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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 85,812 people living in Maine 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 Pine Tree 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 Maine 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 Maine 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 ME.
What is the city in Maine with the highest divorce rate? That would be Augusta, with 13.0% 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 2016-2020 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:
/10
Population: 18,662
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 1,940
Median Income: $38,842
More on Augusta: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 9,026
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 938
Median Income: $48,450
More on Brewer: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 23,267
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 1,861
Median Income: $51,681
More on Auburn: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 32,029
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 2,562
Median Income: $47,538
More on Bangor: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 9,072
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 725
Median Income: $43,410
More on Presque Isle: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 36,158
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 2,892
Median Income: $42,969
More on Lewiston: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 5,670
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 453
Median Income: $52,545
More on Gardiner: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 7,659
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 612
Median Income: $42,325
More on Caribou: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 16,623
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 1,329
Median Income: $39,722
More on Waterville: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 7,453
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 536
Median Income: $41,406
More on Old Town: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
How We Determined The Places In Maine 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 22 places in Maine 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 Maine the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Augusta.
And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out Calais, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Maine.
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, 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 Maine reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Cities With The Highest Divorce Rates In Maine
Rank | City | Divorce Rate |
---|---|---|
1 | Augusta, ME | 13.0% |
2 | Brewer, ME | 13.0% |
3 | Auburn, ME | 10.0% |
4 | Bangor, ME | 10.0% |
5 | Presque Isle, ME | 10.0% |
6 | Lewiston, ME | 10.0% |
7 | Gardiner, ME | 10.0% |
8 | Caribou, ME | 10.0% |
9 | Waterville, ME | 10.0% |
10 | Old Town, ME | 9.0% |
11 | Westbrook, ME | 9.0% |
12 | Biddeford, ME | 9.0% |
13 | Bath, ME | 9.0% |
14 | Hallowell, ME | 8.0% |
15 | Rockland, ME | 8.0% |
16 | Saco, ME | 8.0% |
17 | Eastport, ME | 8.0% |
18 | Ellsworth, ME | 8.0% |
19 | Belfast, ME | 7.0% |
20 | South Portland, ME | 7.0% |
21 | Portland, ME | 5.0% |
22 | Calais, ME | 4.0% |