South Dakota Has One of the Highest Divorce Rates in America

Valentine's Day may signal the height of the romantic season, but research done by sociologists at the University of Washington shows that the beginning of each new year divorce season begins to ramp up, peaking in March.

And when it comes to long term romance, South Dakota is one of the worst places in America.

Numbers from the American Community Survey show that the Mount Rushmore State has 13.59 divorced people per 1,000 married individuals, ranking the state ninth overall for the highest number of broken marriages in the United States.

The average rate nationally is 11.67.

Overall, divorce rates are highest in the South, where Southern states occupied five of the top eight spots:

• Arkansas 17.14
• Alabama 15.15
• Kentucky 14.99
• Oklahoma 14.89
• Idaho 14.50
• West Virginia 14.15
• Georgia 14.11
• Tennessee 14.09
• South Dakota 13.59
• Colorado 13.52

Marriages are healthiest in the Northeast where four states are among the six with the lowest divorce rates in America:

• Hawaii 7.67
• New York 9.19
• Vermont 9.24
• Illinois 9.41
• New Jersey 9.66
• Rhode Island 10.01
• Minnesota 10.15
• Montana 10.27
• Wisconsin 10.29
• Pennsylvania 10.30