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 85,300 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 2020.
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 15.0% 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 2014-2018 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:
- These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Maine
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Maine
- 10 Best Places To Live In Maine
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 2014-2018 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 Portland, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Maine.
Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.
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Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County.
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Old Town is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,840 at the 2010 census. The city’s developed area is chiefly located on relatively large Marsh Island, though its boundaries extend beyond that. The island is surrounded and defined by the Penobscot River to the east, and the Stillwater River to the west.
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Lewiston is the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County. The city borders the coastal sideways of the Gulf of Maine and is south of Augusta, the state’s capital and north of Portland, the cultural hub of Maine. It is one-half of the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Statistical Area, commonly referred to as “L.A.” or “L-A.” Lewiston exerts a significant impact upon the diversity, religious variety, commerce, education, and economic power of Maine. It is known for a relatively low cost of living, substantial access to medical care, and an extremely low violent crime rate. While the dominant language spoken in the city is English, it is home to the largest French-speaking population in the United States while it is second to St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, in percentage of speakers.
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Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 23,055 at the 2010 census. Auburn and Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities or Lewiston-Auburn.
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Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,171 in 2015 as estimated by the US Census, a decrease from the count of 9,692 in the 2010 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Northern Maine Regional Airport.
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Waterville is a city in Kennebec County of the U.S. state of Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. Home to Colby College and Thomas College, the population was 15,722 at the 2010 census. Waterville is also the latter of the cities which make up the Augusta-Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area.
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Westbrook is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States and a suburb of Portland. The population was 17,494 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
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Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 8,514 at the 2010 census, and 8,357 as of 2013, the population has had a change of -10.2% since 2000. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County, which includes one city and 10 towns. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its 19th-century architecture. It is home to the Bath Iron Works and Heritage Days Festival, held annually on the Fourth of July weekend. It is commonly known as “The City of Ships.” Bath is part of the metropolitan statistical area of Greater Portland.
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 | 15.0% |
| 2 | Brewer, ME | 12.0% |
| 3 | Old Town, ME | 11.0% |
| 4 | Lewiston, ME | 11.0% |
| 5 | Calais, ME | 11.0% |
| 6 | Auburn, ME | 10.0% |
| 7 | Presque Isle, ME | 10.0% |
| 8 | Waterville, ME | 10.0% |
| 9 | Westbrook, ME | 10.0% |
| 10 | Bath, ME | 10.0% |
| 11 | Bangor, ME | 10.0% |
| 12 | Gardiner, ME | 9.0% |
| 13 | Eastport, ME | 8.0% |
| 14 | Biddeford, ME | 8.0% |
| 15 | Rockland, ME | 8.0% |
| 16 | South Portland, ME | 8.0% |
| 17 | Belfast, ME | 7.0% |
| 18 | Caribou, ME | 7.0% |
| 19 | Hallowell, ME | 6.0% |
| 20 | Saco, ME | 6.0% |
| 21 | Ellsworth, ME | 6.0% |
| 22 | Portland, ME | 5.0% |
