Which U.S. states set the age of consent at 16, 17, and 18 respectively (state-by-state list)?
Executive summary
The majority of U.S. states set their statutory age of sexual consent at 16, with a smaller number at 17 and 18; a federal review counted 34 states at 16, six at 17, and eleven at 18 (ASPE) [1]. State laws are not uniform: nearly every jurisdiction layers in “close‑in‑age” exceptions and special rules for positions of authority that change how the statutory age operates in practice [2] [3].
1. What the question actually asks — and the limits of the reporting provided
The user requests a state‑by‑state mapping of which U.S. states set the age of consent at 16, 17, and 18 respectively; the reporting supplied establishes the nationwide pattern and counts but does not include a verified, complete list of every state paired with its statutory age in the supplied snippets, so this analysis must rely on summary tallies and caveats in those sources rather than reproducing an uncertified table [1] [4] [2].
2. The snapshot: how many states fall into each category
A federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) review summarized that most states—34—set the age of consent at 16, with six states at 17 and eleven at 18, a distribution used by multiple compilers of state law summaries [1]. Independent aggregators and legal guides produced since then echo the same basic pattern: most states fall between 16 and 18 as the statutory minimum, and periodic legislative changes can move individual states between categories [4] [5].
3. Why a simple state label can mislead: close‑in‑age rules and special exceptions
Labeling a state simply “16,” “17,” or “18” ignores pervasive statutory complexity: many states with a nominal age of consent build in “Romeo and Juliet” or close‑in‑age defenses that permit consensual activity when partners fall within a specific age gap, and other statutes raise the effective age when the older partner occupies a position of authority or trust (examples and citations summarizing these exceptions appear in the encyclopedic state summaries) [2] [3].
4. Conflicting tallies in secondary sources and why counts can vary
Secondary lists produced by law firms, journalists and aggregators sometimes report slightly different totals (for example, some pages claim 32 or 34 states at 16, or eight states at 17), because states periodically amend statutes (Wyoming and New Mexico were noted examples of recent changes), because compilers interpret overlapping statutes differently, and because some statutory frameworks create conditional ages depending on the age gap or role of the older partner [4] [6] [7].
5. What can be provided reliably now — and where to go for the state‑by‑state table
Given the sourcing supplied, the reliable, citable national summary is: 34 states at age 16, 6 at age 17, and 11 at age 18, per the ASPE report [1]; for a definitive state‑by‑state table, the detailed Wikipedia entry on “Age of consent in the United States” compiles each state statute and close‑in‑age exceptions and is the best next source cited here [2], while legal guides and state code queries (examples: worldpopulationreview and specialized law firm compilations) can confirm recent legislative updates [4] [8].
6. Bottom line for readers wanting granular answers
The categorical answer: most U.S. states set age of consent at 16 (34 states), six states set it at 17, and eleven set it at 18 (ASPE) — but this shorthand must be tempered by state‑level exceptions, close‑in‑age defenses, and periodic statutory changes; consult the state code or the state‑by‑state compilations cited (Wikipedia’s state table and recent legal trackers) for an authoritative, up‑to‑date list for any single state [1] [2] [4].