Quick. What first comes to your mind when thinking about Clearwater, Florida? Is it spring break? While this is still likely the most common answer, it may not be so to the married, make that, no-so-married ilk. A New York Times story has listed Clearwater in a tie with Dayton, Ohio and fellow Floridian city Lauderhill for the cities with the highest percentage of divorced people per population of 65,000 or more.

The New York Times story studied U.S. Census data and a survey by Queens College researchers in order to determine the divorce capital(s) of the world. Specifically, the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey asked people in 2005 whether they were married, widowed, divorced, separated or never married. It turns out that 18 percent of those surveyed in Clearwater were divorced as compared to the 10.2 percent national average.

So is it something in the water in Clearwater? Perhaps, but Florida is one of the easiest states to get a divorce. There is no divorce waiting period, and wannabe divorcees do not have to pit fault on one another in order to end their marriages. While Florida has a no-fault divorce law, some have attributed Clearwater’s new-found status as the divorce capital of the world to the lovely weather and way of living. As one example, Clearwater divorce attorney Bridget Heptner said in a St. Petersburg Times story that most people come to the city, realize that “there’s so much more to life,” and thus wonder why they are “stuck” with their spouse. Can the same thing be said about Dayton, Ohio? I’m just wondering.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Divorce News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.