Have you ever wondered how our section of the country sizes up when it comes to divorce? You may find the answers from a recent article from 24/7 Wall Street surprising.
While Indiana did rank number 6 in the states with the most divorces, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa ranked toward the bottom at 8, 9, and 10 respectively for the top 10 states with the least divorces.
From the article:
Indiana
Divorce rate: 19.6 per 1,000 married people
Marriage rate: 16.0 per 1,000 people (11th highest)
Unemployment rate: 4.4% (21st lowest)
Avg. wedding cost: $23,912 (16th lowest)
Indiana, home to the century-old Indianapolis 500, has the sixth-highest rate of divorce, with 19.6 per every 1,000 married individuals divorcing in 2016. On the bright side, nearly 40% of Indiana’s population is married, with more than 2.6 million people in a marriage. The median household income of $52,314 a year is more than $5,000 less than the nationwide median income of $57,617, and the unemployment rate of 4.4% was 0.5 percentage points below the 2016 national rate of 4.9%. As is the case in other high divorce states these figures suggest financial stress is a factor for divorce in Indiana.
Illinois
Divorce rate: 13.9 per 1,000 married people
Marriage rate: 13.0 per 1,000 people (12th lowest)
Unemployment rate: 5.9% (6th highest)
Avg. wedding cost: $28,413 (19th highest)
Like most states, Illinois has plenty of married couples, with 5.1 million married people of the state’s population of 12.8 million. Contrary to the other states with the lowest divorce rates, the state’s 2016 unemployment rate of 5.9% surpassed the nationwide rate by a full percentage point. This disparity doesn’t seem to wreak any havoc on people’s marriages in Illinois. The median household income of $60,960 actually rises above the nationwide figure of $57,617. The state has the eighth-lowest rate of divorces with only 13.9 people divorcing in the past year for every 1,000 married individuals.
Wisconsin
Divorce rate: 14.0 per 1,000 married people
Marriage rate: 13.4 per 1,000 people (19th lowest)
Unemployment rate: 4.1% (17th lowest)
Avg. wedding cost: $26,462 (25th highest)
Wisconsin has one of the lowest divorce rates in the nation, with 14.0 married individuals out of 1,000 getting a divorce in 2016. Separation often precedes a divorce. Often, married couples who are having problems decide to spend some time apart before opting for a divorce. And there’s good reason to suspect the state will stay on the low end of divorce figures. Wisconsin has the lowest percentage of males 15 and older who are separated, at just 0.9% of that population. It also has the second lowest percentage of females 15 and older who are separated at 1.0%.
Iowa
Divorce rate: 14.1 per 1,000 married people
Marriage rate: 12.9 per 1,000 people (11th lowest)
Unemployment rate: 3.7% (10th lowest)
Avg. wedding cost: $24,182 (18th lowest)
Iowa has the 10th-lowest divorce rate, with only 14.1 per every 1,000 married individuals divorcing in the past year. The state’s unemployment rate is quite low at 3.7%, considering the 2016 nationwide rate is 4.9%. The median household income is smack dab in the middle, the 25th lowest of all the states at $56,247 a year, just a little over $1,000 below the nationwide median of $57,617, so financial stress is no more or less than other states.
