Both the marriage and divorce rates of U.S. women age 15 and older declined from 2011 to 2021.
In 2021, the U.S. marriage rate was 14.9 marriages in the last year per 1,000 women, down from 16.3 a decade earlier. And the 2021 divorce rate dropped to 6.9 in the last year from 9.7 divorces per 1,000 women in 2011.
But the rates varied by state during both time periods.
Alaska and Utah had among the highest marriage rates, at 23.5 and 22.3, respectively.
Now, an updated U.S. Census Bureau visualization allows you to rank and compare divorce and marriage rates in your state to those in other states and the nation.
Using data from the 2011 and 2021 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, it provides a state-by-state look at marriage and divorce rates per 1,000 women age 15 and older. Please note that not all differences in state marriage and divorce rates are statistically significant.
While the U.S. Census Bureau publishes estimates for both men and women, we have restricted this visualization to data for women to provide a digestible look at trends in marriage and divorce. Historically, women’s data have often been presented when a choice needs to be made. Previous research [PDF 2.3 MB] found that women more often report data for themselves and report their marital history more accurately.
According to the data, in 2021:
There are three components of the visualization: an introductory tab discussing how marriage and divorce rates are calculated; a map tab showing each state’s marriage and divorce rates compared to the national average; and a ranking table tab showing each state’s marriage/divorce rank in 2011 and 2021.
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