West, South Lead U.S. in Divorces

Looks like gay marriage hasn’t been catastrophic yet for the Northeast. Census Bureau data released Thursday show that New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had some of the lowest divorce rates, while Western and Southern states had the highest rates of divorce—as well as the highest rate of marriage. Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Nevada were ranked the highest for divorce, while the highest states for marriage—Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas—also had higher-than-average rates for divorce. Only North Dakota ranked high for marriage and low for divorce. The first-of-its-kind Census analysis showed that the median age for a first marriage had climbed from 22.5 for men and 20.6 years for women in 1970 to 28.4 for men and 26.5 for women in 2010.