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


We analyzed over 146 places in Minnesota to identify the ones that have the highest rates of divorce.

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Editor’s Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cities in Minnesota 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 268,807 people living in Minnesota 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 North Star 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota with highest rates of divorcees.

The 10 Cities In Minnesota With The Highest Divorce Rates

  1. Zimmerman
  2. Virginia (Photos)
  3. Lake City (Photos)
  4. Hutchinson (Photos)
  5. Jordan (Photos)
  6. Brainerd (Photos)
  7. Cloquet (Photos)
  8. Delano (Photos)
  9. Mound (Photos)
  10. Fairmont (Photos)

Let's quickly recap before we dive into the methodology and a closer look at the top ten places in MN.

What is the city in Minnesota with the highest divorce rate? That would be Zimmerman, with 17.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Minnesota divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Minnesota is 6.0%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.

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

For more Minnesota reading, check out:

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,831
Divorce Rate: 17.0%
Divorcees: 793
Median Income: $74,891
More on Zimmerman:  Cost Of Living

Virginia, MN

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 8,421
Divorce Rate: 15.0%
Divorcees: 1,010
Median Income: $41,576
More on Virginia:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Lake City, MN

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,050
Divorce Rate: 15.0%
Divorcees: 606
Median Income: $60,481
More on Lake City:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Hutchinson, MN

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 13,935
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 1,449
Median Income: $56,083
More on Hutchinson:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Jordan, MN

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 6,289
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 654
Median Income: $89,125
More on Jordan:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Brainerd, MN

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 13,423
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 1,395
Median Income: $36,699
More on Brainerd:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Cloquet, MN

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 11,994
Divorce Rate: 12.0%
Divorcees: 1,151
Median Income: $54,011
More on Cloquet:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

Delano, MN

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,167
Divorce Rate: 12.0%
Divorcees: 592
Median Income: $101,845
More on Delano:  Cost Of Living

Mound, MN

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 9,498
Divorce Rate: 12.0%
Divorcees: 911
Median Income: $75,542
More on Mound:  Cost Of Living

Fairmont, MN

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 10,042
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 883
Median Income: $49,402
More on Fairmont:  Cost Of Living | Crime Report

How We Determined The Places In Minnesota 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 147 places in Minnesota 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 Minnesota the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Zimmerman.

And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out North Oaks, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Minnesota.

Getting Some Closure In Minnesota After Untying The Know

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

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

Rank City Divorce Rate
1 Zimmerman, MN 17.0%
2 Virginia, MN 15.0%
3 Lake City, MN 15.0%
4 Hutchinson, MN 13.0%
5 Jordan, MN 13.0%
6 Brainerd, MN 13.0%
7 Cloquet, MN 12.0%
8 Delano, MN 12.0%
9 Mound, MN 12.0%
10 Fairmont, MN 11.0%
11 Hibbing, MN 11.0%
12 Buffalo, MN 11.0%
13 Little Falls, MN 11.0%
14 Sauk Rapids, MN 11.0%
15 St. Francis, MN 11.0%
16 Monticello, MN 11.0%
17 Montevideo, MN 10.0%
18 Albertville, MN 10.0%
19 Fergus Falls, MN 10.0%
20 Thief River Falls, MN 10.0%
21 Crystal, MN 10.0%
22 Bemidji, MN 10.0%
23 Cambridge, MN 10.0%
24 Isanti, MN 9.0%
25 Stewartville, MN 9.0%
26 Litchfield, MN 9.0%
27 Vadnais Heights, MN 9.0%
28 Grand Rapids, MN 9.0%
29 Waseca, MN 9.0%
30 Glencoe, MN 9.0%
31 Red Wing, MN 9.0%
32 International Falls, MN 9.0%
33 Albert Lea, MN 9.0%
34 Baxter, MN 9.0%
35 Big Lake, MN 9.0%
36 New Brighton, MN 8.0%
37 Oakdale, MN 8.0%
38 Hugo, MN 8.0%
39 Ramsey, MN 8.0%
40 Robbinsdale, MN 8.0%
41 Sartell, MN 8.0%
42 South St. Paul, MN 8.0%
43 Columbia Heights, MN 8.0%
44 Fridley, MN 8.0%
45 Forest Lake, MN 8.0%
46 Spring Lake Park, MN 8.0%
47 Coon Rapids, MN 8.0%
48 New Prague, MN 8.0%
49 Mounds View, MN 8.0%
50 Anoka, MN 8.0%
51 Blaine, MN 8.0%
52 West St. Paul, MN 8.0%
53 Duluth, MN 8.0%
54 Detroit Lakes, MN 8.0%
55 White Bear Lake, MN 8.0%
56 Faribault, MN 8.0%
57 Inver Grove Heights, MN 8.0%
58 North Mankato, MN 7.0%
59 New Hope, MN 7.0%
60 Crookston, MN 7.0%
61 New Ulm, MN 7.0%
62 North Branch, MN 7.0%
63 Shoreview, MN 7.0%
64 Belle Plaine, MN 7.0%
65 Marshall, MN 7.0%
66 St. Cloud, MN 7.0%
67 Austin, MN 7.0%
68 St. Joseph, MN 7.0%
69 St. Peter, MN 7.0%
70 Stillwater, MN 7.0%
71 Alexandria, MN 7.0%
72 North St. Paul, MN 7.0%
73 Maplewood, MN 7.0%
74 Mahtomedi, MN 7.0%
75 Ham Lake, MN 7.0%
76 Farmington, MN 7.0%
77 Little Canada, MN 7.0%
78 Hermantown, MN 7.0%
79 Champlin, MN 7.0%
80 Corcoran, MN 7.0%
81 Elk River, MN 7.0%
82 St. Michael, MN 6.0%
83 St. Anthony, MN 6.0%
84 St. Louis Park, MN 6.0%
85 Hastings, MN 6.0%
86 Otsego, MN 6.0%
87 Owatonna, MN 6.0%
88 Apple Valley, MN 6.0%
89 Lino Lakes, MN 6.0%
90 Chisago City, MN 6.0%
91 Shakopee, MN 6.0%
92 Waite Park, MN 6.0%
93 Bloomington, MN 6.0%
94 Chaska, MN 6.0%
95 Minnetonka, MN 6.0%
96 Willmar, MN 6.0%
97 Winona, MN 6.0%
98 Golden Valley, MN 6.0%
99 Orono, MN 6.0%
100 Shorewood, MN 5.0%

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.

 Divorce