Kentucky sees 3rd-highest increase in divorce rates among 14 states, census data finds

(NEXSTAR) – People are getting married older. Millennials don’t want to follow in their parents’ footsteps. Maybe it’s too expensive to get married. Maybe it’s too expensive to get divorced.

Whatever the reason may be, divorce is growing less and less common.

Between 2012 and 2022, the divorce rate declined by 28%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, 14 states are bucking the trend, where the divorce rate is still “significantly higher” than the national average.

To determine this, the Census Bureau looked at the results of its annual demographics survey, the American Community Survey, in 2022. It found the national divorce rate was 7.1 new divorces for every 1,000 women.

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the state with the highest divorce rate, about 12 women per 1,000 filed for divorce that year. More than a dozen states, many in the South, find themselves in a similar situation.

The states with “significantly higher” divorce rates, when compared to the national average, were:

State name	Estimated divorce rate per 1,000 women
Arkansas	11.9
Wyoming	11.0
Kentucky	9.9
West Virginia	9.7
Oklahoma	9.3
Idaho	9.2
Tennessee	9.1
Alabama	9.1
Indiana	9.0
Georgia	8.7
Colorado	8.5
Louisiana	8.5
Maryland	8.4
North Carolina	8.2

Ten states – plus D.C. and Puerto Rico – fall on the other end of the spectrum, with “significantly lower” rates of divorce than the national average. Those states are California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

And while divorces are trending down nationally, the marriage rate has remained pretty steady since 2012, the Census Bureau said. The one exception was a dip in 2021, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying weddings.