The 10 Cities In Maine With The Highest Divorce Rates For 2023


The cities in Maine with the highest divorce rate are Augusta and Brewer for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

Cities with highest divorce rate in Maine research summary. We analyzed Maine’s most recent Census data to determine the divorce rate for each city in Maine based on the percentage of currently divorced residents. Here are the results of our analysis:

  • The city with the highest divorce rate in Maine is Augusta based on the most recent Census data.

  • Augusta is 14.0% Divorced.

  • The city with the lowest divorce rate in Maine is Portland.

  • Portland is 5.0% Divorced.

  • Maine is 8.0% Divorced.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


There are some 86,850 people living in Maine over fifteen years of age who are divorced. You can compare that to the 28,339,199 Americans who are currently divorced in 2023.

Many people decide to run away – or split up – across the Pine Tree State.

Isn’t the divorce rate in America close to 50%? Yes indeed. But we’re measuring something else; we are looking at counts and percentages of people over 15 years old who are currently divorced. That 50% statistic is for the percentage of people who have ever been divorced.

For today’s analysis, the focus will be on the number of currently divorced people.

So now that we have you biting your nails, rethinking your worldview, and pulling out your hair, let’s look at the places in Maine with the highest rates of divorcees.

The 10 Cities In Maine With The Highest Divorce Rates

  1. Augusta
  2. Brewer
  3. Bangor
  4. Old Town
  5. Lewiston
  6. Presque Isle
  7. Caribou
  8. Auburn
  9. Rockland
  10. Hallowell

Let’s quickly recap before we dive into the Saturday Night Science behind the data.

What is the city in Maine with the highest divorce rate? That would be Augusta, with 14.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Maine divorce rate? According to the 2017-2021 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Maine is 8.0%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.

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

For more Maine reading, check out:

The 10 Places With The Highest Divorce Rate In Maine For 2023

Augusta, ME

Source: Wikipedia User Terry Ross from Augusta, Maine, United States | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 18,895
Divorce Rate: 14.0%
Divorcees: 2,116
Median Income: $40,438
More on Augusta: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Brewer, ME

Source: Wikipedia User P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 9,606
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 999
Median Income: $50,614
More on Brewer: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Bangor, ME

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 31,920
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 2,808
Median Income: $49,652
More on Bangor: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Old Town, ME

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 7,415
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 652
Median Income: $43,474
More on Old Town: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Lewiston, ME

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 36,615
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 3,222
Median Income: $48,069
More on Lewiston: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Presque Isle, ME

Source: Wikipedia User Dayzle | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,859
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 708
Median Income: $47,853
More on Presque Isle: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Caribou, ME

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 7,448
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 595
Median Income: $43,967
More on Caribou: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Auburn, ME

Source: Wikipedia User Aissa Richards | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 23,790
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 1,712
Median Income: $55,402
More on Auburn: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Rockland, ME

Source: Flickr User Kristin Shoe Shoemaker | CC BY-ND 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,977
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 502
Median Income: $48,871
More on Rockland: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Hallowell, ME

Source: Wikipedia User Magicpiano | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,542
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 183
Median Income: $57,250
More on Hallowell: Data | Crime | Real Estate

How We Determined The Places In Maine That Get Un-Hitched The Most

Since this is the 58th category of rankings we are compiling for the site, we had a pretty good idea of 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 2017-2021 American Community Survey table S1201 — Marital Status.

Pretty straightforward on that front — we just had to extract the following column of data:

  • Population 15 Years and Over -> Divorced

There are some interesting/fun/sad data 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 22 places in Maine with a population of over 1,000.

We ranked each place by the percentage of divorcees over 15 years of age from highest to lowest. We crowned the divorce capital of Maine the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Augusta.

And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out Portland, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Maine.

We updated this article for 2023 and this is our fifth time ranking the cities in Maine with the highest divorce rates.

Getting Some Closure In Maine After Untying The Know

Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, “Untying the Knot In Maine: Life After Divorce,” we now have a sense of what places in the Pine Tree 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 Maine could be because of the age, education, and income distribution, as all of those things impact the rate of divorce.

And that’s probably for the best. Getting out of a toxic relationship is much better than staying in it.

Just make sure you have your running shoes ready to go.

For more Maine reading, check out:

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

Rank City Divorce Rate
1 Augusta, ME 14.0%
2 Brewer, ME 13.0%
3 Bangor, ME 11.0%
4 Old Town, ME 11.0%
5 Lewiston, ME 11.0%
6 Presque Isle, ME 10.0%
7 Caribou, ME 10.0%
8 Auburn, ME 9.0%
9 Rockland, ME 9.0%
10 Hallowell, ME 9.0%
11 Gardiner, ME 9.0%
12 Ellsworth, ME 9.0%
13 Eastport, ME 9.0%
14 Waterville, ME 9.0%
15 Westbrook, ME 9.0%
16 Biddeford, ME 8.0%
17 South Portland, ME 8.0%
18 Belfast, ME 7.0%
19 Bath, ME 7.0%
20 Saco, ME 7.0%
21 Calais, ME 6.0%
22 Portland, ME 5.0%