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 341,043 people living in Missouri 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 Show Me 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 Missouri 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 Missouri 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 MO.
What is the city in Missouri with the highest divorce rate? That would be Dexter, with 16.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.
What is the overall Missouri divorce rate? According to the 2014-2018 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in Missouri is 7.000000000000001%, which compares to the US divorce rate of 10.9%.
Alrighty, on to how we calculated the places with the highest divorce rates in Missouri.
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How We Determined The Places In Missouri 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 129 places in Missouri 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 Missouri the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Dexter.
And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out St. Robert, the city with the lowest divorce rate in Missouri.
Now on to a deeper look at the top ten.
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Dexter is a city in Stoddard County, Missouri, United States, founded in 1873. The population was 7,864 at the 2010 census.
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Population: 6,390
Divorce Rate: 15.0%
Divorcees: 766
Median Income: $38,585
More on De Soto: Data
De Soto is a city in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,400 at the 2010 census and is part of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The Van Metre family were first to settle in 1803. The town was organized in 1857 and is named for the explorer Hernando De Soto, who claimed the Louisiana Territory for Spain. De Soto was the city closest to the mean center of U.S. population in 1980. The city celebrated its Bicentennial in 2003. The city made national news on and after May 6, 2003, when straightline winds and a tornado struck.
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Population: 5,189
Divorce Rate: 14.0%
Divorcees: 581
Median Income: $52,642
More on Odessa: Data
Odessa is a city in Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,300 at the 2010 census.
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Population: 5,501
Divorce Rate: 14.0%
Divorcees: 616
Median Income: $39,469
More on Bowling Green: Data
Bowling Green is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,334 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pike County.
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Mexico, formerly known as New Mexico, is a city in Audrain County, Missouri. The population was 11,543 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat, home to the Missouri Military Academy, and annually hosts the Miss Missouri Pageant. The micropolitan statistical area consists of Audrain County.
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Richmond is a city in Ray County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,797 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ray County.
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Sullivan is a city that straddles the border of Franklin County and Crawford County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 7,081 at the 2010 census.
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Sedalia, Missouri is a city located about 30 miles south of the Missouri River in Pettis County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 21,387. As the county seat of Pettis County, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Pettis County. Sedalia is also the location of the Missouri State Fair and the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. U.S. Routes 50 and 65 intersect in the city.
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Park Hills is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri. The population was 8,759 at the 2010 census.
Getting Some Closure In Missouri After Untying The Know
Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, “Untying the Knot In Missouri: Life After Divorce”, we now have a sense of what places in the Show Me 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 Missouri 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.
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