The 10 Cities In Illinois With The Highest Divorce Rates For 2019

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 997,511 people living in Illinois 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 Prairie 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 Illinois 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 Illinois with highest rates of divorcees.

The 10 Cities In Illinois With The Highest Divorce Rates

1. East Alton
2. Harrisburg (Photos)
3. Litchfield (Photos)
4. Countryside
5. West Frankfort (Photos)
6. Peoria Heights
7. Mount Vernon (Photos)
8. Fox Lake (Photos)
9. Mattoon (Photos)
10. Watseka

Let’s quickly recap before we dive into the methodology and a closer look at the top ten places in IL.

What is the city in Illinois with the highest divorce rate? That would be East Alton, with 21.5% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Illinois divorce rate? According to the 2013-2017 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Illinois is 9.700000000000001%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.

Alrighty, on to how we calculated the places with the highest divorce rates in Illinois.

For more Illinois reading, check out:

• 10 Best Places To Live In Illinois
• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Illinois
• 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Illinois

How We Determined The Places In Illinois 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 332 places in Illinois with a population of over 5,000.

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 Illinois the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, East Alton.

And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out Hawthorn Woods, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Illinois.

Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.

East Alton is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,301 at the 2010 census.

Litchfield is a city in Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,939 at the 2010 census, and 6,588 in 2009 and 7,012 in 2015. It is located in south central Illinois, south of Springfield and northeast of Metro-East.

Countryside is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,895 at the 2010 census.

West Frankfort is a city in Franklin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,182 at the 2010 census. The city is part of the Metro Lakeland area.

Mount Vernon known as “The King City” is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,277 at the 2010 census.

Fox Lake is a village in Grant and Antioch townships in Lake County, Illinois and Burton Township, McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,579 at the 2010 census.

Mattoon is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,555 as of the 2010 census.

Watseka is a city in and the county seat of Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately 15 miles west of the Illinois-Indiana state line on U.S. Route 24.

Next 10 Cities

Getting Some Closure In Illinois After Untying The Know

Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, “Untying the Knot In Illinois: Life After Divorce”, we now have a sense of what places in the Prairie 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 Illinois 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 Illinois reading, check out:

• These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Illinois
• These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Illinois
• 10 Safest Places In Illinois

Detailed List Of The Cities With The Highest Divorce Rates In Illinois

Rank	City	Divorce Rate
1	East Alton, IL	21.5%
2	Harrisburg, IL	21.1%
3	Litchfield, IL	19.3%
4	Countryside, IL	19.0%
5	West Frankfort, IL	18.4%
6	Peoria Heights, IL	18.3%
7	Mount Vernon, IL	18.1%
8	Fox Lake, IL	18.0%
9	Mattoon, IL	17.8%
10	Watseka, IL	17.7%
11	Creve Coeur, IL	17.7%
12	Canton, IL	17.6%
13	Broadview, IL	17.0%
14	Olney, IL	17.0%
15	Vandalia, IL	16.9%
16	Centreville, IL	16.8%
17	Taylorville, IL	16.5%
18	Milan, IL	16.4%
19	Pontiac, IL	16.3%
20	Island Lake, IL	16.3%
21	Herrin, IL	16.2%
22	Lasalle, IL	16.2%
23	Robinson, IL	16.0%
24	Bartonville, IL	16.0%
25	Du Quoin, IL	15.9%
26	Rock Falls, IL	15.8%
27	Park Forest, IL	15.8%
28	Murphysboro, IL	15.4%
29	Wood River, IL	15.3%
30	Alton, IL	15.3%
31	Belleville, IL	15.3%
32	Centralia, IL	15.2%
33	Hillsboro, IL	15.1%
34	Sterling, IL	15.1%
35	Jacksonville, IL	15.1%
36	Pontoon Beach, IL	15.1%
37	Dixon, IL	15.1%
38	Decatur, IL	15.0%
39	Clinton, IL	14.9%
40	Danville, IL	14.9%
41	Jerseyville, IL	14.9%
42	Granite City, IL	14.8%
43	Galesburg, IL	14.8%
44	Carlinville, IL	14.7%
45	Bethalto, IL	14.7%
46	Pana, IL	14.6%
47	Silvis, IL	14.5%
48	Woodstock, IL	14.4%
49	East St. Louis, IL	14.4%
50	Marion, IL	14.4%
51	Pekin, IL	14.4%
52	Lincoln, IL	14.3%
53	Mount Carmel, IL	14.3%
54	Springfield, IL	14.3%
55	Streator, IL	14.3%
56	Morris, IL	14.3%
57	Braidwood, IL	14.2%
58	Freeport, IL	14.2%
59	Effingham, IL	14.1%
60	Paris, IL	14.1%
61	Calumet Park, IL	14.1%
62	Forest Park, IL	14.0%
63	Marengo, IL	14.0%
64	Worth, IL	13.9%
65	Stickney, IL	13.9%
66	Marseilles, IL	13.7%
67	Metropolis, IL	13.7%
68	Belvidere, IL	13.7%
69	Sandwich, IL	13.7%
70	East Peoria, IL	13.7%
71	Riverdale, IL	13.7%
72	Richton Park, IL	13.7%
73	Princeton, IL	13.7%
74	Salem, IL	13.7%
75	Rockford, IL	13.6%
76	Moline, IL	13.5%
77	Monticello, IL	13.5%
78	Wilmington, IL	13.4%
79	Collinsville, IL	13.3%
80	Loves Park, IL	13.3%
81	Chillicothe, IL	13.1%
82	Chester, IL	13.1%
83	Cahokia, IL	13.1%
84	Steger, IL	12.8%
85	Mount Zion, IL	12.8%
86	Sycamore, IL	12.7%
87	Chatham, IL	12.6%
88	East Moline, IL	12.6%
89	Palos Hills, IL	12.6%
90	Lake Barrington, IL	12.6%
91	Rock Island, IL	12.5%
92	Quincy, IL	12.5%
93	Greenville, IL	12.5%
94	Mascoutah, IL	12.5%
95	Rochelle, IL	12.4%
96	Ottawa, IL	12.3%
97	Hazel Crest, IL	12.2%
98	Crete, IL	12.1%
99	Beardstown, IL	12.1%
100	Bradley, IL	12.1%