Lowest Divorce Rates By State

According to the Wall Street Journal, the following states have the lowest divorce rates in the nation (click here for the highest), based on data from the latest National Vital Statistics Report and U.S. Census. Each rate was calculated using the number of divorces and annulments by state and dividing that number by state population.

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Massachusetts: 1.8

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This historic state boasts the lowest number of divorces in the United States—1.8 per 1000 people.

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This historic state boasts the lowest number of divorces in the United States—1.8 per 1000 people.

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Comments

[f0rTyLeGz]

11:27 PM on 12/21/2010

What useless, meaningless factoids you guys have for us!

[Ivyleaguequaker]

04:57 PM on 12/06/2010

So Massachusetts at the lower end has .18% (1.8/1000) divorce rate while the worst is Nevada at .66%(6.6/1000). Somebody is lying here, I've heard that the American divorce rate is some where in the neighborhood of 50%! I look at the article and it's per population, that takes into account new born babies. More significant would be an article that shows the divorce rate of married people. Maybe Massachesetts has a lower population of married people then Nevada. This article is a comparison of apples to oranges.

[agoraemily]

04:45 PM on 12/02/2010

Social conservatives seem to be disconcerted by data, indicating that the most liberal state in the union truly does have the lowest divorce rate per capita. Why? Simply, it implies that a compassionate and tolerant atmosphere fosters more stable marriages than a traditionalist environment of strict obedience to authority.

[ecclesias]

07:17 PM on 12/02/2010

exactly
fanned

[hidenout2]

08:57 PM on 12/07/2010

lol, it implies nothing of the sort...really, without researching why divorce is lowest in Mass, we don't know the reason. To "simply" conclude it is because of a "compassionate and tolerant atmosphere" that is only beholden to Mass, is quite frankly, "simpleminded".

[damyanky]

05:11 PM on 12/31/2010

hidenout2: Also, a low divorce rate does not at all mean less unhappiness. Some people will put up with a lot rather than divorce. Mass. is politically liberal, but Boston is traditional. The small towns, as in every state, are socially conservative. There's the avoiding gossip factor, and family disapproval factor, and we are not informed of the percentage of Catholics among the descendants of Irish immigrants. I agree, it's simpleminded.

[Chili Chili]

12:19 PM on 12/02/2010

Lord Kelvin strikes again. ("There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.")

This data is useless for determining whether marriage is stronger in a given state. All this reports is the number of divorces per thousand people in the state. Thus a state with a lot of unmarried people will show "better" in the ranking. This kind of statistic does not tell you that more people get married than live together unmarried in a state; it does not tell you that marriages are more likely to end in divorce in a state; it does not tell you that marriages last longer in a state. Even those stats would not tell you whether the long lasting marriages started in that state or moved there a year ago.

So essentially this is a useless set of statistics and Ashley (the author) should be required to go take a year long college level statistics course.

[Guest211]

12:11 PM on 12/02/2010

Always easy to tell when a divorce story is posted on the front page of HPost. The commenters are always trying to make it a POLITICAL statement.

*********************************NEWSFLASH*********************************************************

DIVORCE IMPACTS THOSE ON BOTH THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM

**************************Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming********************

[Endotoxin]

09:50 AM on 12/02/2010

New York?

Excuse my French....Le Bulleshitte!

Something isn't right here. There are so many divorced single mothers in this city (especially in the other four boroughs) it would make your head spin. I see them in the bank, chatting on the train, in Burger King, in Starbucks...they are EVERYWHERE. I see them pushing strollers more than I see actual couples.

How do I know this? The rare times in which I take off my headphones 50% of the conversation I hear is "Custody" this "Child Support" that, "Deadbeat" this and "Gold Digger" that!

I remember doing a report on this for a Sociology class in College. This was in 2007 and the data for the North East was abysmal. Could it have really become so rosy in just 3 years, especially with a dwindling economy, people losing their jobs (men more so than women, resulting in household gender role reversals)....NOT!

No doubt, it's good to have positive articles more than negative ones. But don't paint some parts of the world in a better light than what the real picture actually looks like!

Also why isn't California available in the data from that website Jarbester? They probably have the biggest divorce rate in that state in the entire damn world.

[NYC80]

08:52 PM on 12/10/2010

couldn't agree with you more. I live in NYC too and that data is a big lie.Women here file for divorce without mercy here. Also the couples that are married the women cheat on their husbands with male coworkers at the office. Same thing can be said of many men too.

[jarbester]

05:58 AM on 12/02/2010

You can find a US map with all the data at https://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=3308

[Johnagain]

02:47 AM on 12/02/2010

This article provides further proof, as if we needed more, of the moral bankruptcy of right wing conservatives in America. It exposes them for the rotten hypoc.rites that they are. The states with the highest measures of societal decay (divorce rate, incarceration rate, teenage pregnancy, venereal disease, high school drop out rate, illiteracy, violent crime, prevalence of meth labs, and on and on) are the red states, with very few exceptions.

