Sex Frequency – Couples

How often do couples in committed relationships and married people have sex?

“A recent study found that, although married people or people in committed relationships who had more sex tended to report feeling happier, the benefit leveled off at a sexual frequency of once a week.”1 Frequency of sex for one couple is not the baseline for another couple.

The following articles should provide more information on the frequency of sex among couples, those in committed relationships, and married people.

Footnote: 1. “How Much Sex Should You Be Having?” cnn.com, 2/28/2018

  1. What Is Maintenance Sex? It May Help Strengthen Your Marriage

    “Dr. [Brian] Jory [a relationship psychologist] adds, ‘Sex is important to the degree that it makes a couple happy, and the frequency and quality of sex that makes a couple happy varies greatly and depends on a lot of factors: their ages, values, lifestyle, innate sex drive, their health, and most of all, the quality of the relationship.'”

    Wendy Rose Gould, nbcnews.com, 1/13/2019

  2. To Be Happy Together, How Often Does A Couple Need Sex?

    “Most people believe more sex equals greater happiness. But a study found there is a magic number when it comes to sex among committed couples and that’s once a week.”

    Linda Carroll, today.com, 11/18/2018

  3. How Often Do Married Couples Have Sex?

    “According to a University of Chicago Study called ‘The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States,’ about 32 percent of married couples have sex two or three times a week, 80 percent of married couples have sex a few times a month or more, and 47 percent say they have sex a few times a month. … As you may have noticed from the large variance of these statistics, it’s easy to see that there is no ‘normal’. In many studies, researchers and therapists said it really depends on the couple. … So how much sex should you have to level off with happiness? Once a week, according to researchers.”

    Marriage.com, marriage.com, 4/26/2018

  4. How Much Sex Should You Be Having?

    “In what might be welcome news for everyone exhausted from work and frazzled from kids, research suggests you don’t have to get down every day to reap the rewards of sex, at least in terms of happiness and relationship closeness. A recent study found that, although married people or people in committed relationships who had more sex tended to report feeling happier, the benefit leveled off at a sexual frequency of once a week. … [Vanessa] Marin avoids prescribing an amount of sex that couples should have, because every couple is different, and instead recommends couples test it out for themselves.”

    Carina Storrs, cnn.com, 2/28/2018

  5. Am I ‘Normal?’ Average Sex Frequency Per Week Linked To Age

    “A recirculated study from the Kinsey Institute for research in Sex, Reproduction and Gender suggests age can act as a predictor for average sex frequency, ranging from once a week to once a month. Unsurprisingly, researchers at the Kinsey Institute found people between 18 and 29 are having the most sex, with an average of 112 sex sessions per year, or twice a week. Meanwhile, 30 to 39 year olds have sex 86 times per year, which equates to 1.6 times per week. Those in the 40 to 49 age group manage to have sex only 69 times per year, about half the total for 18 to 29 year olds. … Although couples may start to have less sex with age, women report their sex lives actually get better. … In other words, these women started to focus less on the frequency of sex, and more on the emotional and intimate aspects of sex, or adapting sex acts themselves.”

    Lizette Borreli, medicaldaily.com, 8/15/2017

  6. You Can Stop Wondering If You Have Sex More Or Less Often Than Other People

    “Don’t despair if you have sex more or less frequently than your peers. It doesn’t matter, and things could change. You could stumble into true love; you could stumble into true sex.”

    Andrew Kahn, slate.com, 5/31/2017

  7. It’s Not Just You. Americans Are Having Less Sex.

    “Married couples generally have sex more often than single people, but that advantage is declining. Married couples had sex an average of 56 times a year in 2014, down from 67 in 1989. But more people are staying single — meaning there is less sex — and the couples who do walk down the aisle are making fewer trips into the bedroom. … Despite all the declines, one age group showed no interest in slowing down: people over 70. They had sex nearly 11 times during 2014, up from an average of 9.6 times in 1989.”

    Matthew Haag, nytimes.com, 3/8/2017

  8. Here’s How Much Sex You Should Have Every Week

    “But despite these declines in hanky panky, our lives are far from sexless. The average adult enjoys sex 54 times a year, or a little more than once a week, Twenge’s data show. While married couples under the same roof don’t fool around quite as much, they still have sex about 51 times each year. That’s a good thing, because having sex once a week may be ‘optimal’ if you’re hoping to maximize happiness, according to research from Amy Muise, an assistant professor of psychology at York University in Canada.”

    Markham Heid, time.com, 3/7/2017

  9. Who Has More Sex, Married People Or Single People?

    “Although increased sexual frequency has long been considered an incentive for getting married, the biggest drop in sexual activity was actually among married couples themselves. Back in the early 1990s, the average American had sex about 60 to 62 times per year, but that number dropped to less than 53 times per year by 2014. Among married couples specifically, the drop was even more dramatic — from about 73 times per year in 1990 to 55 in 2014. This actually brings the sex lives married couples below people who’ve never been married, who have sex about 59 times per year as of 2014.”

    Hannah Smothers, cosmopolitan.com, 3/7/2017