The state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation is Massachusetts. At latest count Massachusetts had a divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 people, while the rate for Texas was 4.1.
Education is quoted among the reasons that the divorce rate in Mass is low.
Massachusetts has about the highest rate of education in the country, with 85-percent completing high school.
One third of Massachusetts residents have completed college, compared with 23 percent of Texans.
Religion is also considered to be an important factor in the decline of divorce in Mass: The Northeast corridor, with Massachusetts as the hub, has one of the highest levels of Catholics per state total.
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize and support gay marriage, in 2004.
In 2004 the Massachusetts divorce rate, at 2.2 per 1,000 residents per year, was considerably lower than the US national average rate for that year, 3.8 per 1,000. It was even lower than the national average rate for 1950 (2.6 per 1,000 people) and even approached the national rate of 1940 (2 per 1,000 people).
