We have all seen the movies and television shows about the workaholic who destroys their marriage or that cannot find love because they prioritize their career over their personal life. However, with about half of all United States marriages ending in divorce, does a person’s Palm Beach County job really impact their marriage?
As it turns out, maybe
According to several websites (including, Zippia and gobankingrates.com), when you look at United States Census data, there does appear to be some jobs that have much higher divorce rates by 30. However, these jobs may not be the ones you may think of as marriage-killing jobs.
Not the “obvious” ones
Many of those workaholic movies feature a lawyer, doctor or investment banker. However, the Census data actually puts these professions in the lowest divorce rate category. As it turns out, these professions have similar divorce rates to the clergy.
Who has the worst divorce rates?
The top divorce rates go to those in the military, with First-Line Enlisted Military Supervisors hitting the highest divorce rate of 30% (double the next highest career). Since our military servicemembers spend so much time away from their families in dangerous conditions, the fact that their marriages implode at higher rates is not entirely surprising. After all, the psychological stress from those dangers, dealing with everyday life without your spouse, your spouse’s psychological (PTSD, etc.) and physical (loss of limbs, shrapnel, etc.) trauma when they return home and low military pay, can fracture even the most solid marriages.
Another common thread
A common thread throughout all of the high-divorce-rate careers are these similar stressors: long hours away from family and high-stress/dangerous jobs. For example, dangerous blue-collar work with long hours has high divorce rates as well.
The takeaway
Any Delray Beach, Florida, married couple could potentially face divorce. Life happens, and couples grow apart. That is just life. However, these data show us that there are tipping points that are reached much faster by those in high-stress jobs that take you out of the house for extended periods of time.