The U.S. Cities With the Highest and Lowest Rates of Divorce and Separation

The divorce percentage in the United States depends on where you look: among U.S. metropolitan areas, the share of adults who are currently divorced runs from 5.5% in the Provo-Orem-Lehi, Utah area to 15.9% in the Lewiston, Idaho-Washington area, according to Census Bureau data for 2020 to 2024. Metropolitan areas stand in for cities in these rankings, and the same data shows which areas have the highest and lowest percentages of separated adults.

These figures come from the American Community Survey, which asks households about current marital status, so they show how many adults are divorced or separated at the time of the survey, not how many divorces were filed.

The rankings below cover the 393 metropolitan areas in Census Table S1201, using adults 15 years and older, and each estimate carries a margin of error that the Census publishes alongside it. The data covers 2020 to 2024 combined, so it reflects a five-year average rather than a single year.

Which Metro Areas Have the Highest and Lowest Divorce Percentages?

The metro areas with the highest percentage of divorced adults are:

Metro area	Percent divorced
Lewiston, ID-WA	15.9%
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ	15.5%
Carson City, NV	15.4%
Hot Springs, AR	15.3%
Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	15.2%

At the other end, the lowest percentages are:

Metro area	Percent divorced
Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT	5.5%
Logan, UT-ID	6.0%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	7.0%
Laredo, TX	7.4%
Ithaca, NY (tied for fifth)	7.5%
Ames, IA (tied for fifth)	7.5%

Small gaps between neighboring ranks can fall within the margin of error.

Why Do Some Metro Areas Rank Higher or Lower?

A low percentage of divorced adults does not always mean few divorces. Utah is home to two of the five lowest metro areas, and its residents marry younger and at higher rates than the national average, yet the state’s divorce rate has been equal to or slightly higher than the national average, according to a BYU Daily Universe report on Utah marriage and divorce data. Almost a third of Utah marriages are remarriages, according to FOX 13 News, and because a remarried person counts as married in this survey, remarriage keeps the divorced share lower.

Age matters too. Researchers at Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research found that 15.2% of adults 65 and older were divorced in 2022, up from 5.2% in 1990, so a metro area with more older adults can show a higher divorced share than one with a younger population.

For you, that means a metro percentage reflects who lives in an area as much as how often couples there divorce, so these lists describe a population, not the odds of any one marriage.

Which Metro Areas Have the Highest and Lowest Separation Percentages?

The highest percentages of separated adults appear in these metro areas:

Metro area	Percent separated
Hinesville, GA	3.6%
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	3.4%
Rocky Mount, NC	3.3%
Fayetteville, NC	3.3%
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	3.2%

The lowest percentages are in these areas:

Metro area	Percent separated
Appleton, WI	0.5%
Ames, IA	0.6%
St. Cloud, MN	0.6%
Green Bay, WI	0.6%
Madison, WI	0.6%

Five of the ten highest separation percentages are in Texas: Brownsville-Harlingen, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, El Paso, Laredo and Eagle Pass.

Where Does the Houston Area Fall?

The Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area reports 9.1% of adults divorced and 2.0% separated. That is roughly 9 of every 100 adults divorced and 2 of every 100 separated. Set against the lists above, the divorced share falls between the lowest metro area (5.5%) and the highest (15.9%), and the separated share is above the lowest areas, which sit below 1%.

For Houston readers, that means 9.1% is a snapshot of who lives in the metro area today, not a verdict on how marriages there end.

What Do Divorce Percentages Not Tell You About Your Own Case?

An area-wide percentage cannot say what one couple must prove or how a court will divide what they own. A divorce can be granted without proving fault when the marriage has become insupportable, and one spouse must meet the residency rule in Section 6.301, which calls for six months in the state and 90 days in the filing county.

When spouses cannot agree on terms, the case becomes a contested divorce, and the outcome depends on the record in that case, not on the statistics for its metro area.

Talk With a Houston Divorce Lawyer About Your Situation

Statistics can show how common divorce is, but your own decisions depend on your family’s circumstances. A conversation with our team can help you see what a divorce would mean for your home, your finances and your children as you begin transitioning to your new way of life.

Contact Our Experienced Texas Family Law Firm For Help Today

Whether you’re facing a divorce, child custody dispute, or another family law matter in Texas, the trusted family law attorneys at Skillern Firm Divorce & Child Custody Lawyers are here to help. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discuss your legal options.

We proudly serve Harris County, Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, Waller County, and the surrounding areas.