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WRITTEN BY:Annalise Mantz
Any engaged couple has likely heard that half of all marriages end in divorce—whether from a well-meaning friend hoping they're making a well-considered decision or someone with more mean-spirited intentions. While that fact is true when it comes to first marriages, the true picture of divorce rates is a bit more complicated.
Regionally, the average rate of divorce was highest in the American West (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon) at 3.15 per 1000 people. It was the lowest in the Northeast (Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) with 2.29 divorces per 1,000 people.
To dig deeper into the state-by-state data, Stacker used divorce statistics from the CDC/National Center for Health Statistics to determine how divorce rates in every state have changed since 1990. The states are listed here alphabetically, and their changing divorce rates are represented as percent changes from 1990 to 2021 (the most recent year of data available). California, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, and New Mexico are not included as divorce rates were not provided for 1990 and 2021.
Rates are based on provisional counts of divorces by the state of occurrence. Rates are per 1,000 people residing in the area. The population listed is current as of April 1 for 1990, 2000, and 2010 and estimated as of July 1 for all other years. Keep reading to discover whether divorce rates have trended up or down in your state.
Alabama
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.1 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 41%
- #31 biggest decrease among states with data
Alaska
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.1 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 43.6%
- #25 biggest decrease among states with data
Arizona
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.9 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.7 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 60.9%
- #6 biggest decrease among states with data
Arkansas
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.9 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 47.8%
- #15 biggest decrease among states with data
Colorado
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 45.5%
- #20 biggest decrease among states with data
Connecticut
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.2 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.5 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 21.9%
- #44 biggest decrease among states with data
Delaware
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.4 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 40.9%
- #32 biggest decrease among states with data
District of Columbia
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 42.2%
- #28 biggest decrease among states with data
Florida
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.4 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 46%
- #19 biggest decrease among states with data
Georgia
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.2 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 60%
- #7 biggest decrease among states with data
Idaho
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.4 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 47.7%
- #16 biggest decrease among states with data
Illinois
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.8 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 1.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 65.8%
- #2 biggest decrease among states with data
Iowa
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.9 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 41%
- #30 biggest decrease among states with data
Kansas
- 1990 divorce rate: 5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 1.9 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 62%
- #5 biggest decrease among states with data
Kentucky
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.8 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 43.1%
- #27 biggest decrease among states with data
Maine
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.7 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 37.2%
- #35 biggest decrease among states with data
Maryland
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.4 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 1.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 52.9%
- #8 biggest decrease among states with data
Massachusetts
- 1990 divorce rate: 2.8 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 1 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 64.3%
- #3 biggest decrease among states with data
Michigan
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 46.5%
- #18 biggest decrease among states with data
Mississippi
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 40%
- #33 biggest decrease among states with data
Missouri
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.1 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.9 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 43.1%
- #26 biggest decrease among states with data
Montana
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.1 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.5 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 51%
- #9 biggest decrease among states with data
Nebraska
- 1990 divorce rate: 4 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 35%
- #37 biggest decrease among states with data
Nevada
- 1990 divorce rate: 11.4 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 4.2 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 63.2%
- #4 biggest decrease among states with data
New Hampshire
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.7 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 44.7%
- #22 (tied) biggest decrease among states with data
New Jersey
- 1990 divorce rate: 3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.2 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 26.7%
- #43 biggest decrease among states with data
New York
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.2 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.2 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 31.3%
- #39 biggest decrease among states with data
North Carolina
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.1 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.2 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 37.3%
- #34 biggest decrease among states with data
North Dakota
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.9 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 19.4%
- #45 biggest decrease among states with data
Ohio
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.7 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.6 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 44.7%
- #22 (tied) biggest decrease among states with data
Oklahoma
- 1990 divorce rate: 7.7 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.8 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 50.6%
- #12 biggest decrease among states with data
Oregon
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.7 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 50.9%
- #10 biggest decrease among states with data
Pennsylvania
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.4 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 27.3%
- #41 biggest decrease among states with data
Rhode Island
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.7 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.7 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 27%
- #42 biggest decrease among states with data
South Carolina
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.4 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 46.7%
- #17 biggest decrease among states with data
South Dakota
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.7 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.5 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 32.4%
- #38 biggest decrease among states with data
Tennessee
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 49.2%
- #13 biggest decrease among states with data
Texas
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 1.4 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 74.5%
- #1 biggest decrease among states with data
Utah
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.1 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 35.3%
- #36 biggest decrease among states with data
Vermont
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.5 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.3 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 48.9%
- #14 biggest decrease among states with data
Virginia
- 1990 divorce rate: 4.4 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.1 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 29.5%
- #40 biggest decrease among states with data
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Washington
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.9 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.9 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 50.8%
- #11 biggest decrease among states with data
West Virginia
- 1990 divorce rate: 5.3 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.9 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 45.3%
- #21 biggest decrease among states with data
Wisconsin
- 1990 divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 2.1 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 41.7%
- #29 biggest decrease among states with data
Wyoming
- 1990 divorce rate: 6.6 per 1,000 people
- 2021 divorce rate: 3.7 per 1,000 people
- Change in divorce rate: 43.9%
- #24 biggest decrease among states with data
Data reporting by Lucas Hicks. Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Robert Wickwire.
