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 661,441 people living in Indiana 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 Hoosier 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 Indiana 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 Indiana with highest rates of divorcees.
The 10 Cities In Indiana With The Highest Divorce Rates
- Rochester (Photos)
- Westville (Photos)
- New Castle (Photos)
- Salem (Photos)
- Ellettsville (Photos)
- Martinsville (Photos)
- Connersville (Photos)
- Madison (Photos)
- Bedford (Photos)
- Gas City (Photos)
Let’s quickly recap before we dive into the methodology and a closer look at the top ten places in IN.
What is the city in Indiana with the highest divorce rate? That would be Rochester, with 24.3% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.
What is the overall Indiana divorce rate? According to the 2013-2017 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Indiana is 12.5%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.
Alrighty, on to how we calculated the places with the highest divorce rates in Indiana.
For more Indiana reading, check out:
- 10 Best Places To Live In Indiana
- 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Indiana
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Indiana
How We Determined The Places In Indiana 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 121 places in Indiana 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 Indiana the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Rochester.
And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out West Lafayette, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Indiana.
Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.
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Rochester is a city in, and the county seat of, Fulton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 6,218 at the 2010 census.
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Westville is a town in New Durham Township, LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,853 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Michigan City, Indiana-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. Westville is located in a part of Indiana referred to by locals as The Region.
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New Castle is a city in Henry County, Indiana, 44 miles east-northeast of Indianapolis, on the Big Blue River. The city is the county seat of Henry County. New Castle is home to New Castle Fieldhouse, the largest high school gymnasium in the world. The city is surrounded by agricultural land. In the past, it was a manufacturing center for the production of sheet iron and steel, automobiles, caskets, clothing, scales, bridges, pianos, furniture, handles, shovels, lathes, bricks, and flour.
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Salem is a city in Washington Township, Washington County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. Salem serves as the county seat. The population was 6,319 at the 2010 census.
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Ellettsville is a town in Richland Township, Monroe County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,378 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ellettsville is the starting point for the Hilly Hundred, a two-day bicycle tour.
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Martinsville is a city in Washington Township, Morgan County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 11,828 at the 2010 United States Census. The city is the county seat of Morgan County.
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Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, 66 miles east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in Fayette County. It is home to the county’s one and only high school. The economy is supported by local manufacturing, retail and healthcare.
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Madison is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. Its estimated population was 12,247 as of 2016. Over 55,000 people live within 15 miles of downtown Madison. Madison is the largest city along the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Madison is one of the core cities of the Louisville-Elizabethtown-Madison metroplex, an area with a population of approximately 1.5 million. In 2006, the majority of Madison’s downtown area was designated the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States-133 blocks of the downtown area is known as the Madison Historic Landmark District.
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Gas City is a city in Grant County, Indiana, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 5,965 at the 2010 census.
Getting Some Closure In Indiana After Untying The Know
Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, “Untying the Knot In Indiana: Life After Divorce”, we now have a sense of what places in the Hoosier 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 Indiana 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 Indiana reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Indiana
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Indiana
- 10 Safest Places In Indiana