Nevada had the highest reported state divorce rate in the CDC's provisional 2023 table: 3.8 divorces per 1,000 residents. Louisiana had the lowest reported rate, 0.9. The table below lists all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including five states without a reported rate. These figures count divorces by state of occurrence and divide by the state's total resident population. They do not tell you what share of marriages ended or what will happen to any one marriage.
Compare state marriage rates→
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What the state divorce rate counts
The CDC state table starts with provisional divorce counts for 2023. It assigns a divorce to the state where the legal event occurred, then reports a rate per 1,000 people living in that state. The population denominator includes adults who are married, adults who are not married, and children. That makes the rate useful for comparing recorded events against population size, but it is a blunt measure of what happened to marriages.
For example, Nevada's 3.8 means about 3.8 recorded divorces during 2023 for every 1,000 Nevada residents in the denominator. It does not mean 3.8% of Nevada marriages ended, or that a married Nevada resident had a 3.8-in-1,000 chance of divorce. The people counted in the denominator are not a group of marriages followed over time. The event can also occur in a different state from where a couple lives, a location limit that matters whenever state rates are compared.
The CDC table includes annulments in its divorce definition. Its footnote also says some state or county counts include divorce petitions or legal separations. Those are not identical legal events everywhere. A state rank is therefore a description of this specific administrative series, with its provisional status and reporting differences, rather than a clean measure of relationship stability.
Where the 2023 reported rates were highest and lowest
Nevada's 3.8 divorces per 1,000 residents was the highest rate in the CDC's 2023 state column. Idaho and Wyoming followed at 3.4 each, and Oklahoma was 3.3. Utah and Alaska were 3.1. These are recorded yearly rates for the reporting states; the table offers no explanation for why those states are near the top. A difference of a few tenths is small enough that a simple rank should be read with care, especially when the series is provisional.
At the other end, Louisiana was 0.9, Illinois 1.2, Kansas 1.7, and Massachusetts 1.8. Iowa and the District of Columbia were 1.9. The District is shown as its own row, but it is not a state. Louisiana's rate also moved from 2.2 in 2021 to 0.7 in 2022 and 0.9 in 2023 in the same CDC series. That swing is a reason to check reporting and earlier years before telling a story about the state's residents. The table alone cannot identify its cause.
California, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, and New Mexico have no 2023 value in this CDC series. They are marked unavailable below. An unavailable rate is different from zero divorces, and none of these states belongs at the bottom of a ranking. The CDC national summary likewise reports its 2023 divorce rate for 45 reporting states and the District, not for all 50 states.
Use the table to find your state
Find your state in the alphabetical table and read the number as divorces per 1,000 total residents during 2023. The 2022 column lets you see the adjacent year without pretending that two points form a long trend. Both columns come directly from the same CDC table, so their units and source match. A dash means CDC did not publish a rate in that cell; it does not mean no divorces occurred.
Consider a hypothetical reader comparing Nevada with New York. The CDC table gives 3.8 for Nevada and 2.4 for New York in 2023, a difference of 1.4 recorded divorces per 1,000 residents. On a purely illustrative base of 100,000 residents, those rates correspond to 380 and 240 events, a difference of 140. This is our arithmetic on rounded published rates, not either state's actual divorce count. It helps read the unit; it cannot say what would happen to the reader's marriage in either place.
If the state you need has a dash, do not borrow a nearby state's number. A different source may answer a different question. For instance, the Census Bureau's state comparison uses an American Community Survey measure of women age 15 and older who divorced in the last year, divided by women age 15 and older. Its 2022 survey rate has a different year, numerator, and denominator from the CDC's 2023 administrative rate. Keep the two series labeled when you use them.
2023 and 2022 divorce rates by state
The table may be wider than the screen. Focus it and use the arrow keys to reach every column.
| State or district | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3.0 | 3.2 |
| Alaska | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| Arizona | 2.0 | 2.3 |
| Arkansas | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| California | — | — |
| Colorado | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Connecticut | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Delaware | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| District of Columbia | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Florida | 3.0 | 3.1 |
| Georgia | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Hawaii | — | — |
| Idaho | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Illinois | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Indiana | — | — |
| Iowa | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Kansas | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Kentucky | 2.9 | 3.0 |
| Louisiana | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Maine | 2.5 | 2.4 |
| Maryland | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Massachusetts | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Michigan | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| Minnesota | — | — |
| Mississippi | 2.9 | 3.0 |
| Missouri | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| Montana | 2.3 | 2.0 |
| Nebraska | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| Nevada | 3.8 | 4.2 |
| New Hampshire | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| New Jersey | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| New Mexico | — | — |
| New York | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| North Carolina | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| North Dakota | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| Ohio | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Oklahoma | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| Oregon | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Pennsylvania | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Rhode Island | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| South Carolina | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| South Dakota | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Tennessee | 2.9 | 3.0 |
| Texas | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| Utah | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Vermont | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| Virginia | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Washington | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| West Virginia | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| Wisconsin | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Wyoming | 3.4 | 3.3 |
How to read one row Nevada's 3.8 means 3.8 recorded 2023 divorce events per 1,000 total state residents. It is not a percent of Nevada marriages.
How to read it: Source: CDC/NCHS state divorce-rate series, 2023 and 2022 columns. The table reports provisional counts and includes annulments; its footnote allows petitions or legal separations in some areas.
Download the table (CSV) ↓Why a state ranking cannot explain a marriage
State populations differ in age, the share of residents who are married, and where people go to complete a legal divorce. Because the CDC divides by all residents, a state with a different population mix can have a different crude rate even if the experience of married couples is similar. The published table does not adjust the rates to put states on the same married-population base. It also cannot tell whether a change reflects reporting practice, a change in divorces, or both.
A single year can still answer a narrow question: how many divorce events were recorded per 1,000 residents in each reporting state in 2023? It is a weak answer to a broader question such as whether residents are more committed or why a local dating pool feels different. If your question is about marriage ceremonies rather than divorces, the separate state marriage-rate table uses the CDC's marriage series. Keep those events separate; subtracting one yearly rate from the other does not estimate how many marriages will last.
For the same reason, a state divorce rate does not count divorced people who are currently single in a city or age group. It counts events during a year, not everyone with a past divorce. The national 2.4 rate explainer goes through that denominator problem in more detail. If you are trying to understand dating availability, use a source that asks about current marital status and the place and age group you care about.
How to make a fair comparison
Start by matching the source, year, unit, and coverage. The two state columns below are the CDC's 2022 and 2023 provisional rates per 1,000 total residents. The 2023 national 2.4 figure uses the 45 reporting states and D.C.; it is not a complete 50-state average. A state's number can be compared with that published reporting-area figure only if you keep the coverage note attached. The state rows also use occurrence, which can differ from a couple's residence.
Next, look at the size of the difference and at more than one year. Nevada's 3.8 and New York's 2.4 are clearly different values in this 2023 table, but the table provides no statistical interval or causal test for that contrast. Louisiana's recent swing shows why a dramatic rank can invite a weak explanation. A state can move in a table for reasons that the table does not show. Read the older columns in the CDC source PDF before claiming a lasting change.
Finally, name the question that remains. If you want a share of marriages that eventually end in divorce, you need to follow a group of marriages over time. If you want to know how many divorced adults live in a state now, you need a resident survey about marital status. The CDC's yearly event rate answers neither. Use the table for the comparison it actually supports, then move to a source built for the next question.
