7 ways being married influences your success

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If you're enjoying a life of wedded bliss, congratulations on beating some impressive odds.

In the US, people are getting hitched less often than they once did, and young Americans are putting off marriage more than ever before.

In 1962, half of 21-year-olds and 90% of 30-year-olds had been married at least once. In 2014, only 8% of 21-year-olds and 55% of 30-year-olds had been married.

According to Bloomberg, married Americans are now the minority.

Relationship experts believe that American marriages are more challenging today than ever before because we expect so much more out of marriage, and when higher expectations aren't met, it can suffocate a marriage to the point of destroying it.

As a result, we tend to see more extreme manifestations of struggling and healthy marriages.

While we know that marriages come in all shapes and sizes — some are short-lived, while others are enduring; some are really happy, and some aren't — how does marriage ultimately impact the many facets of your success?

Well, there's no simple answer. But these studies will begin to unpack the question a little and help us better understand the many factors at play.

Marrying your best friend makes you really, really happy.

A recent study on marital satisfaction released by the National Bureau of Economic Research and previously reported on by Business Insider suggests that the happiest people are those who are married to their best friends.

Controlling for pre-marital happiness, the study concluded that, overall, marriage leads to increased well-being.

But while couples who saw their best friend as someone outside of the relationship were happier than single people, the study found that those who consider their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as other married people. 

The authors concluded that partners can provide each other with a unique kind of social support and help each other overcome some of life's biggest challenges, and people with the most difficult lives — for example, middle-aged people, who often experience a dip in personal well-being — can benefit the most.

Married people are less social.

Your network of relationships, among other things, can help you find jobs and make you happier happier, healthier, and more open to insights. 

Unfortunately for married people, research suggests that, compared to Americans who have always been single, they are less likely to support and stay in touch with their family and less likely to help, encourage, and socialize with friends and neighbors.

Married people get some monetary bonuses.

According to two Atlantic writers who crunched some numbers, married women can pay as much as $1 million less than their single counterparts over a lifetime.

The writers looked at the tax penalties and bonuses, as well as living costs like health spending and housing costs.

According to the Tax Policy Center, a married couple suffers a "marriage penalty" if they pay more income tax as a married couple than they would have as two single individuals. A couple receives a "marriage bonus" if they pay less income tax as a married couple than they would have as two single individuals.

When couples combine their incomes, especially when they have similar incomes, this can push them into a higher tax bracket, which would result in a higher tax rate.

In addition to the tax break you receive from filing jointly, couples are more likely to receive a marriage bonus when spouses earn different amounts.

There are a lot of factors affecting marriage penalties and bonuses, but generally, according to the US Department of the Treasury Office of Tax Analysis, more married couples under the age of 65 filing joint tax returns on average see bonuses than penalties.

According to the BLS data the Atlantic writers looked at, couples also spent on average 6.9% of their annual income on their health, while single men spent only 3.9% and single women spent 7.9%.  

And when it came to housing, couples spent on average 23.9% of their annual income, compared to single men who spent 30.3% and single women who spend 39.8%. 

By combining resources and splitting costs, married people have the edge on all kinds of day-to-day expenses in addition to rent or mortgage: one cable bill, one utilities bill, and shared groceries can all lead to big savings.