The Marriage and Divorce Rates of American Women Have Dropped in the Past Decade

According to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau, both the marriage and divorce rates of U.S. women age 15 and older declined from 2011 to 2021.

In 2021, the U.S. marriage rate was 14.9 marriages in the last year per 1,000 women, down from 16.3 a decade earlier. And the 2021 divorce rate dropped to 6.9 in the last year from 9.7 divorces per 1,000 women in 2011.

Alaska and Utah had among the highest marriage rates, at 23.5 and 22.3, respectively. Many states with the lowest marriage rates were in the Northeast.

Idaho and Arkansas had among the highest divorce rates, at 11.1 and 11.0. Many of the states with the highest divorce rates were in the South. New Hampshire had a low divorce rate of 4.3. Many of the states with the lowest divorce rates were in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, areas where the overall population tends to be older.

Puerto Rico had the lowest marriage rate at 4.7. The divorce rate for women in Puerto Rico was 3.9. Puerto Rico’s low marriage and divorce rates likely resulted, at least in part from the high outmigration of its young adult population, especially after Hurricane Maria.