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


We analyzed over 149 places in Michigan to identify the ones that have the highest rates of divorce.

Editor’s Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cities in Michigan 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 718,121 people living in Michigan 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 Wolverine 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 Michigan 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 Michigan 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 MI.

What is the city in Michigan with the highest divorce rate? That would be Alpena, with 18.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Michigan divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Michigan 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 Michigan.

For more Michigan reading, check out:

Alpena, MI

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 9,987
Divorce Rate: 18.0%
Divorcees: 1,438
Median Income: $38,260
More on Alpena:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Greenville, MI

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 8,407
Divorce Rate: 18.0%
Divorcees: 1,210
Median Income: $43,689
More on Greenville:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Lapeer, MI

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 8,626
Divorce Rate: 17.0%
Divorcees: 1,173
Median Income: $42,255
More on Lapeer:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Belding, MI

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,729
Divorce Rate: 17.0%
Divorcees: 779
Median Income: $46,319
More on Belding:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Grand Ledge, MI

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 7,860
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 1,006
Median Income: $61,095
More on Grand Ledge:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Howell, MI

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 9,610
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 1,230
Median Income: $47,255
More on Howell:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Escanaba, MI

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 12,180
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 1,559
Median Income: $33,102
More on Escanaba:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Walled Lake, MI

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 7,153
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 915
Median Income: $53,699
More on Walled Lake:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Muskegon Heights, MI

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 10,735
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 1,374
Median Income: $31,431
More on Muskegon Heights:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Coldwater, MI

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 12,203
Divorce Rate: 16.0%
Divorcees: 1,561
Median Income: $40,561
More on Coldwater:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

How We Determined The Places In Michigan 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 148 places in Michigan 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 Michigan the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Alpena.

And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out East Lansing, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Michigan.

Getting Some Closure In Michigan After Untying The Know

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

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

Rank City Divorce Rate
1 Alpena, MI 18.0%
2 Greenville, MI 18.0%
3 Lapeer, MI 17.0%
4 Belding, MI 17.0%
5 Grand Ledge, MI 16.0%
6 Howell, MI 16.0%
7 Escanaba, MI 16.0%
8 Walled Lake, MI 16.0%
9 Muskegon Heights, MI 16.0%
10 Coldwater, MI 16.0%
11 Charlotte, MI 15.0%
12 River Rouge, MI 15.0%
13 Ionia, MI 15.0%
14 Milan, MI 15.0%
15 Jackson, MI 15.0%
16 Milford, MI 15.0%
17 Dowagiac, MI 15.0%
18 Muskegon, MI 14.0%
19 Owosso, MI 14.0%
20 Petoskey, MI 14.0%
21 Port Huron, MI 14.0%
22 Richmond, MI 14.0%
23 Hastings, MI 14.0%
24 Ludington, MI 14.0%
25 Fenton, MI 14.0%
26 Zeeland, MI 14.0%
27 Burton, MI 14.0%
28 Cadillac, MI 14.0%
29 Bay City, MI 13.0%
30 Mount Clemens, MI 13.0%
31 Traverse City, MI 13.0%
32 Manistee, MI 13.0%
33 Mason, MI 13.0%
34 St. Louis, MI 13.0%
35 Marshall, MI 13.0%
36 Ishpeming, MI 13.0%
37 South Lyon, MI 13.0%
38 Sault Ste. Marie, MI 13.0%
39 Grand Blanc, MI 12.0%
40 Battle Creek, MI 12.0%
41 Harper Woods, MI 12.0%
42 Rockford, MI 12.0%
43 Alma, MI 12.0%
44 Ecorse, MI 12.0%
45 Taylor, MI 12.0%
46 Swartz Creek, MI 12.0%
47 Holly, MI 12.0%
48 Center Line, MI 12.0%
49 Clawson, MI 12.0%
50 Westland, MI 11.0%
51 Utica, MI 11.0%
52 Wyandotte, MI 11.0%
53 Lincoln Park, MI 11.0%
54 Wayne, MI 11.0%
55 Springfield, MI 11.0%
56 Trenton, MI 11.0%
57 Monroe, MI 11.0%
58 St. Clair Shores, MI 11.0%
59 Tecumseh, MI 11.0%
60 Northville, MI 11.0%
61 Riverview, MI 11.0%
62 Roseville, MI 11.0%
63 Southgate, MI 11.0%
64 St. Johns, MI 11.0%
65 Marysville, MI 11.0%
66 Three Rivers, MI 11.0%
67 Adrian, MI 11.0%
68 Allegan, MI 11.0%
69 Allen Park, MI 11.0%
70 Fraser, MI 11.0%
71 Garden City, MI 11.0%
72 Lansing, MI 10.0%
73 Flint, MI 10.0%
74 Romulus, MI 10.0%
75 Eaton Rapids, MI 10.0%
76 Saginaw, MI 10.0%
77 Norton Shores, MI 10.0%
78 Grand Haven, MI 10.0%
79 Southfield, MI 10.0%
80 Grandville, MI 10.0%
81 Inkster, MI 10.0%
82 St. Joseph, MI 10.0%
83 Flat Rock, MI 10.0%
84 Iron Mountain, MI 10.0%
85 Berkley, MI 10.0%
86 Hillsdale, MI 10.0%
87 Chelsea, MI 9.0%
88 Pontiac, MI 9.0%
89 Flushing, MI 9.0%
90 Wyoming, MI 9.0%
91 Woodhaven, MI 9.0%
92 Warren, MI 9.0%
93 Niles, MI 9.0%
94 Sturgis, MI 9.0%
95 New Baltimore, MI 9.0%
96 Benton Harbor, MI 9.0%
97 Eastpointe, MI 9.0%
98 Hazel Park, MI 9.0%
99 St. Clair, MI 9.0%
100 Midland, MI 9.0%

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.