Whenever the US Census comes out with new statistics on marriage, it’s interesting, but in a “well I could have told you that” sort of way. The most recent findings are no exception, as The Huffington Post reports – although more people are getting married in the conservative states, the marriages are less likely to last there than in blue states. Although it might be surprising to some, as conservative states tend to be more religious and believe in marriage as the ultimate goal in life, however, the reasoning behind the findings make almost too much sense.

From Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University:

“The reason is that young adults in the South and West tend to have less education and marry earlier, both of which lead to a higher risk of divorce.”

“The South and West also have many migrants from other parts of the region who have left their social support networks behind. When they have marital problems, they have fewer people to turn to for help,” he added.

So, not to overly-extrapolate here, but it seems that Andrew is saying that MORE EDUCATED people tend to wait longer to get married. So, statistically, it’s SMARTER to wait on marriage? Yep, I think that’s what he’s getting at. Furthermore,

As a whole, marriages are now at a record low, with just 52 percent of adults 18 and over saying they were joined in wedlock, compared with 57 percent in 2000, according to census data released last September. The never-married included 46.3 percent of young adults 25-34 – the first time the share of never-married young adults exceeded those who were married, 44.9 percent, with the rest being divorced or widowed.

Score one for #teamSINGLE, huh?

The most thought-provoking (and slightly hilarious) aspect of the study, though, has to be that out of the four states with the lowest divorce rate (Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey), three of them allow gay marriage. So maybe, JUST MAYBE, letting the gays get married isn’t destroying the very fabric of the American family, hmm? Strange.