What is the divorce rate in the US? In 2024, about 1.4% of married women divorced, or roughly 1 in 70. Measured against the whole population, including children and people who are not married, the CDC counted 2.3 divorces for every 1,000 people. Both numbers have been falling for more than two decades, and the familiar claim that half of all marriages end in divorce does not match them. At WSM Law, we help women look past the divorce statistics to what matters in their own case. Call (380) 203-2023 to schedule a free consultation.
Numbers cannot make decisions for you, but they can show how common your situation is, and many of the most useful figures are tracked specifically for women.
10 Divorce Statistics Worth Knowing
These figures come from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University, and published research:
- About 1.4% of married women divorced in 2024: That is 14.2 divorces for every 1,000 married women, according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research, down slightly from 2023.
- Nearly 1 million women divorced in 2024: The same research counted 986,810 women who divorced that year.
- Across the whole population, the rate is about 0.23%: The CDC’s national marriage and divorce data recorded 662,950 divorces in 2024, counting everyone in the 45 states and Washington, D.C. that report divorces, children included.
- That rate has dropped more than 40% since 2000: The CDC put it at about 0.4% of the population in 2000.
- Marriages still far outnumber divorces: The CDC recorded 2,128,446 marriages in 2024, more than three for every divorce.
- First marriages are ending less often: Among women in a first marriage, the first divorce rate fell from about 1.9% in 2008 to 1.3% in 2023.
- Younger women have the highest rate: Among women aged 18 to 29 in a first marriage, about 1.9% divorced in 2023, the highest of any age group.
- Divorce after 65 has more than quadrupled: The divorce rate for married women 65 and older rose from about 0.14% in 1990 to 0.67% in 2023.
- State rates vary widely: In 2024, about 2.1% of married women in Oklahoma divorced, the highest rate, compared with 1% in Maine, the lowest. Which states have the highest divorce rates depends on which measure you use.
- Women initiated most divorces in one study: In a 2015 study presented to the American Sociological Association, which followed 2,262 adults in a nationally representative survey, women initiated 69% of divorces, while breakups of unmarried couples showed no significant difference between women and men.
Why Are Divorce Rates Changing?
The drop is driven by younger women. In a 2019 study of US divorce trends, sociologist Philip Cohen found that the falling divorce rate came from younger women, and that women who married more recently face a lower risk of divorce than earlier brides. He has pointed to women marrying later and with more education as part of the reason.
Fewer people marrying plays a part too. Cohen describes a shift toward marriages that are rarer but more stable than they used to be. For a woman weighing divorce today, that means two things: divorce is less common than headlines suggest, and it is no longer something that mostly happens to young couples.
What Does Gray Divorce Mean for Women?
Gray divorce, meaning divorce later in life, is the one area where rates have climbed. Between 1990 and 2023, divorce rates rose for married women in every age group 45 and older, while they fell for every group from 15 to 44, according to the same Bowling Green research. Cohen’s work ties the pattern to the Baby Boom generation, which has had unusually high divorce rates and is now in its 60s, 70s, and older.
Later-life divorce often involves retirement accounts, pensions, and a home with decades of equity, and there is less time to rebuild savings afterward. Health insurance through a spouse’s employer can also end with the marriage. That makes the property side of a gray divorce for women especially consequential.
What Do Women Need to Know About Filing First?
For a woman who is ready to end her marriage, the question of filing first comes up early. Who files first can affect timing and the early decisions in a case, which is why whether a woman should file for divorce first deserves a careful look before anything is filed. Gathering financial records beforehand can make the first weeks of a case far less chaotic.
What Do Divorce Statistics Mean for Your Own Case?
Statistics describe populations, not marriages. A falling national rate does not make your decision unusual, and a high state rate does not make any outcome inevitable. The numbers cannot tell you how your property will be divided, what parenting schedule will work for your children, or how long your case will take. The law where you live answers those questions.
What the Divorce Rate in the US Means for You
Behind every statistic is a woman deciding what comes next for herself and her family. Knowing the numbers is a reasonable place to start, and the next step is looking at your own situation. WSM Law represents women exclusively in divorce and family law. We can tell you what the law in your state means for your timeline, your property, and your children.
Call (380) 203-2023 or contact us to schedule a free consultation and look past the divorce rate in the US to the facts of your own case.
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WSM Law
595 Copeland Mill Rd. Suite 1A
Westerville, OH 43081
Phone: (380) 210-4413
