California has banned child marriage, becoming the 18th US state to completely prohibit marriage before the age of 18. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1267 into law on September 30, setting 18 as the minimum marriage age for California’s nearly 4.2 million girls without exceptions. The law will take effect on January 1, 2027.
Child marriage in US was legal even 10 years back in all 50 states. Then in 2018, Delaware and New Jersey banned it, and now most recently, Golden State joined the list. But California's move pointed towards the grim reality of child marriages in US. A 2025 report conducted by Unchained At Last found that more than 300,000 minors were married in the US between 2000 and 2018.
