Marriage Markets and the Intermetropolitan Distribution of Skilled Couples

Costa and Kahn hypothesize that the growing concentration of skilled couples in large cities is due to their migration to large cities to solve their dual‐employment problem. However, there is only limited empirical evidence in support of this hypothesis. This research tests an alternative hypothesis: The intermetropolitan distribution of skilled couples is largely the result of marriages among skilled singles in large cities. The relative merits of both the “co‐location” and “marriage market” hypotheses are evaluated by comparing the effects of migration and marriage on the intermetropolitan distribution of dual‐degree couples using data from the 2008 American Community Survey. Migration is found to have little effect on the distribution of dual‐degree couples. Rather, the concentration of dual‐degree couples is strongly related to the high rate of marriages among single college graduates in the same cities.