How to read the measures (so your comparisons are fair)

Using all three avoids the common mistakes: ranking states by crude rates alone, or treating a records-based national count as if it were a person-at-risk rate.

The national picture: steadier marriages, gentler divorces

Two long arcs define the 2000–2024 period:

If you zoom out historically, the median age at first marriage has climbed for decades; now around 30 for men and 28–29 for women, a shift that changes who is “exposed” to early divorce at any given time. It’s one reason you can see falling divorce rates among younger adults, even as older-age divorce rates held higher levels.

Why these trends matter for families

These national shifts shape the day-to-day reality of modern family life. Later marriage means couples are entering marriage at more stable ages, which contributes to the consistent decline in divorce among younger adults. At the same time, the stabilization of later-life divorce reflects longer lifespans, evolving expectations for personal fulfillment, and midlife transitions that didn’t exist a generation ago.

State differences add another layer: where you live influences when people marry, how often they remarry, and how local economic pressures affect family stability. When viewed together, these trends help explain why divorce appears lower nationally even as the lived experience of marriage and separation varies dramatically by age group and region.

Source: CDC/NCHS provisional national series (2000–2023). [1][4]

Who is divorcing now: age and life-stage really matter

The decline isn’t uniform across ages. NCFMR’s age profiles show that between 1990 and 2021:

A related story is gray divorce (50+). The rate rose from 3.9 per 1,000 married women 50+ in 1990 to 11.0 in 2008, and has leveled off since, measuring 10.3 in 2023\. In other words, later-life divorce stabilized at a higher plateau, even as younger-age divorce declined.

These age patterns live upstream of the national averages. Combine them with the later timing of first marriage, and you get a picture where fewer young couples divorce, more couples split later in life, and the overall line keeps edging down.

The calendar reality (why “January spikes” don’t show up in federal tables)

Federal marriage and divorce tables are annual, not monthly. Even when interest or inquiries cluster at the New Year, final decrees surface months later because state law builds in cooling-off periods and required steps. Two simple examples:

Marriage timing keeps drifting later (and why that matters)

The Census MS-2 series tracks the median age at first marriage back to 1890\. Today’s medians, approximately 30 for men and 28–29 for women, are part of a long climb that accelerated after 1970\. Later marriage changes exposure to early divorce, shifts the life-stage at which separations happen, and helps explain how divorce can decline overall while stabilizing at older ages.

State differences you can actually see

Source: CDC “Stats of the States – Divorce” non-reporting note. [3]

At the state level, the cleanest comparison is the refined divorce rate: divorces per 1,000 married women, paired with the marriage-to-divorce ratio. Read together, they show both risk and balance.

Highest refined divorce rates (2024)

(Estimates from ACS with margins of error reported by NCFMR.)

Lowest refined divorce rates (2024)

Source: NCFMR FP-25-31 (2024). [5]

What state clusters tend to have in common

These state clusters often reflect deeper demographic patterns. States with higher refined divorce rates often have younger marriage ages, higher remarriage turnover, or more mobile populations. States with lower refined divorce rates tend to have older ages at first marriage, different economic profiles, or cultural norms that emphasize later or more selective partnering.

While no single factor determines a state’s position, these broader patterns help explain why neighboring states sometimes look similar and why regional distinctions persist year after year.

Balance of unions and dissolutions (2024)

A quick orientation: CDC’s crude rates are records-based and excellent for trendlines, but five states don’t report divorce counts to the national system (California, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico). ACS-based indicators (refined rate; ratio) cover all states and are better for same-year comparisons. Using both prevents false rankings.

What actually drives the numbers you see

Several structural forces shape the annual totals:

Another piece of the shift is that fewer Americans marry in the first place. As marriage has become more selective and delayed, a smaller share of adults enters the pool of people who could legally divorce in any given year. Cohabitation, long-term partnerships, and delayed marriage all reduce the number of marriages at risk of formal dissolution. This helps clarify why crude divorce rates can fall even when relationship breakups still occur outside the legal system.

The long arc that explains today’s picture

Two slow-moving shifts sit behind the headline rates:

Taken together with the 2023 crude divorce rate (2.4 per 1,000 across 45 states \+ D.C.) and the 2024 refined rate (14.2), the direction is consistent: fewer divorces relative to the married population, more marriages than divorces overall, and a pattern that varies by age and state.

Source: NCFMR FP-23-16. [9]

How to read our charts and tables (and not get tripped up)

Methods and limitations

Conclusion

Divorce in the United States is steadily becoming less common overall, even though the patterns beneath the surface remain complex. The crude divorce rate: 2.4 divorces per 1,000 people in 2023, continues its long decline, and ACS-based indicators reinforce the trend: the refined divorce rate dipped to 14.2, and the marriage-to-divorce ratio rose to 2.42, meaning more marriages than divorces nationwide.

But the story isn’t uniform. Divorce has fallen sharply among younger adults, stabilized at higher levels among older adults, and varies widely by state, from Oklahoma’s 20.7 to Maine’s 10.0 divorces per 1,000 married women. Meanwhile, Americans are marrying later: around 30 for men and 28–29 for women, reshaping when and how often divorce occurs.

And while public attention often focuses on January, annual federal data smooth out seasonal filing behavior due to built-in delays, such as California’s six-month and Texas’s 60-day waiting periods.

Taken together, the 2026 landscape shows a gradually declining national divorce trend, tempered by age, timing, and state differences. Modern divorce is less about sudden spikes and more about long-term demographic shifts that continue to reshape marriage and separation across the country.

References

Information only; not legal advice. Divorce is governed by state law, and timelines depend on case facts and local court procedures.