The Law Offices of Ian S. Mednick, P.C

1. Statistics Reveals Divorce Rates
Among Professions in the US
The Law Offices of Ian S. Mednick, P.C.

2. A recent statistical study based on divorce data revealed the rates of divorce among various
occupations in the United States. Statistician Nathan Yau came up with the results after collating
data from the Five-Year American Community Survey in 2015. Aside from divorce rates by
occupation, Yau’s study also maps out the divorce rates by income bracket.
Divorce Rates by Occupation
Yau calculated that the median divorce rate at 36 percent. Occupations that have this rate of
divorce include coffee shop and cafeteria attendants, human resources employees, and construction
workers.
The two occupations with the highest divorce rates were gaming managers and bartenders. The
former had a rate of 52.9 percent and the latter was at 52.7 percent. The irregular work hours
associated with these professions could have a role in the high divorce rates, as they forfeit spending
time with loved ones. Flight attendant is another occupation with erratic working hours and a high
divorce rate, at 50.5 percent, according to the study.

3. On the opposite end of the scale are actuaries, who have the lowest divorce rate at 17 percent,
followed by physical scientists at 18.9 percent and medical or life scientists at 19.6 percent. Yau
speculated that salaries also influence divorce rates and included it in the study.
Divorce Rates and Median Salary
Yau included a graph that showed divorce rates versus median salary per occupation. The graph
indicated that divorce rates tend to decline with rising salary, with the highest concentration of
divorce rates between $20,000 to $40,000 median salary. The highest-earning occupation on the
scale, physicians and surgeons who have a median salary of over $160,000, had a divorce rate of 21.8
percent.
Financial security could have a strong role in preventing divorce, but cases involving multiple
properties and large monetary amounts may be more difficult to handle. People with greater
financial resources turn to experts in mediation and high-conflict situations to ease their divorce
procedures.

4. Sources:
 https://flowingdata.com/2017/07/25/divorce-and-occupation/
 https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/
 https://www.divorceattorneyinlongisland.com/
 https://www.businessinsider.com/10-jobs-with-the-highest-divorce-rates-and-10-with-the-
lowest-2017-10