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If you're married, the thought of divorce has probably popped into your mind at least once.
Come on, admit it.
And if you're not married, let me tell you that there's gonna be a point at 2 a.m. when you have a crying baby and haven't slept in two months that it's gonna run through your head to run.
Far.
Away.
But, don't just take my word for it, take the word of the some 30,965 people living in Delaware over fifteen years of age who are divorced. Or compare that to the 28,339,199 dAmericans who are already divorced in 2022.
A lot of people make the decision to run away - or simply split up - across the First State.
Isn't the divorce rate in America close to 50%? Yes indeed. But that's not quite what we're measuring; we are looking at counts and percentages of people over 15 years old who are currently divorced.
You typically calculate that 50% statistic as percent of marriages.
But we are just going to focus on the actual number of divorced people today -- what better way to measure marital misery than the straight count of people in Delaware it affects?
So now that we have you biting your nails, rethinking your world view, and pulling out your hair, let's take a look at the places in Delaware with highest rates of divorcees.
Let's quickly recap before we dive into the methodology and a closer look at the top ten places in DE.
What is the city in Delaware with the highest divorce rate? That would be Elsmere, with 11.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.
What is the overall Delaware divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Delaware is 4.0%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.
Alrighty, on to how we calculated the places with the highest divorce rates in Delaware.
For more Delaware reading, check out:
/10
Population: 5,814
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 511
Median Income: $62,377
More on Elsmere: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 1,779
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 128
Median Income: $61,771
More on Delaware City:
/10
Population: 1,127
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 72
Median Income: $61,427
More on Greenwood:
/10
Population: 1,109
Divorce Rate: 7.0%
Divorcees: 62
Median Income: $78,167
More on Bellefonte:
/10
Population: 2,993
Divorce Rate: 6.0%
Divorcees: 143
Median Income: $59,924
More on Milton: | Crime Report
/10
Population: 11,463
Divorce Rate: 6.0%
Divorcees: 550
Median Income: $45,948
More on Milford: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 70,655
Divorce Rate: 6.0%
Divorcees: 3,391
Median Income: $45,139
More on Wilmington: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 1,191
Divorce Rate: 6.0%
Divorcees: 57
Median Income: $64,038
More on Felton:
/10
Population: 11,694
Divorce Rate: 5.0%
Divorcees: 467
Median Income: $59,830
More on Smyrna: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 7,897
Divorce Rate: 5.0%
Divorcees: 315
Median Income: $52,840
More on Seaford: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
How We Determined The Places In Delaware That Get Un-Hitched The Most
Since that this is the 58th category of rankings we are compiling for the site, we had a pretty good idea where to find data on marriage and divorce in America the U.S. Census Bureau. Because who likes tracking misery more than the U.S. government?
Specifically, we looked at the 2016-2020 American Community Survey specifically table S1201 -- Marital Status.
Pretty straight forward on that front -- we just had to extract the following column of data:
- Population 15 Years and Over -> Divorced
There's some kinda interesting/fun/sad data in there like .1% of female Americans aged 15-19 are divorced, but 0% of males (That's probably a rounding issue, but still).
But the national data is for another day, today the analysis focuses on the 33 places in Delaware with a population of over 1,000.
We ranked each of these places by the percentage of divorcees over 15 years of age from highest to lowest. We crowned the divorce capital of Delaware the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Elsmere.
And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out Bethany Beach, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Delaware.
Getting Some Closure In Delaware After Untying The Know
Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, "Untying the Knot In Delaware: Life After Divorce", we now have a sense of what places in the First State don't pay much attention to the whole "'til death do we part" phrase.
Try to keep in mind that the reason cities rank where they do in Delaware could be because of the age, education, and income distribution, as all of those things impact the rate of divorce.
And, in all honestly, that's probably for the best. It's much better to get out of a toxic relationship than stay it.
Just make sure you have your running shoes ready to go.
For more Delaware reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Cities With The Highest Divorce Rates In Delaware
Rank | City | Divorce Rate |
---|---|---|
1 | Elsmere, DE | 11.0% |
2 | Delaware City, DE | 9.0% |
3 | Greenwood, DE | 8.0% |
4 | Bellefonte, DE | 7.0% |
5 | Milton, DE | 6.0% |
6 | Milford, DE | 6.0% |
7 | Wilmington, DE | 6.0% |
8 | Felton, DE | 6.0% |
9 | Smyrna, DE | 5.0% |
10 | Seaford, DE | 5.0% |
11 | New Castle, DE | 5.0% |
12 | Middl, DE | 5.0% |
13 | Harrington, DE | 5.0% |
14 | Laurel, DE | 5.0% |
15 | Wyoming, DE | 5.0% |
16 | Clayton, DE | 5.0% |
17 | Georg, DE | 4.0% |
18 | Dover, DE | 4.0% |
19 | Cheswold, DE | 3.0% |
20 | Millsboro, DE | 3.0% |
21 | Blades, DE | 3.0% |
22 | Townsend, DE | 3.0% |
23 | Camden, DE | 2.0% |
24 | Newark, DE | 2.0% |
25 | Ocean View, DE | 2.0% |
26 | Lewes, DE | 2.0% |
27 | Bridgeville, DE | 2.0% |
28 | Dagsboro, DE | 1.0% |
29 | Delmar, DE | 1.0% |
30 | Rehoboth Beach, DE | 1.0% |
31 | Selbyville, DE | 1.0% |
32 | Millville, DE | 0.0% |
33 | Bethany Beach, DE | 0.0% |