Marino, Francesca A.

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Bowling Green State University: ScholarWorks@BGSU

Bowling Green State University ScholarWorks@BGSU National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles Sociology 2022 FP-22-26 Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2021 Francesca A. Marino Bowling Green State University, fmarino@bgsu.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ncfmr_family_profiles  Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Repository Citation Marino, Francesca A., "FP-22-26 Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2021" (2022). National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles. 295. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ncfmr_family_profiles/295 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@BGSU. http://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr ncfmr@bgsu.edu (419) 372-3119    Family Profile No. 26, 2022 Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2021 Author: Francesca A. Marino The adjusted divorce rate in the U.S. peaked in 1979 (see Figure 1). The general trend since then has been one of decline, and analyses of divorce trends using the American Community Survey beginning in 2008 indicate successive yearly declines beginning in 2012 (Westrick-Payne, 2022a). The pandemic has had dramatic effects on divorce in the U.S. with a 12% reduction in administrative counts of divorces, which are available from 35 states (Westrick-Payne, Manning, & Carlson, 2022). The ACS shows a parallel trend with a nearly 10% decline in the adjusted divorce rate from 15.5 in 2019 to 14.0 in 2020 (Westrick-Payne, 2022b). Using the 2021 1-year estimate of the American Community Survey (ACS), we estimated the number of divorces and divorce rates among women ages 15 and older in the United States and show how these rates vary across states. This Family Profile is an update of previous profiles that examine the divorce rate across each state [FP-17-24; FP-18-21; FP-19-23; FP-20-25; FP-22-08].U.S. Adjusted Divorce Rate, 2021 • The number of women who reported they divorced declined from 960,014 in 2020 (Westrick-Payne, 2022b) to 948,862 in 2021.  • The divorce rate, however, remained unchanged at 14.0 divorces per 1,000 married women in both 2020 and 2021.This rate is the lowest level over a 40-year time span.  Five Highest and Lowest Adjusted Divorce Rates, 2021 • Arkansas had the highest divorce rate among women in the U.S., with 21.7 women divorcing in the last year per 1,000 married women.  • The state with the lowest divorce rate in 2021 was New Hampshire, with 8.2 divorces per 1,000 married women.Figure 1. Women’s Adjusted Divorce Rate, 1970-2021  - Administrative data    - Survey data   - Experimental data  Source: NCFMR analyses of 1970-2000, National Center for Health Statistics; 2008-2019 and 2021, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 1-yr est., and 2020 American Community Survey, 1-year Experimental PUMS Figure 2. Women's Highest and Lowest Adjusted Divorce Rates, 2021 Rank State Rate MOE 1. Arkansas 21.7 +/- 3.4 2. Mississippi 21.0 +/- 3.5 3. Idaho 19.7 +/- 4.6 4. Oklahoma 18.4 +/- 2.3 5. Louisiana 18.1 +/- 2.8  USA 14.0 +/- 0.3 47. Rhode Island 10.9 +/- 4.4 48. Connecticut 10.4 +/- 2.6 49. Massachusetts 10.0 +/- 1.7 50. New Jersey 9.6 +/- 1.3 51. New Hampshire 8.2 +/- 3.5 Source: NCFMR analyses of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2021 1-yr est.Data Sources: Clarke. S. C. (1995). Advanced report of final marriage statistics, 1989 and 1990. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 42(12). National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv43_12s.pdf  National Center for Health Statistics (1974). Summary report final marriage statistics, 1970. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 23(2), Supp.1. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv23_02s1acc.pdf  National Center for Health Statistics (1983). Advance report of final marriage statistics, 1980. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 32(5), Supp. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv32_05s.pdf  National Center for Health Statistics (2001). Births, marriages, divorces, and deaths: Provisional data for January-December 2000. National Vital Statistics Report, 49(6), Associated Table 3. Department of Health & Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr49/nvsr49_06.pdf  U.S. Census Bureau (2022). American Community Survey, 2021 1-Year Estimates [Table B12001]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12001&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12001  U.S. Census Bureau (2022). American Community Survey, 2021 1-Year Estimates [Table B12501]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12501&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12501  U.S. Census Bureau (2021). American Community Survey, 2020 1-year Experimental PUMS  14.9 14.005101520251965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025State Rankings and Geographic Variation in Divorce Rates, 2021 Figure 3. State-Level Women’s Adjusted Divorce Rate by Quartile, 2021  Source: NCFMR analyses of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2021 1-yr est. • The 13 states in the top quartile had rates of at least 16.0 divorces per 1,000 married women in 2021.  • The 13 states in the bottom quartile had 12.5 or fewer divorces per 1,000 married women in 2021.  • Most states in the South and West had divorce rates in the top two quartiles. o Exceptions included Virginia, New Mexico, Arizona, South Dakota, and California.   • Most states in the Midwest and Northeast had lower divorce rates and can be found predominately in the third and fourth quartiles. o Exceptions included Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Vermont, and Maine.   Figure 4. Geographic Variation of Women’s Adjusted Divorce Rate Among States, 2021   Source: NCFMR analyses of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2021 1-yr est.  References:  Allred, C. (2019). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2018. Family Profiles, FP-19-23. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-18-23  Hemez, P. (2017). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2016. Family Profiles, FP-17-24. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-17-24  Reynolds, L. (2020). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2019. Family Profiles, FP-20-25. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-20-25    Schweizer, V. (2018). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2017. Family Profiles, FP-18-21. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-18-21   Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2022). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2020. Family Profiles, FP-22-08. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-08    Westrick-Payne, K. K., Manning, W. D., & Carlson, L. (2022). Pandemic Shortfall in Marriages and Divorces in the United States. Socius, 8. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231221090192    Suggested Citation: Marino, F.  (2022). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2021. Family Profiles, FP-22-26. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-26  This project is supported with assistance from Bowling Green State University. From 2007 to 2013, support was also provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the state or federal government.   8.29.69.910.410.911.111.111.411.711.811.812.012.412.512.612.812.913.013.013.513.613.814.014.414.414.414.614.915.115.315.515.515.515.615.615.615.615.815.915.916.016.216.216.416.716.917.218.118.419.721.021.70 10 20 30New Hampshire, 51New Jersey, 50Massachusetts, 49Connecticut, 48Rhode Island, 47Wisconsin, 45Delaware, 45Hawaii, 44Michigan, 43Illinois, 41Minnesota, 41Pennsylvania, 40California, 39New York, 38Alaska, 37Utah, 36Virginia, 35Kansas, 33Iowa, 33South Dakota, 32New Mexico, 31Arizona, 30USAMaryland, 27Missouri, 27Colorado, 27Ohio, 26Texas, 25Maine, 24Nebraska, 23North Dakota, 20Vermont, 20Florida, 20Montana, 16Wyoming, 16West Virginia, 16Washington, 16Oregon, 15Alabama, 13South Carolina, 13Georgia, 12Kentucky, 10Nevada, 10North Carolina, 9Indiana, 8Tennessee, 7District of Columbia, 6Louisiana, 5Oklahoma, 4Idaho, 3Mississippi, 2Arkansas, 1

FP-22-26 Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2021

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FP-22-26 Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2021

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