This week's chart focuses on community-by-community divorce rates. While the rates may vary across the state, Massachusetts as a whole, has the lowest divorce rate in the country.
Locally, Littleton had the lowest number of divorces with 189 divorces over a five year period. The highest number was in Lowell where there was 3,912 divorces in five years.
| Community | Percentage Divorced | Number of Divorces 05-09 |
| Andover | 1.6% | 417 |
| Billerica | 3.3% | 1,043 |
| Chelmsford | 3.4% | 921 |
| Dracut | 3.9% | 935 |
| Haverhill | 4.3% | 2,087 |
| Lawrence | 4.2% | 2,208 |
| Littleton | 2.8% | 189 |
| Lowell | 4.7% | 3,912 |
| Melrose | 3.2% | 683 |
| Methuen | 4.2% | 1,446 |
| North Andover | 2.9% | 611 |
| North Reading | 2.8% | 294 |
| Reading | 2.7% | 494 |
| Tewksbury | 2.4% | 560 |
| Wakefield | 4.0% | 819 |
| Westford | 2.3% | 383 |
| Wilmington | 2.0% | 352 |
Courtesy U.S. Census American Community Survey
Steve McMahan
10:47 am on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Lowell leading the charge!
Jessica
10:51 am on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
So 97.2 of married people, in North Reading, are still married!
Glass half full.
Lyle Chipperson
9:25 pm on Thursday, February 23, 2012
and or the number that wish they were!
John Intorcio
8:02 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Well, actually... 100% of the married people are still married. It's the ones that are NOT still married that are draining your glass.
Dirk Anderson
2:05 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
There seems to be some funny math involved, though the numbers still show what towns have a higher rate than others. Checking Tewksbury, if 560 represents 2.4%, than the total must be 23,300. Since the population is just over 30,000 I will assume that they counted all residents over 18, or perhaps 21, doesn't really matter. But if there were 560 divorces, I have to assume that 1120 people actually got divorced (presumably there aren't many polygamists in the area) which should mean 4.8% of adults were divorced during those 5 years. Am I being too nit picky?
Mark
11:23 am on Friday, February 24, 2012
Dirk, I read it a bit different . Being that that 560 mumber is over a 5 year period it averages out to 112 divorces a year if we use that as a multiplier on the 2.4% we come out to around 4700 base . . thats just my take .
Dan Gillette
2:23 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Andover, not Littleton had the lowest "rate". Littleton had the lowest number.
Vicky Geary
3:47 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Of course this doesn't take into account the number of separated people. I wonder what the stats would be if that was included. Divorce is costly from a financial perspective as well as an emotional one. Just the retainer for hiring a divorce attorney (according to some of the individuals I know who have gone this route) runs $3,000 - $5,000 for an uncontested divorce and there are times that is just not affordable. So some individuals remain married although the marriage in every sense but legal has ended.
Diane
8:02 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
There are ways to reduce the cost of getting a divorce . . . my divorce cost $750 and included four trips into Cambridge court and a change from uncontested to contested. You can do a number of things yourself (especially if you are able to work out the agreement details and division of property.) Look for an attorney who can serve as your advisor . . . reviewing documents, etc. and do the rest yourself. It's easier than you think.
Patrick Rahilly
9:29 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
That seems awfully high for uncontested divorces. I have never charged more than $2,000 for an uncontested and that was only because it was in Western MA. Even my retainer for a contested divorce I try to keep low around $5,000, but I take alot into account when I give a figure to the client.
Brian Hogan
5:57 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
This is the percentage of the whole population that gets divorced. If you take the percentage of people that got married between 05-09 in Andover, in which being in the Wedding industry I would guess no more than 900 people or couples in Andover got married between those years and that's an extremely high number, and there were 417 divorces, the divorce rate would be 46%. I have no Idea why they would call what they calculated a divorce rate, it isn't. Keep it real please.
Chris Fuccione
11:53 am on Thursday, February 23, 2012
For the most part these figures are really good. According to the CDC's Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for 2009 (the last year that is on line the national rates are 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6 for 2009, 2008, and 2007. So for most of the towns in the article they are below average and also looking at these figures the rates are dropping a tenth of a percentage point each year.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_25.pdf
Barbara Flynn
10:44 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
I agree with Vicky about some people just not being able to afford it. Personally, I think 3,000-5,000 is on the low side. From my own experience and many I know it's closer to 7,000. Saying we have the lowest divorce rate - there is a divorce support group that meets in Acton (see Action Unlimited for more info) and I'd say we disagree with that. The group can easily get 10-15 people on any given Thursday night.
Bryan McGonigle
8:14 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
I read that Massachusetts has one of the lowest divorce rates in the nation. I wonder if it's because of our many colleges giving opportunity to girls and thus keeping them from marrying young. That, combined with how expensive it is to get a divorce in our state. Thoughts?