NerdWallet: Same-sex marriage pumps $9M to R.I. economy

PROVIDENCE – Personal finance site NerdWallet has determined that same-sex weddings will add $9 million to Rhode Island’s economy annually.
The study, which was released on Wednesday, determined the economic impact of allowing same-sex weddings in each state. Rhode Island legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, joining 31 other states, parts of Missouri and Washington, D.C., according to NerdWallet.
NerdWallet said that same-sex marriage has gained momentum across the country as more federal judges reject state laws that have banned the unions.
The site highlighted the nation’s $51 billion wedding industry, which employs more than 800,000 people, and the opportunities same-sex marriage creates in the states that have legalized it.
NerdWallet looked at consumer spending on weddings in each state, their self-identified gay and lesbian population, and overall marriage rates. If the unions were legal throughout the country, consumer spending on same-sex weddings could total $2.5 billion each year.
“Unsurprisingly, California (the most populous state in the nation) stands to gain the most of all states – $414,343,588 – or nearly twice as much as the projected economic gains of Texas, the state with the second-highest population,” the study found.

Rhode Island, with a population of more than $1 million, stands to see an extra $9 million added to its economy due to same-sex marriages, based on an average wedding cost of approximately $28,000. NerdWallet is estimating that 319 same-sex marriages will be held in Rhode Island each year. NerdWallet’s data found 4.5 percent of residents identify themselves as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender in Rhode Island.

Read the full study here.

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