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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 274,920 people living in Massachusetts 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 Bay 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts with highest rates of divorcees.
The 10 Cities In Massachusetts With The Highest Divorce Rates
Let's quickly recap before we dive into the methodology and a closer look at the top ten places in MA.
What is the city in Massachusetts with the highest divorce rate? That would be Palmer Town, with 15.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.
What is the overall Massachusetts divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Massachusetts is 5.0%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.
Alrighty, on to how we calculated the places with the highest divorce rates in Massachusetts.
For more Massachusetts reading, check out:
- Cheapest Places To Live In Massachusetts
- Safest Places In Massachusetts
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Massachusetts
/10
Population: 12,236
Divorce Rate: 15.0%
Divorcees: 1,468
Median Income: $68,694
More on Palmer Town: Cost Of Living
/10
Population: 16,865
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 1,484
Median Income: $52,900
More on Southbridge Town: Cost Of Living
/10
Population: 20,605
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 1,648
Median Income: $51,708
More on Gardner: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 12,897
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 1,031
Median Income: $49,123
More on North Adams: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 15,930
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 1,146
Median Income: $63,657
More on Easthampton Town: Cost Of Living
/10
Population: 30,291
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 2,180
Median Income: $76,260
More on Gloucester: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 18,558
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 1,336
Median Income: $76,996
More on Winthrop Town: Cost Of Living
/10
Population: 57,213
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 4,119
Median Income: $85,536
More on Weymouth Town: Cost Of Living
/10
Population: 63,783
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 4,082
Median Income: $69,237
More on Haverhill: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 40,576
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 2,596
Median Income: $54,683
More on Fitchburg: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
How We Determined The Places In Massachusetts 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 52 places in Massachusetts with a population of over 12,000.
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 Massachusetts the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Palmer Town.
And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out Newton, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Massachusetts.
Getting Some Closure In Massachusetts After Untying The Know
Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, "Untying the Knot In Massachusetts: Life After Divorce", we now have a sense of what places in the Bay 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts reading, check out:
- Cheapest Places To Live In Massachusetts
- Safest Places In Massachusetts
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Massachusetts