This is not a coincidence people! It is almost comical watching all these right wingers squawk over these kinds of findings, desperately graspoing for straws to justify their up-side down view of the world.

And I'll come right out and say it. Liberals are more moral than conservatives, hands down. Liberals give a d@mn about others to a far greater degree than right wingers, and going back to Jesus (a liberal), always have. We are in fact holier than thou. So eat that you Bahble thumping bumpkins.

[MOHABA]

01:15 PM on 12/02/2010

The comments on this article provides further proof, as if we needed more, of the intellectual shortcomings of liberals in America. Always looking for ways to denigrate fellow citizens.

That said, your hypotheis is full of holes. One assumption is that every citizen that votes in a "red" state identifies as a "red" voter. Most states are still closely split among "red" and "blue" voters.

Let's look at some of the measures of societal decay:

Divorce: The states with the lowest divorce rates also have lower overall marriage rates, a higher population of people that have never been married and a larger gay population. You can't get divorced and impact the divorce rate if you are never married.

Incarceration rates: Nope, wrong again there. Both "red" and "blue" states are among the top ten states with % incarcerated. However, look at the racial demographics on those incarcerated. Let's see African Americans make up 41% of those incarcerated and hispanics make up 20%. AA generally vote 90% and hispanics 65% of the time for the democrat party. So those would be blue voters in red states.

Teenage pregnancy/vd/drop out rates: Same statistics apply. Much higher rates among African Americans and Hispanics. More "blue voters" in "red" states.

Oh and highest abortion rates? Highest in "Blue States" among voters who typically vote "blue". Remind me again, where in the bible does Jesus (the liberal) condone abortion?

You are in fact holier in thou....just not in a truly meaningful way.

[Johnagain]

10:16 PM on 12/02/2010

"Remind me again, where in the bible does Jesus (the liberal) condone abortion?"

The same place where he condones bombing another country that didn't pose a threat. The same place where he promotes capital punishment. Where he praises the rich, and condones the kind of unbridled avarice that allows some to have billions while others have nothing. The same place where he condemns the poor, the weak, the voiceless, gays, etc. You know, all those passages where he proves himself to be a Republican.

You can't win this argument with your usual made up right wing BS. That cr@p only works on Fox News fed bumpkins.

The statistics speak for themselves.

Abortion rates by state: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?cat=10&ind=465

Incarceration rates by state: http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/ratesusa.htm

Teen pregnancy rates: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39727979

I could go on. All of these indicators track to poverty. And you're correct that within a state, the highest rates for all of these negative statistics are found amongst blacks and hispanics. They are the poorest groups. My point is that it is the far right, conservative, 'I've got mine, screw everyone else' mentality that causes these indicators to be higher in the 'red' states. States where the role of government is solely as a facilitator of corporate agendas, with a minimal role in the betterment of society. Those are places people tend to leave for the blue states (Texas being the exception).

[holyghostie]

10:25 PM on 12/01/2010

Isn't it interesting that the majority of these states are BLUE?

[anelder]

06:21 PM on 12/01/2010

All those kinder, more generous, more conservative, and by their own words more religious states don't make the list? what gives? Must be that word hypocritical again.

[MOHABA]

06:16 PM on 12/01/2010

Let's see a quick review of the census data shows MA, NY, IL and other "blue" states also have the largest pergentages of men and women over 15 who were never married. They have lower percentages of married people overall and most likely a larger general population of gays.

Hard to get divorced when you never get married in the first place. So the rates as a percent of the overall population are pretty meaningless.

[yellowdoggie]

06:12 AM on 12/03/2010

So you keep saying. People with more education tend to marry later in life. In most states, gays still can't get married. So what is it exactly that you are trying to prove? I live in the reddest state in the union -- Oklahoma. The people here who do marry get married early and often. We have more out-of-wedlock babies, women in prison, dropouts, cigarette smoking, meth making, intolerant, Republican voting Neanderthals than any other state. Let's face it. Conservative strongholds are also the places where you find ignorance, crime, and adultery out the wazoo --- and a LOT of church attendance.

[oafishcad]

04:52 PM on 12/01/2010

The lowest rate was in the state that first equalized marriage. I thought the biggest argument against gay citizen equality was it would destroy marriage. Somebody was clearly wrong or lying.

[Craig Bowers]

10:10 PM on 12/02/2010

Sadly I wouldn't put it in past tense... I bet some would say that having marriage legal in Massachusetts increases the divorce rate in Mississippi.

[lioness39]

04:33 PM on 12/01/2010

If Alabamians divorce each other it doesn't necessarily break up the family - since mom and dad were probably already blood kin.

[SpringDoc]

04:07 PM on 12/01/2010

So, blue states seem to be more happy than red states, over-all. Two surprises being N. Dakota and S. Carolina.
The blue states are more content in knowing who they are and not threatened by gay relationships? Possibly.

[chedet]

03:59 PM on 12/01/2010

What??? no Kansas??