Partnership is a personal matter and marriage, a legal recognition of partnership, is a major life event. But not all marriages last forever. Large segments of the American population have experienced the often extremely unpleasant personal and economic consequences of breaking ties with a spouse.
The divorce and annulment rate in the United States has fallen from 4.0 per 1,000 people in 2000 to 3.2 per 1,000 people in 2014. While marriages appear to be more stable, this reduction is also due in part to fewer marriages. Just over one in 10 people over the age of 15 are divorced and have not remarried. In a few cities, approximately one in six adults fit into this category.
Divorce has many causes, but it is more common in cities that share certain socioeconomic factors. For one, older populations tend to have higher divorce rates than younger populations. Marriages that end in divorce tend to last just under 10 years, so this trend may be due simply to the fact that there has been more time in these cities for marriages to go wrong.
Cities with fewer divorcees also have more residents who have never been married before. This is likely due in part to the average age of the population, but may also reflect a cultural trait of people who are less likely to divorce being more hesitant to wed.
Click here to see the cities with the most divorce.
Click here to see the cities with the least divorce.
Click here to see the detailed findings and methodology.
The Cities With the Most Divorce
15. Redding, CA
> Divorced population: 14.7%
> Married population: 49.1%
> Never married: 27.3%
> Median age: 42.2
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14. Reno, NV
> Divorced population: 14.7%
> Married population: 47.0%
> Never married: 31.3%
> Median age: 37.8
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13. Lewiston-Auburn, ME
> Divorced population: 14.9%
> Married population: 49.0%
> Never married: 29.0%
> Median age: 42.6
12. Casper, WY
> Divorced population: 15.1%
> Married population: 50.6%
> Never married: 27.3%
> Median age: 36.0
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11. Charleston, WV
> Divorced population: 15.1%
> Married population: 49.0%
> Never married: 26.3%
> Median age: 36.0
10. Danville, IL
> Divorced population: 15.1%
> Married population: 45.9%
> Never married: 29.0%
> Median age: 40.0
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9. Kokomo, IN
> Divorced population: 15.1%
> Married population: 52.1%
> Never married: 24.8%
> Median age: 41.5
8. Lewiston, ID-WA
> Divorced population: 15.2%
> Married population: 51.2%
> Never married: 24.4%
> Median age: 40.6
7. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ
> Divorced population: 15.3%
> Married population: 49.5%
> Never married: 23.9%
> Median age: 49.2
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6. Prescott, AZ
> Divorced population: 15.4%
> Married population: 53.5%
> Never married: 22.0%
> Median age: 51.3
5. Santa Fe, NM
> Divorced population: 15.4%
> Married population: 47.6%
> Never married: 30.2%
> Median age: 38.7
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4. Medford, OR
> Divorced population: 15.5%
> Married population: 49.7%
> Never married: 26.5%
> Median age: 42.8
3. Grants Pass, OR
> Divorced population: 15.6%
> Married population: 51.4%
> Never married: 23.5%
> Median age: 47.9
2. Hot Springs, AR
> Divorced population: 15.8%
> Married population: 50.9%
> Never married: 22.6%
> Median age: 44.1
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1. Carson City, NV
> Divorced population: 17.9%
> Married population: 45.1%
> Never married: 27.7%
> Median age: 42.6
The Cities With the Least Divorce
15. Harrisonburg, VA
> Divorced population: 8.2%
> Married population: 45.3%
> Never married: 39.1%
> Median age: 33.0
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14. Lancaster, PA
> Divorced population: 8.2%
> Married population: 54.8%
> Never married: 29.2%
> Median age: 38.4
13. Salinas, CA
> Divorced population: 8.2%
> Married population: 46.3%
> Never married: 38.5%
> Median age: 34.6
12. Trenton, NJ
> Divorced population: 8.2%
> Married population: 47.2%
> Never married: 36.9%
> Median age: 38.4
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11. Ithaca, NY
> Divorced population: 8.1%
> Married population: 37.3%
> Never married: 49.5%
> Median age: 30.2
10. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
> Divorced population: 8.0%
> Married population: 45.7%
> Never married: 37.9%
> Median age: 37.9
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9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
> Divorced population: 8.0%
> Married population: 53.2%
> Never married: 32.7%
> Median age: 34.0
8. College Station-Bryan, TX
> Divorced population: 7.9%
> Married population: 39.4%
> Never married: 46.6%
> Median age: 26.5
7. Mankato-North Mankato, MN
> Divorced population: 7.8%
> Married population: 46.0%
> Never married: 40.9%
> Median age: 31.8
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6. Manhattan, KS
> Divorced population: 7.6%
> Married population: 44.0%
> Never married: 44.5%
> Median age: 26.0
5. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
> Divorced population: 7.2%
> Married population: 51.0%
> Never married: 32.4%
> Median age: 28.8
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4. State College, PA
> Divorced population: 6.9%
> Married population: 40.6%
> Never married: 46.9%
> Median age: 30.3
3. Logan, UT-ID
> Divorced population: 6.6%
> Married population: 57.0%
> Never married: 32.3%
> Median age: 25.5
2. Ames, IA
> Divorced population: 6.5%
> Married population: 41.5%
> Never married: 48.4%
> Median age: 25.9
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1. Provo-Orem, UT
> Divorced population: 6.0%
> Married population: 58.8%
> Never married: 31.6%
> Median age: 24.5
Detailed Findings and methodology
The median age of the U.S. population is currently 37.6 years. In 13 of the 15 metropolitan areas with the largest share of divorced adults, the typical resident is older than the national median age. By contrast, 12 of the 15 metro areas with the smallest share of divorced populations have younger populations than the national median. In the metro area with the fewest divorced adults the population is also the youngest. The median age in the Provo-Orem, Utah metro area, where only 6% of adults are divorced, is just 24.5 years.
The cities with the most divorce also have a disproportionately low amount of people who have never married. Every one of the 15 cities with the largest numbers of divorcees has fewer people that have never married than the national average. Conversely, 10 of the 15 cities with the smallest share residents who are divorced have above-average amounts of adults who have never married. One notable example is Ithaca, New York, where 49.5% of adults have never married – the largest share in the country.
To Identify the cities with the most divorce, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the U.S. Census Bureau 2015 American Community Survey five-year estimates for the percentage of the population aged 15 years or older that is currently divorced for all statistically significant metropolitan statistical areas. The percentage of those married, widowed, separated, or never married also came from the 2015 ACS, as well as the median age for each metro area.
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