The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data base is used to explore the effects of changes in marital status on the standard of living of a sample of young adults. OLS regression analysis indicates that changes in marital status have very different effects on young women and young men. Women receive large increases in their income-to-needs ratios when they marry, and they incur large declines in their income-to-needs ratios after experiencing a divorce or separation. Men, on the other hand, do not experience significant changes in their income-to-needs ratios when their marital status changes.