Website Compiles List of 50 US Cities with 'Worst' Divorce Rates
Noting that three high-profile female celebrities—pop singer Christina Aguilera and actresses Courteney Cox and Laura Dern—were announced in recent days to be heading toward divorce, the Daily Beast posted a list of the 50 U.S. “divorce capitals.”
The rankings noted the percent of the city’s total divorced population and the city’s 2009 divorce rate. The top five:
1) Panama City, Fla., with a total divorced population of 15.5 percent and a 4.3 percent 2009 divorce rate.
2) Sierra Vista, Ariz., with total divorced population of 13.6 percent and a 5.5 percent 2009 divorce rate.
3) Charleston, W. Va., with a total divorced population of 13.4 percent and a 5.6 percent 2009 divorce rate.
4) Medford, Ore., with a total divorced population of 15.1 percent and a 3.7 percent divorce rate.
5) Reno, Nev., with total divorced population of 13.9 percent and a 3.8 percent divorce rate.
The Miami New Times’ Riptide 2.0 blog noted that there are four Florida cities in the list’s top 10 (Deltona is at No. 6, Palm Bay is at No. 8 and Jacksonville is at No. 9) and that six other Florida cities grace the top 50.
CBC News also reported on a new study this month saying that 40 percent of first marriages in Canada end in divorce—higher than the 37 percent rate in the mid-1990s but lower than the peak 41 percent rate in the mid-1980s. Also this month, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that more than 848,000 couples there registered for divorce in the first six months of 2010, a 10 percent rise, China Daily reported at the time.
