10 Most Divorced States In America

Are you living in a state with one the highest rates of divorce in America?

• 10. Maine

  

  (4.3 divorces per 1000 people)
  Maine is the only state in New England to appear in the list of states with the highest incidence of divorce. In fact, its the only one in the entire Northeast. Brad Wilcox, an Associate Professor of Sociology, and Director of the University of Virginias National Marriage Project, partially chalks this up to economic factors.  "The issue is more about the working-class composition of the Maine population," he says . Bill Cote, a divorce lawyer in Lewiston, agrees. "We are a poor state in many respects," he says. "Financial pressures really wreak havoc on the sustainability of a marriage unit."

• 9. Florida

  

  (4.3 divorces per 1000 people)
  Florida is tied with Maine for the number of divorces per 1,000 people. In fact, The Daily Beast ran a feature in October 2010 called  America's 50 Divorce Capitals , in which the state was represented by no less than 12 of the lists 50 entries.  The cities included Orlando, Miami and Tampa, among others. The highest-ranking city was Panama City, which saw 994 divorce filings in 2008 and over 1,000 the following year . In 2010, it was the site of the high-profile divorce filing of Elin Woods against her husband, Tiger Woods.

• 8. Alaska

  

  (4.4 divorces per 1000 people)
  Alaska is the 49th state in the Union, the fifth least-populated, and the eighth-highest for divorce rates. Its motto is North to the Future, but a future is precisely what many marriages in the state are unlikely to have. It experiences 4.4 divorces for every 1,000 people.  Among the most commonly cited grounds for divorce in Alaska are adultery, habitual

• 7. Oklahoma

  

  (4.6 divorces per 1000 people)
  Oklahoma is the 20th largest state in the country. It also has the seventh-highest divorce rate in America, which inspired the creation of state-sponsored OK Marriage Initiative . Its purpose was to study why the Sooner State was experiencing so little wedded bliss.  The study found that one of the primary causes of divorce in the state was financial stress. It also found that infidelity was a major factor, and that young couples who married during the early throes of whirlwind romance were not expected to last long.

• 6. Kentucky

  

  (4.6 divorces per 1000 people)
  Kentucky is the home of bluegrass music, bourbon distilleries, and horse racing. It's also home of a divorce rate of 4.6 divorces per 1,000 people, equal to that of Oklahoma.  Ground for divorce in Kentucky is "irretrievable breakdown of marriage ." This means that its a no-fault state where either spouse can file for dissolution of the marriage. Either one can deny the claim, provided that they dont mind a court investigation. Click here to see the 5 States with the highest rate of divorce.