced.
Race - In this report, race is categorized as White, Black, Other, and Total, where Other means all other races besides white and black, including unknown, and Total represents all races combined.