Thirty Years Of Local Marriage & Divorce Stats

For each of the past 30 years I have asked for divorce and marriage statistics from our local court, numbers graciously provided since 1996. While our Rockingham/Harrisonburg population has grown by over 50% since then, the number of annual divorces has remained fairly constant, 414 in 2025. But last year did see a record number of marriage licenses issued, 1053, 28 more than last year's record of 1025. 

Of those experiencing marital breakups last year, 314 were uncontested (no fault divorces), 24 were contested cases and the rest were marked as unknown. 

Meanwhile, while we have good records of documented marriages in our community, we have no statistics on the increased number of partners living together without registering their undocumented marriages (many, by the way, do not realize that Virginia gives no legal status to "common law" marriages). Also, we have no record of how many of our unregistered marriages are experiencing de facto divorces, with the same kinds of stressful effects such breakups can have on children and other close family members and friends.

Here are the numbers of registered marriages and divorces over the past 30 years:

Year       Marriages     Divorces

1996           873                 387    (fewest annual marriages)

1997           950                 405

1998           964                 396

1999           932                 405

2000           947                 365

2001          1003                438     

2002           976                 421

2003           961                 399

2004           959                 437

2005           889                 381

2006           929                 389

2007           925                 434

2008           950                 405

2009           903                 347 

2010           879                 358     

2011           933                 433

2012           995                 445

2013           924                 484    

2014           972                 427

2015           955                 474

2016           985                 612     (most annual divorces)

2017           983                 426

2018           935                 476

2019           947                 487

2020           882                 445

2021           994                 466

2022           954                 332     (fewest annual divorces)

2023           961                 366

2024          1025                400     

2025          1053               414     (most annual marriages)

It should be noted that an unknown percentage of these represent people who are from other localities. Clerk of Court Chaz Haywood believes that number may be significant, particular in the case of divorce, in that uncontested divorces are known to be more easily obtained here than in some localities. 

It should also be noted that we cannot assume a rate of divorce based on any one year's numbers, as in "over 40% of first time marriages in our community will end in divorce,” since, for example, many of the above couples are marrying or divorcing for a second, third or fourth time, and future divorce rates could increase or decrease for a variety of reasons. But with numbers like these over a period of decades, we can safely conclude that the odds of a given first marriage surviving are well above 50%.

As a long time marriage and family counselor, I celebrate any signs of our having more stable and healthy marriages and families. I know that not all divorces are preventable, and that some, regrettably, are even necessary, but our communities, congregations and extended families need to provide all of the support and encouragement we can to existing marriages and our families. Children still want, and deserve, happily married parents.