Wealthy singles rare in America

Oprah Winfrey is in a minority. Even though she made Fortune's “50 Most Powerful Women” list, created The Oprah Winfrey show with a fiercely loyal following and has nearly $1 billion in assets, she remains single.

Oprah is among the 3.3 percent of females who make more than $100,000 but still do not wear a wedding band, according to analysis of the 2001 U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

“I'm surprised about this 3.3 percent; I wouldn't expect it to be that low,” said Isabel Sawhill, an economic studies senior fellow with Brookings Institute. “But, a lot of people who are single are very young. The people who are older are married and tend to earn more than the younger.”
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