Though it’s often believed that roughly half of all marriages end in divorce, the national divorce rate has actually been declining since its peak in the 70’s and 80’s. As for why, many point to the corresponding drop in marriage rates and the increasing median age of those tying the knot for the first time.
Despite this drop, the divorcee population still accounts for more than 10% of the adult population. Some of those individuals may go on to remarry, but 30% of men and an astonishing 54% of women report that they are not interested in tying the knot again.
With that in mind, researchers at ConsumersAdvocate.org decided to analyze divorce statistics for the largest 200 cities in the country to find which ones had the largest population of divorcees.
Here are the cities with the highest percentage of residents identifying as divorced:
Methodology
Data is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 2016 release of 5-year estimates. The ACS reports marital status information only for individuals over the age of 15. Using this data, ConsumersAdvocate.org calculated the divorced, married, and single percentages for the largest 200 cities in the country by dividing population within each subset by the total population over the age of 15. For the purposes of this study, the total population over 15 is referred to below as the Adult Population. In the event of a tie, the total population of divorced adults was used as a tiebreaker.
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25. Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Divorced: 13.99%
- Married: 43.94%
- Single: 36.54%
- Adult Population: 448,135
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24. Des Moines, Iowa
- Divorced: 14.15%
- Married: 43.93%
- Single: 36.20%
- Adult Population: 167,382
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23. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Divorced: 14.28%
- Married: 39.16%
- Single: 40.68%
- Adult Population: 148,406
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22. Cleveland, Ohio
- Divorced: 14.31%
- Married: 28.76%
- Single: 50.29%
- Adult Population: 314,907
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21. Knoxville, Tennessee
- Divorced: 14.32%
- Married: 37.58%
- Single: 41.89%
- Adult Population: 154,945
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20. Akron, Ohio
- Divorced: 14.33%
- Married: 36.62%
- Single: 42.80%
- Adult Population: 162,383
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19. Salem, Oregon
- Divorced: 14.37%
- Married: 46.68%
- Single: 33.71%
- Adult Population: 128,716
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18. Cape Coral, Florida
- Divorced: 14.39%
- Married: 53.16%
- Single: 24.76%
- Adult Population: 141,437
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17. Paradise, Nevada
- Divorced: 14.39%
- Married: 41.49%
- Single: 39.05%
- Adult Population: 189,148
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16. Tucson, Arizona
- Divorced: 14.44%
- Married: 38.06%
- Single: 41.99%
- Adult Population: 431,553
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15. Henderson, Nevada
- Divorced: 14.63%
- Married: 52.03%
- Single: 27.78%
- Adult Population: 228,372
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14. Las Vegas, Nevada
- Divorced: 14.64%
- Married: 45.23%
- Single: 34.53%
- Adult Population: 490,331
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13. Lakewood, Colorado
- Divorced: 14.77%
- Married: 47.18%
- Single: 32.72%
- Adult Population: 125,224
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12. Springfield, Missouri
- Divorced: 14.77%
- Married: 38.78%
- Single: 39.39%
- Adult Population: 139,752
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11. Vancouver, Washington
- Divorced: 14.98%
- Married: 48.85%
- Single: 30.60%
- Adult Population: 137,141
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10. Dayton, Ohio
- Divorced: 15.01%
- Married: 31.05%
- Single: 47.68%
- Adult Population: 114,781
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9. Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Divorced: 15.09%
- Married: 45.23%
- Single: 33.75%
- Adult Population: 316,190
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8. Birmingham, Alabama
- Divorced: 15.10%
- Married: 31.62%
- Single: 45.96%
- Adult Population: 174,878
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7. Spring Valley, Nevada
- Divorced: 15.11%
- Married: 44.08%
- Single: 35.92%
- Adult Population: 158,139
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6. Tacoma, Washington
- Divorced: 15.28%
- Married: 43.34%
- Single: 35.95%
- Adult Population: 167,754
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5. St. Petersburg, Florida
- Divorced: 15.28%
- Married: 41.10%
- Single: 36.54%
- Adult Population: 216,016
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4. Hollywood, Florida
- Divorced: 15.47%
- Married: 45.23%
- Single: 32.46%
- Adult Population: 123,989
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3. Reno, Nevada
- Divorced: 15.53%
- Married: 43.86%
- Single: 35.76%
- Adult Population: 192,898
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2. Toledo, Ohio
- Divorced: 15.57%
- Married: 36.60%
- Single: 41.16%
- Adult Population: 225,485
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
1. Spokane, Washington
- Divorced: 15.92%
- Married: 44.13%
- Single: 33.94%
- Adult Population: 172,484