What is the legal age of consent for sexual activity in different US states and how does it vary internationally?

1. How ages break down across U.S. states: three buckets and many caveats

A simple headline—U.S. state ages of consent fall into three discrete values—matches most reporting: 31 states set 16, eight set 17, and eleven set 18 ^[1], and other sources summarize the same 16–18 spread across all 50 states ^{[7] [8]}. That tidy division, however, obscures critical caveats: many states have “close‑in‑age” exemptions that decriminalize sex between teenagers who are near in age, and separate statutes criminalize sex when the older person holds authority (teacher, coach, employer), meaning the nominal age often does not tell the whole legal story ^{[3] [2] [6]}.

2. Close‑in‑age rules, authority figures and prosecutorial discretion

Close‑in‑age or Romeo‑and‑Juliet laws exist in roughly half the states (reported as 20–26 in different sources) and can protect pairs of minors or slightly older partners from felony charges; conversely, statutes often create harsher penalties when the older party is in a position of supervision or trust, and some states criminalize solicitation even when sexual activity itself might technically be lawful ^{[3] [1] [2]}. These distinctions—who initiates, relative ages, and relationship type—drive outcomes more than the headline age in many prosecutions ^{[3] [2]}.

3. Federal overlay: when state rules aren’t the last word

State law governs most cases, but federal statutes can supersede or add liability when interstate travel, online communication, trafficking, or child pornography are involved; federal rules often treat 18 as the relevant threshold for those federal offenses, meaning that acts legal under a state law of 16 or 17 can still trigger federal prosecution in specific contexts ^[9]. This creates a situation where legality depends not only on the ages but on the medium and geography of the conduct ^[9].

4. International variation: a global map that resists simple summaries

Globally, age of consent norms are far less uniform than in the U.S.; summaries show most countries cluster around 16–18 but datasets report extremes—some listing ages as low as 11 and as high as 21, while other jurisdictions tie consent to marriage or puberty rather than a numeric age ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Comparative tables emphasize that close‑in‑age exceptions, gendered differences historically, and marriage‑based systems complicate cross‑country comparisons, and several countries explicitly exclude sexual activity outside marriage, effectively functioning like a marriage‑based age regulation ^{[6] [8]}.

5. Policy debates, public safety and unintended consequences

Arguments for higher ages emphasize protecting adolescents from exploitation and trauma; advocates for nuanced close‑in‑age rules warn that strict criminalization can unduly punish consensual teen relationships. Reporting and legal guides note that laws also reflect political priorities—public safety, child protection, and sometimes moral or religious norms—so the statutory age can be as much political as evidence‑based ^{[4] [10]}. Sources that aggregate ages often add caveats about changeability and local exceptions, underscoring that these are policy choices with real prosecutorial discretion ^{[2] [10]}.

6. What reporting does (and does not) settle: limits of available summaries

Secondary compilations—Wikipedia, legal guides, data aggregators—provide useful snapshots of ages by jurisdiction but repeatedly warn they are not legal authority and that statutes, exceptions, and enforcement practices change; users should treat counts (e.g., “31 states = 16”) as accurate snapshots of those sources while recognizing they may omit nuances like solicitation rules or statutory labeling differences ^{[1] [2] [8]}. None of the provided sources replaces reading the relevant state statute or consulting counsel for case‑specific questions ^[2].