Divorces are Declining & Floridians are More Likely to be Married Longer
Bottom Line: A new state-by-state analysis of CDC collected marriage data has revealed several positive trends. The biggest and most notable trend is how many more marriages are proving to be successful. As recently as 2000, nearly half of marriages ended in divorce or annulment. That’s a failure rate which had consistently grown higher over time. However, since 2000, the trend has been going the other way. The failure rate for marriages has fallen by a fifth – with about 40% of marriages failing currently. And in Florida specifically, marriages are performing better than most. By the numbers...
Florida marriages:
- Percentage of married couples: 68.34% vs. 66.62% nationally
- Median length of marriages: 20.8 years vs. 19.7 years nationally
One of the reasons Floridians may be having more marriage success than most could be found with when Floridians are most commonly getting married which is after the age of 30. The average age a couple is first married in Florida is 30.5. That compares to an average age nationally of 29.2. Statistically, couples who marry later, especially over the age of 30, have significantly lower divorce rates. As a fan of marriage who loves his wife and has been happily married for over 14 years, I love seeing that Floridians are more likely to get married and to stay married than most. And it’s also encouraging to see significantly improving trends throughout the country over the past twenty plus years as well.