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 83,803 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 2019.
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 18.0% 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 2013-2017 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Delaware is 11.1%, 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 Best Places To Live In Delaware
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Delaware
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Delaware
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 2013-2017 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 Newark, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Delaware.
Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.
/10
Elsmere is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, bordering the city of Wilmington along Wilmington’s western border. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 6,131.
/10
/10
Population: 1,991
Divorce Rate: 17.4%
Divorcees: 311
Median Income: $53,958
More on Delaware City: Data
/10
/10
/10
/10
/10
Seaford is a city located along the Nanticoke River in Sussex County, Delaware. According to the 2010 Census Bureau figures, the population of the city is 6,928, an increase of 3.4% from the 2000 census. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area.
/10
New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, six miles south of Wilmington, situated on the Delaware River. In 1900, 3,380 people lived here; in 1910, 3,351. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 5,285.
/10
Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the Census Bureau, as of 2010, the population of the town is 10,023.
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:
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Delaware
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Delaware
- 10 Safest Places In Delaware
Detailed List Of The Cities With The Highest Divorce Rates In Delaware
| Rank | City | Divorce Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elsmere, DE | 18.0% |
| 2 | Wyoming, DE | 18.0% |
| 3 | Delaware City, DE | 17.4% |
| 4 | Delmar, DE | 17.2% |
| 5 | Felton, DE | 16.3% |
| 6 | Milton, DE | 15.7% |
| 7 | Lewes, DE | 14.8% |
| 8 | Seaford, DE | 14.3% |
| 9 | New Castle, DE | 14.2% |
| 10 | Smyrna, DE | 13.3% |
| 11 | Cheswold, DE | 13.2% |
| 12 | Wilmington, DE | 13.0% |
| 13 | Dover, DE | 12.8% |
| 14 | Greenwood, DE | 12.1% |
| 15 | Newport, DE | 12.1% |
| 16 | Blades, DE | 11.9% |
| 17 | Laurel, DE | 11.9% |
| 18 | Harrington, DE | 11.8% |
| 19 | Milford, DE | 11.2% |
| 20 | Millville, DE | 11.0% |
| 21 | Ocean View, DE | 10.9% |
| 22 | Camden, DE | 10.4% |
| 23 | Bridgeville, DE | 9.9% |
| 24 | Millsboro, DE | 9.6% |
| 25 | Rehoboth Beach, DE | 9.5% |
| 26 | Townsend, DE | 9.0% |
| 27 | Middl, DE | 8.4% |
| 28 | Selbyville, DE | 8.4% |
| 29 | Bellefonte, DE | 8.3% |
| 30 | Georg, DE | 8.2% |
| 31 | Clayton, DE | 7.9% |
| 32 | Bethany Beach, DE | 7.0% |
| 33 | Newark, DE | 5.7% |
