12.6: Social Patterns in Divorce

Region, Age at Marriage, and Education

Regional patterns differ across the United States. Using American Community Survey data, research indicates that men and women in the Northeast and Midwest tend to have the lowest divorce rates, while the South generally has the highest. One reason divorce rates may be higher in the South is that marriage rates are higher to begin with and people often marry at younger-than-average ages, both of which are associated with greater divorce risk. In the Northeast, marriage is less common and first marriages are often delayed, which contributes to lower divorce rates (Reynolds, 2020). These are broad patterns, however, and there are important exceptions. For example, the District of Columbia has a high marriage rate but one of the lowest divorce rates (Anderson & Scherer, 2020).

Education is also linked to divorce risk. Adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher are less likely to have divorced than adults with less education (Hays, 2025). This pattern does not mean that education automatically protects a marriage. Rather, education is connected to other forms of advantage, including income, employment stability, later age at marriage, and access to social resources. This suggests that marital stability is shaped not only by personal commitment but also by broader patterns of inequality.

Race, Birthplace, and Marriage Cohort

Among ever-married adults, Black Americans are the most likely to report that their first marriage ended in divorce, while Asian Americans are the least likely. U.S.-born adults are also more likely than immigrants to report that their first marriage ended in divorce (Hays, 2025).

Divorce also varies by marriage cohort. Adults who married in the 1970s and 1980s have been more likely to divorce than those who married in the 1990s or later, although more recent marriage cohorts have not yet been observed across the full life course. This is important because divorce is shaped by historical context. People who marry in different decades face different economic conditions, gender norms, legal systems, and cultural expectations about marriage.

Gray Divorce

Gray divorce refers to divorce among adults age 50 and older. Although overall divorce rates in the United States have declined in recent decades, divorce among older adults has become more visible. Divorce among adults over 50 rose sharply between 1990 and 2010 and has since leveled off, but nearly 40% of divorces today involve people age 50 or older (Pearson, 2026). In 2023, the gray divorce rate was about 10.3 divorces per 1,000 married women age 50 and older (Hays, 2025).

Sociologists argue that gray divorce reflects more than individual unhappiness. It is connected to longer life expectancy, changing gender roles, reduced stigma around divorce, and changing expectations for marriage. As people live longer, later adulthood may include many years, or even decades, after children leave home or after retirement. Some older adults may decide that they do not want to spend those years in an "empty-shell marriage," a relationship that continues legally or socially but lacks emotional connection, intimacy, or vitality (Pearson, 2026).

This pattern also reflects changing ideas about what marriage is supposed to provide. In earlier generations, people may have been more likely to remain married because marriage was understood primarily as an economic arrangement, parenting partnership, or lifelong social obligation. Today, marriage is more often expected to provide companionship, emotional intimacy, mutual support, and personal fulfillment. When those expectations are not met, some older adults may be less willing to remain in marriages that feel emotionally empty.

Gender is especially important in understanding gray divorce. Women’s greater economic independence, longer work histories, and changing expectations for equality in marriage may make it more possible for some women to leave unsatisfying or unequal relationships later in life. At the same time, gray divorce can create serious economic risks, especially for women who spent years out of the paid labor force or who have fewer retirement assets.

Timing and Duration of Marriage

Divorces are concentrated earlier in marriage, although later-life and long-term divorces also occur as discussed above. About four in ten divorces occur within the first decade of marriage, while about 22% occur after 25 or more years of marriage. The median duration of marriages ending in divorce increased from 10 years in 2008 to 12 years in 2023 (Hays, 2025).

These patterns show that divorce is not a single event with one meaning. Divorce after a short marriage may involve different challenges than divorce after decades of shared property, parenting, caregiving, and kinship ties. The timing of divorce affects how families reorganize and what kinds of emotional, financial, and caregiving issues arise.

Same-Sex Divorce Trends

In the United States, there is no single official national same-sex divorce rate tracked consistently across all states. As a result, researchers often rely on administrative data from specific states and time periods. One influential Williams Institute analysis of early marriage-equality states estimated that same-sex couples ended their marriages at an average rate of about 1.1% per year, which was slightly lower than the often-cited annual divorce rate for different-sex couples of around 2% per year. However, these estimates vary by place, time period, and available data.

Once same-sex couples gained access to marriage, they also gained access to divorce, custody claims, property division, spousal support, and other legal processes that organize family relationships. Divorce among same-sex couples therefore reflects both relationship dynamics and the broader legal recognition of LGBTQ+ families.

Intergenerational Patterns in Divorce

Divorce is often described as having an intergenerational pattern. People who grew up with divorced parents are, on average, more likely to divorce themselves. Wolfinger (2005) found that children of divorced parents have higher odds of divorce than those whose parents remained continuously married, and that the risk is even greater for those whose parents divorced and later remarried (Wolfinger, 2005).

One explanation is socialization. Growing up with divorce may make divorce seem like a more normal or workable response to marital problems. Another explanation is family stress: children may carry forward the effects of conflict, economic strain, disrupted routines, or changing family relationships. This does not mean that children of divorced parents are destined to divorce. Rather, it shows that family experiences can shape later expectations about marriage, conflict, commitment, and family stability.

Divorce, Work, Income, and Remarriage

Divorce is also connected to employment, income, wealth, and future family formation. Divorced adults generally have lower household incomes and less wealth than married adults. Divorce is also associated with different employment patterns by gender: divorced men are less likely to be employed than men in a first marriage, while divorced women are more likely to be employed than women in a first marriage (Hays, 2025). 

Many divorced adults eventually form new relationships. About two-thirds of divorced adults remarry, while a smaller share cohabit instead (Hays, 2025). This shows that divorce does not necessarily mean rejection of marriage or family life. Instead, divorce often leads to family reorganization through repartnering, remarriage, cohabitation, stepfamilies, and blended families.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Adapted by Sarah Earl-Novell from 14.3: Challenges Families Face in Introductory Sociology 3e (OpenStax), licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

Modifications by Sarah Earl-Novell include remixing, editing, contextualization, and the addition of original content.

References

Anderson, L., & Scherer, Z. (2020, December 7). U.S. marriage and divorce rates declined in last 10 years. United States Census Bureau.

Hays, J. (2025, October 16). 8 facts about divorce in the United States. Pew Research Center.

Pearson, C. (2026, June 22). Older adults are no longer staying in “empty-shell” marriages. The New York Times.

Reynolds, L. (2020). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2019 (Family Profiles, FP-20-25). National Center for Family & Marriage Research.

Wolfinger, N. H. (2005). Understanding the divorce cycle: The children of divorce in their own marriages. Cambridge University Press.