Understanding California’s Divorce Rate for 2025, What the Numbers Actually Mean
Authored by Izzat H. Riaz – Californian Paralegal, U.K. Certified Lawyer (LL.M.)
When people ask me about the “California divorce rate,” they usually want a simple answer: is divorce going up or down, and what does it say about marriage in this state? The problem is that “divorce rate” gets used to mean three different things, and those numbers can point in different directions depending on which metric you are looking at. In my work and research as an LL.M. and certified paralegal, I treat this topic the way courts treat evidence: define the terms first, then interpret the facts.
The Big Picture Trend, Divorce Has Been Declining
On the national level, the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey shows that divorce rates (measured as the number of women who divorced in the last year per 1,000 women age 15 and over) declined from 2012 to 2022. The national divorce rate dropped from 9.8 to 7.1 over that period.
That matters for California because California generally follows the same broad pattern driving divorce trends nationally: people are marrying later, cohabitation is more common, and fewer people are marrying at all. The Census Bureau specifically notes that marriage rates held relatively steady nationally over that same period while divorce rates declined, which supports what many family law professionals see on the ground: fewer marriages formed, and fewer dissolutions relative to prior decades.
A Critical Reality in 2025, California Divorce Counts Are Not Fully Reflected in CDC State Divorce Rates
One reason California divorce “rankings” are so messy is that the CDC’s divorce-rate-by-state map does not include California because California does not report divorce data to the National Vital Statistics System in the same way as many other states. The CDC is direct about this. California is among the states excluded from their divorce rate map.
So if you see a California “divorce rate per 1,000 population” that looks like it came from a CDC state table, you should be skeptical immediately, because the CDC itself is telling you California is not included in that dataset.
What You Can Reliably Say in 2025 Using Government Data
Here is the cleanest way to explain California divorce trends without drifting into shaky numbers.
California does have a CDC “Stats of the States” page that publishes certain state-level measures and explicitly flags when a divorce rate is not reported. On that CDC page, California’s marriage rate is listed, but the divorce rate is marked “Not reported.”
That pushes us back to more reliable sources for divorce trends, especially the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which tracks marriage and divorce rates using a consistent methodology. The Census Bureau explains exactly how it calculates marriage and divorce rates in its state comparison materials and emphasizes that these rates are based on women who married or divorced in the last year per 1,000 women age 15 and older.
The Two “Divorce Rates” People Confuse
This is where many articles go wrong, and it is why I recommend being disciplined about language.
One metric measures how many people are currently divorced (a snapshot of marital status). That is a percentage of the population who are divorced at a given time.
A different metric measures how many divorces occurred in the last year (a flow measurement). That is closer to what demographers mean when they discuss a “divorce rate,” and it is the measure the Census Bureau highlights in its marriage and divorce trend reporting.
If an article mixes these two, you can end up with claims that sound dramatic but do not actually mean what the reader thinks they mean.
What I Would Avoid Claiming Without Strong Primary Support
I would not publish a claim like “California’s divorce rate is 60%” unless it is tied to a specific, defensible definition and a primary dataset that clearly supports it. Broad “X% of marriages end in divorce” statements are usually not California-specific, are often outdated, and frequently oversimplify how divorces are counted and how marriage patterns have changed. The Census Bureau’s trend framing, and the CDC’s reporting limits for California, are exactly why precision matters here.
What These Trends Mean for Real People Considering Divorce in California
From a family law perspective, the practical takeaway is not that divorce is “rare” or “common.” The takeaway is that people are approaching marriage and divorce differently than they did 20 or 30 years ago, and California’s legal system is built to handle both high-conflict dissolutions and cooperative, uncontested dissolutions.
California remains a no-fault state, and the legal mechanics of divorce are stable: financial disclosures matter, child custody turns on best interests, and community property principles shape the division of marital assets. Trends may influence how often divorces occur, but they do not change what the court requires from you once a case is filed.
A Responsible 2025 Bottom Line
Divorce is generally down compared to prior decades, and national Census data confirms a meaningful decline in divorce rates from 2012 to 2022.
At the same time, California-specific “per 1,000 population” divorce rates are not cleanly available through the CDC’s state divorce-rate map because California is excluded from that dataset, and the CDC’s own California profile indicates the divorce rate is not reported there.
If you want to discuss California divorce trends credibly in 2025, the most defensible approach is to (1) use ACS-based rates when you are comparing over time, (2) clearly define whether you mean “currently divorced” versus “divorced in the last year,” and (3) avoid sweeping percentage claims that are not anchored to a primary source.
Authorship and Authority
Written from my perspective as an LL.M. and certified paralegal. This article is legal information for the public, not legal advice for your specific situation. If you are considering divorce, especially with children, real estate, or support issues involved, I recommend getting advice from a qualified California family law attorney who can evaluate your facts under current law.
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