Marriage-Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2024

Family Profile 32, 2025

Author: Krista K. Westrick-Payne

This family profile updates previous profiles on the marriage-divorce ratio (Eickmeyer, 2015; Loo, 2023; Marino & Juteau, 2022; Reynolds, 2020; Schweizer, 2019a & 2019b; Westrick-Payne, 2022; Westrick-Payne, 2024; Wu, 2017) and examines national, regional, and state variation in the ratio of marriages to divorces. Using recent American Community Survey (ACS) data, we calculate national and state level marriage-divorce ratios by dividing the number of women’s marriages by the number of women’s divorces for a given population in a given year. Data for these estimates come from the most recent release of the American Community Survey and represent the year 2024. The margins of error (at a 90% confidence interval) were also calculated and presented alongside the ratios.

U.S. Marriage-Divorce Ratio, 2024

Five Highest and Lowest Marriage-Divorce Ratios, 2024

Figure 5. State-level Map of Women’s Marriage-Divorce Ratios in the U.S., 2024

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 (1977). Advance report of final divorce statistics, 1975. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 26(2), Supp. 2. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv26_02s2acc.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 (2024). American Community Survey, 2008 - 2024 1-Year Estimates [Table B12001]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12001&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12001

U.S. Census Bureau (2024). American Community Survey, 2008 - 2024 1-Year Estimates [Table B12501]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12501&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12501

U.S. Census Bureau (2024). American Community Survey, 2008 - 2024 1-Year Estimates [Table B12503]. Retrieved from: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B12503&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B12503

U.S. Census Bureau (2021). American Community Survey, 2020 1-year Experimental PUMS

References:
Eickmeyer, K.J. (2015). Marriage to Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2014. Family Profile, FP-15-19. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/eickmeyer-mar-div-ratio-us-geo-2014-fp-15-19.pdf  

Loo, J.  (2023). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2022. Family Profiles, FP-23-25. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-23-25

Marino, F. A. & Juteau, G. (2022). Marriage-to-divorce ratio in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2021. Family Profiles, FP-22-27. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-27

Reynolds, L. R. (2020). Marriage to Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2019. Family Profiles, FP-20-26. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-20-26

Schweizer, V. (2019a). Marriage to Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2017. Family Profiles, FP-19-03. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-19-03

Schweizer, V. (2019b). Marriage to Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2018. Family Profiles, FP-19-24. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-19-24

Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2022). Marriage-to-divorce ratio in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2020. Family Profiles, FP-22-09. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-22-09

Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2024). Marriage-Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2023. Family Profiles, FP-24-27. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-24-27

Wu, H. (2017). Marriage to Divorce Ratio in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2015. Family Profiles, FP-17-01. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/FP/wu-mar-to-div-ratio-2015-fp-17-01.pdf 

Suggested Citation:
Westrick-Payne, K. K. (2025). Marriage-Divorce ratio in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2024. Family Profiles, FP-25-32. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-25-32

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.