What are the age of consent laws in the United States?

In the United States, each state and territory independently sets its own age of consent through statutes or common law, typically ranging between 16 and 18 years old. Federal statutes also exist to protect minors from sexual predators. Additionally, many jurisdictions implement close-in-age exemptions to legalize sexual activity when both participants are underage but close in age.

What we know

• Each U.S. state and territory sets the age of consent independently either by statute or common law. [1, 2]
• Depending on the jurisdiction in the United States, the legal age of consent is between 16 and 18. [2, 3]
• Many U.S. states include close-in-age exemptions that legalize sexual activity for underage individuals if both partners are close in age. [2, 3]
• There are several federal statutes in the United States related to protecting minors from sexual predators. [1, 2]

Still open

• In some places within the United States, civil and criminal laws within the same state conflict with each other.

Where to go next

• compared withHow do age of consent laws compare across Europe?
• how it workedWhat are close-in-age exemptions or Romeo and Juliet laws?
• how we knowWhat federal statutes protect minors in the United States?
• the bigger pictureHow do global age of consent laws vary by country?
• what caused itWhat happens when state and federal laws conflict?
• an unexpected connectionWhy do some legal frameworks contain conflicting civil and criminal rules?It is unexpected that civil and criminal laws within the very same state can directly conflict regarding legal definitions of consent.

Sources

• [1]Ages of consent in the United States (Wikidata Q16662512) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Age of consent in the United States · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Age of consent · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Age of consent in Europe · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Age of consent by country · CC BY-SA 4.0