The 10 Cities In Kentucky With The Highest Divorce Rates For 2022


We analyzed over 77 places in Kentucky to identify the ones that have the highest rates of divorce.

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Editor’s Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cities in Kentucky with the highest divorce rates.

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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 321,260 people living in Kentucky 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 Bluegrass 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky with highest rates of divorcees.

The 10 Cities In Kentucky With The Highest Divorce Rates

  1. Lebanon (Photos)
  2. Lawrenceburg (Photos)
  3. Shively (Photos)
  4. London (Photos)
  5. Cynthiana (Photos)
  6. Madisonville (Photos)
  7. Frankfort (Photos)
  8. Corbin (Photos)
  9. Middlesborough (Photos)
  10. Paris (Photos)

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

What is the city in Kentucky with the highest divorce rate? That would be Lebanon, with 23.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Kentucky divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Kentucky is 9.0%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.

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

For more Kentucky reading, check out:

Lebanon, KY

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,960
Divorce Rate: 23.0%
Divorcees: 1,096
Median Income: $30,168
More on Lebanon:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Lawrenceburg, KY

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 11,416
Divorce Rate: 18.0%
Divorcees: 1,643
Median Income: $49,328
More on Lawrenceburg:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Shively, KY

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 15,723
Divorce Rate: 17.0%
Divorcees: 2,138
Median Income: $41,455
More on Shively:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

London, KY

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,058
Divorce Rate: 15.0%
Divorcees: 966
Median Income: $40,574
More on London:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Cynthiana, KY

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,270
Divorce Rate: 14.0%
Divorcees: 702
Median Income: $38,526
More on Cynthiana:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Madisonville, KY

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 18,801
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 1,955
Median Income: $43,193
More on Madisonville:  Cost Of Living

Frankfort, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 27,705
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 2,881
Median Income: $50,602
More on Frankfort:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Corbin, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 7,558
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 786
Median Income: $39,260
More on Corbin:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Middlesborough, KY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 9,242
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 961
Median Income: $29,114
More on Middlesborough:  Cost Of Living

Paris, KY

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 9,776
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 1,016
Median Income: $41,234
More on Paris:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

How We Determined The Places In Kentucky 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 78 places in Kentucky 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 Kentucky the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Lebanon.

And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out Vine Grove, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Kentucky.

Getting Some Closure In Kentucky After Untying The Know

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

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

Rank City Divorce Rate
1 Lebanon, KY 23.0%
2 Lawrenceburg, KY 18.0%
3 Shively, KY 17.0%
4 London, KY 15.0%
5 Cynthiana, KY 14.0%
6 Madisonville, KY 13.0%
7 Frankfort, KY 13.0%
8 Corbin, KY 13.0%
9 Middlesborough, KY 13.0%
10 Paris, KY 13.0%
11 Berea, KY 13.0%
12 Bardstown, KY 13.0%
13 Middletown, KY 13.0%
14 Owensboro, KY 12.0%
15 Russellville, KY 12.0%
16 Leitchfield, KY 12.0%
17 Somerset, KY 12.0%
18 Hopkinsville, KY 12.0%
19 Harrodsburg, KY 12.0%
20 Glasgow, KY 12.0%
21 Fort Mitchell, KY 12.0%
22 Winchester, KY 12.0%
23 Ashland, KY 11.0%
24 Nicholasville, KY 11.0%
25 Pikeville, KY 11.0%
26 Henderson, KY 11.0%
27 Monticello, KY 10.0%
28 Mayfield, KY 10.0%
29 Danville, KY 10.0%
30 Paducah, KY 10.0%
31 Richmond, KY 10.0%
32 Campbellsville, KY 10.0%
33 Shepherdsville, KY 10.0%
34 Versailles, KY 10.0%
35 Hillview, KY 9.0%
36 Princeton, KY 9.0%
37 Maysville, KY 9.0%
38 Covington, KY 9.0%
39 Bellevue, KY 9.0%
40 Dayton, KY 9.0%
41 Elizabethtown, KY 9.0%
42 Mount Sterling, KY 9.0%
43 Louisville, KY 9.0%
44 Mount Washington, KY 9.0%
45 Newport, KY 8.0%
46 Central City, KY 8.0%
47 Shelbyville, KY 8.0%
48 Taylor Mill, KY 8.0%
49 Florence, KY 8.0%
50 Flatwoods, KY 8.0%
51 Georgetown, KY 8.0%
52 Elsmere, KY 8.0%
53 La Grange, KY 8.0%
54 Alexandria, KY 7.0%
55 St. Matthews, KY 7.0%
56 Erlanger, KY 7.0%
57 Lexington, KY 7.0%
58 Douglass Hills, KY 7.0%
59 Jeffersontown, KY 7.0%
60 Bowling Green, KY 6.0%
61 Cold Spring, KY 6.0%
62 Highland Heights, KY 6.0%
63 Independence, KY 6.0%
64 Lyndon, KY 6.0%
65 Radcliff, KY 5.0%
66 Wilmore, KY 5.0%
67 Franklin, KY 5.0%
68 Union, KY 5.0%
69 Fort Thomas, KY 5.0%
70 Oak Grove, KY 4.0%
71 Murray, KY 4.0%
72 Crestwood, KY 4.0%
73 Fort Wright, KY 4.0%
74 Villa Hills, KY 4.0%
75 Williamsburg, KY 4.0%
76 Edgewood, KY 4.0%
77 Morehead, KY 4.0%
78 Vine Grove, KY 2.0%

How Is The Area In ?

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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