- In 2019, divorce isn't all that uncommon — but the trend is steadily decreasing.
- Last year, a University of Maryland professor found that the US divorce rate dropped 18% from 2008 to 2016.
- We wanted to see how divorce rates varied in every state, and found the number of divorces per state per 1,000 people.
- Nevada takes the crown, but Oklahoma is not far behind it.
According to USA Today, divorce is another thing that millennials are blamed for killing, along with beer, cereal, and fabric softener.
However, that might not totally be the case. With the help of INSIDER's Data team, and the CDC statistics on divorce, we've ranked the 25 states with the highest divorce rates.
The statistics are from 2017, and measured per 1,000 people since while we know the number of divorces every year, the population changes. The rates include provisional counts of divorce, annulments, and legal counts of separation for certain counties. However, five states don't report their divorce stats to the government — California, New Mexico, Minnesota, Indiana, and Hawaii.
Here are the 25 states with the highest divorce rates in the US.
23. (TIE) Virginia, Nebraska, and Delaware — 3 divorces per 1,000 people
While divorce appears to be legal in Virginia, the state had some antiquated laws on the books, according to the Huffington Post. Under the Code of Virginia, Section 18.2-344, unmarried fornication is a Class 4 misdemeanor.
19. (TIE) North Carolina, New Hampshire, Montana, and Missouri — 3.1 divorces per 1,000 people
Birthday parties are over — it's all about the divorce party now.
17. (TIE) Maine and Colorado — 3.2 divorces per 1,000 people
Colorado is one of the few states that legally allows marriage by proxy. In other words, if someone is unavailable on their wedding day, they can legally have another person stand in for them.
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