The 10 Cities In Mississippi With The Highest Divorce Rates For 2019

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 279,510 people living in Mississippi over fifteen years of age who are divorced. Or compare that to the 28,339,199 dAmericans who are already divorced in 2019.

A lot of people make the decision to run away – or simply split up – across the Magnolia 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi with highest rates of divorcees.

The 10 Cities In Mississippi With The Highest Divorce Rates

1. Waveland (Photos)
2. Flowood (Photos)
3. Bay St. Louis (Photos)
4. Gulfport (Photos)
5. Tupelo (Photos)
6. Pearl (Photos)
7. Ocean Springs (Photos)
8. Natchez (Photos)
9. Long Beach (Photos)
10. Corinth (Photos)

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

What is the city in Mississippi with the highest divorce rate? That would be Waveland, with 19.8% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.

What is the overall Mississippi divorce rate? According to the 2013-2017 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Mississippi is 11.700000000000001%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.

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

For more Mississippi reading, check out:

• 10 Best Places To Live In Mississippi
• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Mississippi
• 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Mississippi

How We Determined The Places In Mississippi 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 2013-2017 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 62 places in Mississippi 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 Mississippi the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Waveland.

And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out Madison, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Mississippi.

Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.

Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,435. Waveland was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.

Flowood is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi. The population was 7,823 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Gulfport is the second largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. It is the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city of Gulfport had a total population of 67,793. Gulfport is co-county seat with Biloxi of Harrison County, Mississippi. Gulfport is also home to the US Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees.

Tupelo is the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi. The seventh-largest city in the state, it is situated in Northeast Mississippi, between Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama. It is accessed by Interstate 22. As of the 2010 census, the population was 34,546, with the surrounding counties of Lee, Pontotoc and Itawamba supporting a population of 139,671

Pearl is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi located on the east side of the Pearl River from the state capital of Jackson. The population was 25,092 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, approximately 2 miles east of Biloxi and west of Gautier. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 U.S. Census. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city of Ocean Springs had a population of 17,442.

Long Beach is a city located in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 14,792.

Corinth is a city in and the county seat of Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,573 at the 2010 census. Its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835.

Next 10 Cities

Getting Some Closure In Mississippi After Untying The Know

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

• These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Mississippi
• These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Mississippi
• 10 Safest Places In Mississippi

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

Rank	City	Divorce Rate
1	Waveland, MS	19.8%
2	Flowood, MS	16.5%
3	Bay St. Louis, MS	16.2%
4	Gulfport, MS	15.8%
5	Tupelo, MS	15.7%
6	Pearl, MS	15.5%
7	Ocean Springs, MS	15.4%
8	Natchez, MS	15.1%
9	Long Beach, MS	15.0%
10	Corinth, MS	14.8%
11	Pontotoc, MS	14.8%
12	D’iberville, MS	14.6%
13	Pass Christian, MS	14.3%
14	Forest, MS	14.2%
15	Grenada, MS	14.2%
16	Kosciusko, MS	14.1%
17	Petal, MS	14.1%
18	Ripley, MS	14.1%
19	Horn Lake, MS	14.0%
20	Pascagoula, MS	14.0%
21	Meridian, MS	13.9%
22	Biloxi, MS	13.7%
23	Laurel, MS	13.6%
24	Richland, MS	13.2%
25	Olive Branch, MS	13.1%
26	Gautier, MS	13.0%
27	Moss Point, MS	12.9%
28	Picayune, MS	12.9%
29	Southaven, MS	12.5%
30	Greenville, MS	12.2%
31	Vicksburg, MS	12.2%
32	Columbia, MS	12.1%
33	Clinton, MS	12.0%
34	Cleveland, MS	11.9%
35	Ridgeland, MS	11.9%
36	Hernando, MS	11.7%
37	Columbus, MS	11.7%
38	Jackson, MS	11.7%
39	Amory, MS	11.6%
40	Byram, MS	11.4%
41	Booneville, MS	11.4%
42	Brandon, MS	11.4%
43	Mccomb, MS	11.3%
44	Canton, MS	11.3%
45	Batesville, MS	11.2%
46	Philadelphia, MS	11.1%
47	Aberdeen, MS	11.1%
48	West Point, MS	11.1%
49	Brookhaven, MS	10.8%
50	Hattiesburg, MS	10.6%
51	Greenwood, MS	10.6%
52	Senatobia, MS	10.3%
53	New Albany, MS	10.0%
54	Louisville, MS	9.8%
55	Holly Springs, MS	8.7%
56	Yazoo City, MS	8.6%
57	Oxford, MS	8.5%
58	Diamondhead, MS	8.0%
59	Indianola, MS	7.7%
60	Clarksdale, MS	7.5%
61	Starkville, MS	7.4%
62	Madison, MS	6.3%