Today, we want to change things up a bit by looking at a few recent different divorce facts and statistics. While the pandemic and other global challenges have impacted divorce states to some degree, many trends have been constant for over 40 years and going. In some cases, these trends actually go against conventional wisdom or popular assumptions about divorce. 

With that in mind, let’s look at several important marriage statistics across the US, and in California.

The Age to Get Married is Going Up

Over the last few decades, people have been waiting longer and longer to get married. These days, men enter their first marriage at around age 29.5 whereas for women this age is 27.8. Not only that, but only a minority (29 percent) of all adults aged 18 to 34 are currently married. 

50% of Marriages Do Not End in Divorce

It’s “common knowledge” that half of all marriages end in this divorce, and this statistic has been thrown around for over a decade. In reality, it has been going down since 1980, with the current rate sitting closer to 39%. Furthermore, these statistics don’t always take repeat divorcees into account, which means that the real figure across individuals is likely lower. 

Marriage Rates are Down, but Cohabitation Rates Up

While less people are getting married, more people are opting to cohabit with their partner before the knot is formally tied. This is a small but notable increase, going up from 12 percent in the early 2000’s to 15 percent these days. 

Other Divorce Facts in California

• The percentage of people who are divorced in California sits at around 12%, compared to the national average of 13%.
• The city with the highest percentage of divorced people is Santa Rosa, which sits closer to 16%
• On the other hand, Los Angeles and San Francisco are the two cities with the lowest percentage of divorced people, sitting at around 11%.
• The amount of married couples in the population is slightly lower in CA, sitting at around 47%. 
• The major cities hover even lower, at around 40% although other areas of CA do see this number go up to higher than 50%.

Talk to a Family Law Attorney Today

With these figures laid out, we want to wrap today’s discussion on divorce statistics in the US and CA specifically. As always, we at R & S Law Group, LLP want to reiterate that statistics are helpful to an extent, but ultimately every situation is unique and requires a different approach.

Learn more about how our experienced attorney at R & S Law Group, LLP take a tailored approach to each and every case. Give us a call at (949) 825-5245 to schedule a free initial consultation.