The States Where People Stay Married the Longest . . . and the Places Where Marriages Don’t Last

The secret to a healthy, long-lasting marriage could be laughter.  Or sex.  OR it could be living in a quaint small town in the middle of nowhere . . . possibly with abundant maple syrup.

CNBC has a new report on marriages . . . and it says people stay married the LONGEST in the Northeast and Midwest.  Here are the Top 10 states:

1.  West Virginia, where the median marriage lasts 22.6 years.

2.  Wisconsin, where the median marriage lasts 22.5 years.

3.  Vermont, 22.4 years

4.  Montana, 22.1 years

5.  Michigan, 22 years

6.  Iowa, 22 years

7.  South Dakota, 21.8 years

8.  Pennsylvania, 21.8 years

9.  Maine, 21.8 years

10.  New Hampshire, 21.5 years.

On the flip-side, the place with the SHORTEST marriages is Washington, D.C., which is also the place where people are LEAST likely to get married.  Only 45% of the population there has tied the knot.

Here's the 10 shortest:

1.  Washington, D.C., where the median marriage lasts 10.5 years.

2.  Alaska, where the summers are short and so are the commitments.  The median marriage lasts 16.8 years.

3.  Texas, 17.6 years

4.  Nevada, 17.7 years

5.  Utah, 18 years.  This is also the state where people get married the YOUNGEST.  The median age of a first marriage is 26 years old.

6.  Colorado, 18.2 years

7.  Oklahoma, 18.2 years

8.  Washington state, 18.3 years

9.  Idaho, 18.6 years.  This is also the state with the LARGEST portion of the population being married.  73% of people are hitched.

10.  Georgia, 18.8 years.

Overall, marriages are MORE successful than they were 20 years ago.

In 2000, about 5-in-10 marriages ended in divorce or annulment . . . and in 2021, there were only four divorces for every 10 marriages in the U.S., which is a drop of about 20%.

(CNBC / CDC)