snip The report, from the U.S. Census, finds distinct regional differences, with states in the Northeast having the lowest marriage rates and lowest divorce rates for both men and women, and states in the South having the highest. New Jersey is among those with the lowest for both sexes; states with high rates for both men and women include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
"This does not mean you should move to the Northeast if you want your marriage to last," says sociologist Andrew Cherlin of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who has reviewed the data.
In the South, people tend to marry earlier and often have less education, both of which increase divorce risk, he says. Those in the Northeast tend to have more education and marry later. "The lesson here is that a higher level of education leads to more stable families. Sometimes the data surprises people because regions we think of as socially conservative have higher rates of divorce, but that's largely because people have less education and marry younger."
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