Same-Sex Marriages Projected To Add $414 Million To California Economy
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - More than any other state, California will benefit financially from the growing legality of same-sex marriages, according to new analysis from NerdWallet.
The San Francisco-based personal finance site crunched the numbers and found that the Untied States would add $2.5 billion to the existing $51 billion wedding industry if same-sex marriages were legal in all 50 states.
As the most populated and one of the most liberal states, California is estimated to gain the most annually at $414,343,588, roughly double what the runner up - Texas - would stand to benefit. To arrive at those numbers number, NerdWallet multiplied the self-identifying LGBT population by state marriage rate and cost of an average wedding in that state.
The calculation assumes that the cost of same-sex marriages and that of a all other couples are the same. Researchers note that the initial same-sex rates in each state are higher due to pent up demand, but that many of the marriages are performed in courthouses rather than being planned out over months or years. The research is designed to calculate the economic benefit after the rate and spending even out with existing marriage statistics.
According to the numbers used in the study, California trails only Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey and Virginia in average wedding cost at $33,362.
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