A research company specializing in real estate market trends and news revealed last week that "happily ever after" seems to happen for married couples depending on the state where they live in.
Study Finds reported that Point2, which is based in Canada, conducted a study that showed couples in Virginia and Maine stayed longer in marriage than couples who stayed elsewhere in the United States. The average years the couples stayed together is 22.3.
"Some believe love lasts three years, others think love is everlasting. Married couples in West Virginia and Maine are definitely of the second opinion: At a median of 22.3 years, these two states have the longest-lasting marriages in the nation," Point2 said.
It added that South Dakota and New Jersey place second and third for "romantics everywhere." Half of the population of these states are married with a "median duration" of more than 20 years.
"These states seem to know the most about love," it stressed.
The study entitled, "From Dating to Happily Ever After: States Where Love Lasts," entailed analysts going through "the right numbers to discover the states where love and lovers come first." The analysts referenced data from each state on marriage duration, divorce rates, number of married people who chose to move to a different state, as well as, the costs entailed in the marriage preparations, among others.
The study identified the top 10 states with the highest marriage scores. These are, according to their ranking of highest to lowest: South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, and Utah.
Utah is said to have the most number of weddings at 8.14 to a thousand population, followed by New Hampshire at 6.78. Marriage duration for South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Montana were roughly the same at 21 years. While marriage duration for Nebraska and New Jersey were roughly the same at 20 years. North Dakota showed couples' marriage duration was at 19.9 years and for Utah it was 17.2 years.
"If you're curious about the states you should avoid, here's a shortlist: Nevada, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma and New Mexico have the highest divorce rates," Point2 disclosed.
In terms of weddings, California, Florida, and Texas "all have over 100,000 weddings in just one year." Hawaii ranks second to Nevada in terms of the number of weddings per 1,000 people at 8.52 weddings a year.
Other key findings of the study involve Hawaii being "the place to be if you're serious about your happy ever after." The results of the study show that Hawaii boasts of having the biggest number of married people who moved from another place. Hawaii ranks as the second in the "wellbeing index," since it is regarded as both the "Paradise of the Pacific" and as a "love haven."
"Perhaps the secret to staying in love is finding a faraway place to move to--and possibly avoid the in-laws. The study finds a higher percentage of married couples move to Hawaii (57%) than any other place in the 50 states. The Paradise of the Pacific also finished as the number one state in terms of "everlasting love" after researchers measured 18 scores including well-being, the share of married and divorced people, the opportunities for couples to dine out, and the overall appeal of each state," Study Finds analyzed.
The study also showed that New Yorkers find diamonds as their "best friends" based on Google searches. In addition, the study also discovered that online dating was highest in Vermont. An interesting find is "romantic movies are the best way to say I love you in Alaska."
