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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 203,660 people living in South Carolina 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 Palmetto 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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 SC.
What is the city in South Carolina with the highest divorce rate? That would be Hartsville, with 14.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data.
What is the overall South Carolina divorce rate? According to the 2016-2020 Community Survey, the overall divorce rate in South Carolina 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 South Carolina.
For more South Carolina reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In South Carolina
- Cheapest Places To Live In South Carolina
- Best Places To Live In South Carolina
/10
Population: 7,559
Divorce Rate: 14.0%
Divorcees: 846
Median Income: $36,111
More on Hartsville: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 5,014
Divorce Rate: 13.0%
Divorcees: 521
Median Income: $29,275
More on Abbeville: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 7,716
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 679
Median Income: $33,148
More on Union: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 8,424
Divorce Rate: 11.0%
Divorcees: 741
Median Income: $42,150
More on Seneca: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 5,392
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 431
Median Income: $28,750
More on Chester: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 5,596
Divorce Rate: 10.0%
Divorcees: 447
Median Income: $25,548
More on Cheraw: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 8,347
Divorce Rate: 9.0%
Divorcees: 600
Median Income: $34,882
More on Clinton: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 17,782
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 1,138
Median Income: $44,282
More on West Columbia: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 38,535
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 2,466
Median Income: $51,073
More on Florence: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
/10
Population: 6,000
Divorce Rate: 8.0%
Divorcees: 384
Median Income: $30,536
More on Darlington: Cost Of Living | Crime Report
How We Determined The Places In South Carolina 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 65 places in South Carolina 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 South Carolina the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Hartsville.
And if you're trying to avoid divorce, check out Hardeeville, the city with the lowest divorce rate in South Carolina.
Getting Some Closure In South Carolina After Untying The Know
Besides just coming up with what we thought would be a great new blog/book title, "Untying the Knot In South Carolina: Life After Divorce", we now have a sense of what places in the Palmetto 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In South Carolina
- Cheapest Places To Live In South Carolina
- Best Places To Live In South Carolina
