States With the Highest Rates of Divorce

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5. Oklahoma
> Divorce rate: 20.4 per 1,000 married people
> Marriage rate: 16.3 per 1,000 people (9th highest)
> Unemployment rate: 4.9% (20th highest)
> Avg. wedding cost: $22,105 (8th lowest)

Oklahoma came in as the state with the fifth highest divorce rate as 20.4 individuals per 1,000 married people got divorced in the past year. However, it wasn’t just last year that the state had a relatively high rate of divorces.

Some 12.1% of Oklahoma males 15 years and over and 14.4% of Oklahoma females 15 years and over are divorced — the eighth- and seventh-highest shares of men and women who are divorced, respectively.

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4. Louisiana
> Divorce rate: 20.8 per 1,000 married people
> Marriage rate: 11.9 per 1,000 people (7th lowest)
> Unemployment rate: 6.1% (3rd highest)
> Avg. wedding cost: $22,701 (10th lowest)

The state that includes New Orleans, the nation’s hub for everything jazz, has the fourth-highest divorce rate of any state. Financial stress can be a factor in the deterioration of a marriage, and Louisiana has both a low median household income and a high unemployment rate compared with national figures. It’s no wonder why New Orleans is famous for playing those soulful blues.

The statewide median household income of $45,146 a year is more than $10,000 below the national median income of $57,617– yikes, that’s quite a bit! The unemployment rate was an astonishing 6.1%, the third highest of all the states and higher than the 2016 nationwide rate of 4.9%. Not to mention, the poverty rate is a staggering 20.2%, well above the national rate of 14.0% and the second highest among all the states.

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3. Nevada
> Divorce rate: 21.3 per 1,000 married people
> Marriage rate: 15.3 per 1,000 people (17th highest)
> Unemployment rate: 5.7% (8th highest)
> Avg. wedding cost: $28,672 (18th highest)

Getting married on a whim after a wild night in Las Vegas is a common theme in movies and TV shows. But it’s not fiction that married people in Nevada have a hard time staying together.

The state had one of the highest divorce rates of all the states last year. And divorces have  been pervasive in previous years, too. Nevada has the second-highest rate of both males and females over 15 years old who are divorced.

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2. Idaho
> Divorce rate: 21.9 per 1,000 married people
> Marriage rate: 15.8 per 1,000 people (13th highest)
> Unemployment rate: 3.8% (11th lowest)
> Avg. wedding cost: $22,905 (11th lowest)

Idaho, a state with significantly low population density, has the second-highest divorce rate of any state. Interestingly enough, Idaho has the one of the nation’s highest marriage rates. It’s possible that marrying too young drives the divorce rate up, simply because kids are getting hitched without truly knowing their soon-to-be-spouse.

So just how high is the divorce rate? Nearly 22 per every 1,000 married individuals got a divorce in 2016. The statewide unemployment rate of 3.8% at that time was 1.1 percentage points below the nationwide rate of 4.9%, and the median household income of $51,807 a year is quite below the national median income of $57,617. A lower annual salary may be indicative of financial struggles, which can certainly add stress to a relationship.

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1. Arkansas
> Divorce rate: 23.4 per 1,000 married people
> Marriage rate: 17.3 per 1,000 people (5th highest)
> Unemployment rate: 4.0% (15th lowest)
> Avg. wedding cost: $20,041 (3rd lowest)

Keeping a marriage together is hard work, and in 2016 married people in Arkansas struggled the most to stay married. Some 23.4 out of every 1,000 married individuals divorced last year.

It could be that divorces are relatively common in Arkansas because of the relatively high rate of people who get married there in the first place. The state has the third-lowest percentage of men who have never been married at 31.4%. Similarly, one-quarter of Arkansas women over 15 years old have never been married, the fourth-lowest share in the country.