Southerners More Likely to Research Divorce: Study

In what might be a surprising turn of events, Southerners were far more likely than their counterparts in other states to indicate interest in divorce, according to a new study from Schmidt & Clark law firm.

After analyzing more than 300,000 Google searches around divorce online, the law firm based in Washington, D.C., discovered that Tennessee residents were most likely to look up information about divorce. They were followed by Southern neighbors Georgia and Mississippi, indicating trouble might be brewing in many Southern marriages.

Tennessee couples had 141 searches per 100,000 people, making them 40 percent above the U.S. average. Georgians were also dealing with marriage problems, at a rate of 134 searches per 100,000. And Mississippi was still 30 percent above the average, at 131 searches per 100,000.

When it came to the couples least likely to look up the dreaded "d-word," Alaskan residents seemed the most content in their relationships, followed by South Dakota and Hawaii.

The states only averaged 52, 54 and 56 searches per 100,000 people, respectively. Even in Hawaii, that rate was 45 percent below the national average.

"Whilst you shouldn't rush into divorce without giving yourself time to decide if it's definitely what you want, it's important to remember that it can be what's best for you," a spokesperson for Schmidt & Clark said in a statement.

"Although the proceedings may naturally cause temporary disruption to your life, in the long run it can lead you to a healthier one by removing you from a situation that no longer makes you happy.

Unhappy in the South

While Southern states might boast strong levels of religious affiliation, this doesn't necessarily correlate to happier or longer marriages.

Divorce attorney Dorit Goikhman said the average age of marriage could also play a role in why Southerners were far more likely to Google search divorce. Goikhman said that couples who get married at age 20 are 50 percent more likely to divorce than those who wait until 25, and the South is ripe with young brides and grooms.

Matt Furman, owner of Connection Copilot, echoed this statement.

"The reason divorce searches are very concentrated in the South, despite being in the 'Bible Belt' is because many people in the South get married extremely young and without steady jobs," Furman told Newsweek. "Youth and poverty are tied together, which leads to divorce."

However, this is just one piece of the puzzle.

"There may be an economic incentive," Goikhman told Newsweek. "Divorce rates tend to be higher when the parties can afford to split into two households. In Southern states, the average cost of living may be lower, so that divorce is more feasible."

In Alaska and Hawaii, cost of living is far higher, however, making divorce a tougher economic reality.

Others suggest that despite the high levels of Southerners Googling divorce, few might actually go through with it.

"I would hypothesize that the conservative culture in the South might prompt more people to fantasize about divorce than those who can actually just execute a divorce due to a more progressive, liberal culture," psychologist Lauren Napolitano told Newsweek.

When looking at the actual statistics for divorce rates across states, it varied from the survey's findings.

While West Virginia had the highest rate at 9.2 percent divorced, followed by Louisiana, there were also distinctly non-Southern states at the top of the list. That included Michigan and Ohio, with 8.8 and 8.7 percent divorced respectively, according to U.S. Census data.

The South also has a record level of new people moving in, and moving tends to bring out stress in even the happiest of couples.

All in all, more than 1.3 million residents moved to the South during 2022, according to the Census figures.

"Aside from the stress of a move to a new location, which could lead to the end of a relationship, the significant amount of new potential relationships is also present where populations grow quickly," family lawyer Randall Kessler told Newsweek. "Divorce is often about making a change. People trying to make their life better. And that seems to go right along with a move to a new city."

And if a couple does live in a more religious community, they may be more likely to see cheating as a dealbreaker, making Southerners even more likely to consider divorce.

"It might be that people see adultery as much more of a sin than in other places and find it less forgivable," Kessler said, adding that Georgia bars alimony to divorcees who engaged in adultery.

Across the country, more than 40 percent of first marriages end in divorce.