About 15% of new marriages in the United States in 2010 were between spouses of different races or ethnicities, more than doubling the 1980 level of 6.7%

Looking at all married couples in 2010, regardless of when they married, intermarriages reached an all-time high of 8.4% in 2010, compared to 3.2% in 1980. Among all newlyweds in 2010, 9% of whites married outside of their race or ethnicity, along with 17% of African-Americans, 26% of Hispanics and 28% of Asians - a term that includes native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. About 24% of African-American males married outside their race in 2010, compared to 9% of African-American females. About 36% of Asian females married outside their race compared to 17% of Asian male newlyweds. In Western states, about one in five people, or 22%, married someone of a different race or ethnicity between 2008 and 2010. That drops to 14% in the South, 13% in the Northeast and 11% in the Midwest. Because whites are by far the nation's largest racial group, marriage between whites and minorities were the most common type of intermarriage, even though the intermarriage rate for whites is relatively low compared to other races or ethnicities. The state where most intermarriages took place was Hawaii, where more than four in 10 newlyweds (42.4%) were intermarried. The next highest percentages were in Oklahoma, Nevada and New Mexico, with 26.3%, 25.6% and 25.4%, respectively. White/Asian newlywed couples had significantly higher median combined annual earnings, at $70,592, than any other pairing. More than half of white newlyweds who marry Asians have a college degree, compared with roughly a third of white newlyweds who married whites. Hispanic or African-Americans who married whites tended to have higher educational attainment compared to marriages within their own race or ethnic group. Couples formed between an Asian man and a white wife topped the median combined earnings list for the period studied, between 2008 and 2010, with about $71,800. White male newlyweds who married Asian, Hispanic or black spouses had higher combined earnings than did white male newlyweds who married a white spouse. As for white female newlyweds, those who married a Hispanic or black husband had somewhat lower combined earnings than those who married a white male. Several studies using government data have found that overall divorce rates are higher for intermarried couples.