New York Among the States with the Least Divorces

Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

April 14 is National Ex-Spouse’s Day. While it’s not likely that people are buying flowers for their former flames, alimony could be a constant reminder.

That’s less true in New York, which has one of the lowest divorce rates in the country.

Before the Knicks and Nets get going in the NBA playoffs, EmpireStakes.com took a break from its usual coverage of New York sports betting to analyze national divorce date. We used data from Hyattsville, Maryland-based National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to determine the states with the highest and lowest divorce rates per 1,000 women in the year 2021.

Trust us. You won’t find odds on this at any of the nine operating NY betting apps.

Here is what we found:

States Ranked by Divorce Rate

Rank State Divorce Rate
1Nevada4.2
2Oklahoma3.8
3Wyoming3.7
T4Alabama3.6
T4Arkansas3.6
T6Florida3.4
T6Idaho3.4
T8Kentucky3.3
T8Mississippi3.3
T8Tennessee3.3
T8Utah3.3
12North Carolina3.2
T13Alaska3.1
T13Virginia3.1
15Colorado3.0
T16Missouri2.9
T16North Dakota2.9
T16Washington2.9
T16West Virginia2.9
T20Arizona2.7
T20Maine2.7
T20Oregon2.7
T20Rhode Island2.7
T24Delaware2.6
T24District of Columbia2.6
T24Nebraska2.6
T24New Hampshire2.6
T24Ohio2.6
T29Connecticut2.5
T29Montana2.5
T29South Dakota2.5
T32Pennsylvania2.4
T32South Carolina2.4
T34Iowa2.3
T34Michigan2.3
T34Vermont2.3
T37Georgia2.2
T37Louisiana2.2
T37New Jersey2.2
T37New York2.2
41Wisconsin2.1
42Kansas1.9
43Maryland1.6
44Texas1.4
45Illinois1.3
46Massachusetts1.0
* — NCHS data does not include divorce rates for California, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, or New Mexico.

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Closer Look at New York and Divorce Rate

Why is New York’s divorce rate so low compared to other states?

One belief is that because New Yorkers are too busy fighting in the rat race, they tend to get married later when they’re more mature and less likely to fall in love for superficial reasons.

For a long time, New York’s refusal to adapt to no-fault divorce laws also kept the rate low, but New York joined most of the rest of the country in 2010.

Another reason for New York’s low divorce rate, however, could be the city’s cost of living. If you’ve spent years working your way up the corporate ladder and finally have an apartment on the upper east side and a home in the country, you don’t want to be dividing that up . . . no matter how tired you might be of your spouse. Plus, you all have similar couple friends, eat at the same restaurants, and fought to get your kids into the right schools. It’s psychologically expensive to flush it all.

Also, in New York’s ultra-religious communities, divorces can be hard to get. The New York Times recently ran a story headlined: “The Case for Staying Married to a Spouse You Cannot Stand.” In the story, it was reported one reason for staying married is that one study claimed people tend to be worse off after they split up. Being a single parent in the state can be particularly difficult — in rural parts of New York everything is far apart and it’s hard to keep a child occupied. In the city, parents must work a lot and there are a lot of potentially harmful influences to keep a child occupied.

Additionally, marriage is better for people financially, and married couples tend to live longer, healthier lives.

But the gist in New York is that poorer couples can’t afford to get divorced and wealthier couples can afford to avoid each other.

EmpireStakes.com — your source for NY sportsbook promos — also keeps you updated on sports betting revenue reports in the state.

On Monday, the New York State Gaming Commission issued its report for March sports betting handle and revenue.

Author

Howard Gensler

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who’s worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.

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