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In human populations, assortative mating is almost universally positive, with similarities between partners for quantitative phenotypes^–, common disease risk^,,–, behaviour^,, social factors^– and personality^,,. The causes and genetic consequences of assortative mating remain unresolved because partner similarity can arise from different mechanisms: phenotypic assortment based on mate choice^,, partner interaction and convergence in phenotype over time^,, or social homogamy where individuals pair according to social or environmental background. Here, we present theory and an analytical approach to test for genetic evidence of assortative mating and find a correlation in genetic value among partners for a range of phenotypes. Across three independent samples of 24,662 spousal pairs in total, we infer a correlation at trait-associated loci between partners for height (0.200, 0.004 standard error, SE) that matched …