Which U.S. states had the highest and lowest divorce rates in 2025 and how do those compare to 2024?
Executive summary
Available reporting does not provide a clear, single public list naming which U.S. states had the absolute highest and lowest divorce rates in 2025, nor a direct state-by-state 2024→2025 comparison in the materials provided. National-level trends in 2024–25 show U.S. divorce measures near historic lows (crude rates ~2.4–2.7 per 1,000) and continuing declines in refined divorce measures; multiple sources note that states such as Nevada, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming often rank high while states including Massachusetts, Illinois and Puerto Rico have been reported among the lower-rate places in earlier analyses [1] [2] [3].
1. National picture: divorce at historic lows, “gray divorce” rising
Federal and academic reporting cited in these materials shows divorce has been falling from the peaks of the late 20th century; CDC and Census-derived measures put crude divorce rates in the 2020s roughly in the mid‑2s per 1,000 people (for example, 2.4–2.7 per 1,000 is commonly reported in 2022–2025 summaries), and analysts say refined divorce rates (divorces per 1,000 married women) have also fallen in recent decades [4] [5] [6].
2. Why state-level rank lists are tricky and often inconsistent
State rankings depend on which metric is used (crude vs. refined rates vs. divorce-to-marriage ratios), which year’s provisional counts are used, and whether all jurisdictions report vital statistics; the CDC’s state maps also note missing state reports (some states do not always submit data), so different outlets produce different “top” or “bottom” lists [7] [8]. That reporting variation explains why independent lists name different states as highest or lowest in different years and outlets [9] [2].
3. States commonly cited as having higher divorce rates
Multiple secondary sources and syntheses repeatedly identify Nevada and several southern or Plains states—Oklahoma, Arkansas and Wyoming—as among states with higher divorce rates in recent years; Statista-based and law‑firm compilations often place Nevada at or near the top because of destination-wedding and quick‑divorce patterns [2] [9] [10]. These sources imply that if one were to identify 2025 “highest” states, Nevada and some neighboring/southern states would be candidates—however, the materials do not include a definitive 2025 CDC state ranking to cite for an exact top spot [2] [9].
4. States and places commonly cited as having lower divorce rates
Conversely, analyses and official summaries have repeatedly listed Massachusetts, Illinois and Puerto Rico among the lowest divorce rates or rate equivalents in contiguous U.S. comparisons; the Census Bureau noted Puerto Rico had among the lowest divorce and marriage rates for the 2012–2022 period [3]. Again, no single provided source gives an authoritative 2025 state‑by‑state lowest‑rate declaration to cite directly for 2025 comparisons [3].
5. What changed from 2024 to 2025 in available reporting
Materials here document a continued modest downward national trend through 2024 with some rebounds projected into 2025—e.g., business analysts and aggregated sites describe small year‑to‑year volatility (a modest rebound in 2021, small declines in 2022, slight rebounds in 2023–24) and estimate U.S. crude rates near ~2.4–2.7 per 1,000 in 2024–25; those figures suggest little dramatic state‑level reshuffling though localized changes occur [6] [4] [5]. Specific per‑state 2024→2025 changes are not present in the collected sources for a definitive claim (available sources do not mention a comprehensive state-by-state 2024→2025 comparison).
6. Data caveats: measurement, reporting lags, and definitions matter
Experts and data stewards emphasize differences among crude divorce rates (per 1,000 total population), refined rates (per 1,000 married women), and divorce-to-marriage ratios; state reporting can be provisional or incomplete and some states have not consistently reported to the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, so comparing states without checking metric and data completeness leads to misleading conclusions [7] [8] [5].
7. How to get the precise state winners and losers for 2025
For a definitive list of highest and lowest divorce-rate states in 2025 and a direct 2024→2025 comparison, the authoritative path is to consult the CDC/NCHS state tables or the U.S. Census Bureau state visualizations once the agencies publish their finalized 2025 state‑level vital statistics; the CDC state maps and the Census family‑profile releases are the primary sources cited across these reports [7] [5] [3].
Summary: current reporting establishes a clear national trend—divorce rates down from past decades with gray divorce increasing—but the set of sources provided does not include a single authoritative state‑by‑state ranking for 2025 or a definitive 2024→2025 state comparison to cite. For that precise state list, consult the CDC/NCHS or Census state tables when their finalized 2025 state data are posted [7] [5] [3].