Related: Consent Laws By State: Updated 2022 Age of Consent By State State All information is accurate as of June 2022. The following chart contains each state’s age of consent. Many states have a “close in age exemption,” which works to decriminalize consensual sex between two under the age of consent individuals. The majority of states have an age of consent of 16 years old. federal law makes sexual acts between the ages of 12-16 illegal if an individual is less than four years younger than the other party. States use the legal age of consent to prosecute people older than the victim instead of teenagers close in age. The age of consent in the United States, as of 2018, applied to both males and females. Here’s what you need to know about age of consent by state, updated 2022. What You Need to Know About Age of Consent By State: Updated 2022Įvery individual should know the age of consent in their state of residency.