Magazine: 2 Nevada cities rank high in divorce

RENO (AP) - If you're looking for matrimonial bliss 'til death do us part, there's a good chance you won't find it in Reno or Las Vegas, according to a men's magazine.

The latest edition of Men's Health puts Las Vegas in second place after Cheyenne, Wyo., as cities where relationships are "most doomed for divorce," a Reno newspaper reported Wednesday. Reno came in fourth on the list of 100 cities.

The magazine based its findings on divorce laws, the percentage of residents who have split up and the number of licensed marriage and family therapists.

According to the Census Bureau, Nevada's divorce rate has dropped steadily from 11.4 per 1,000 people in 1990, but it still leads the nation in failed marriages.

In 2007, Nevada had 6.5 divorces per 1,000 population.

Academics have attributed the statistic to the state's 24-hour lifestyle, transient population, service-industry jobs and the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors such as drinking.

Then there's tradition.

Nevada's legalization of casino gambling in 1931 and the passage of liberal divorce laws, such as a three-month residency requirement later changed to six weeks, created a divorce boom for Reno.

In the 1930s, columnist Walter Winchell coined the term "Reno-vated" as a euphemism for divorce.

"In books, movies and popular culture, a woman mentioning 'Reno' was a kind of code for divorce," said Michael Green, an author and history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "A man might go to Reno to gamble, but when a woman said she was heading there, for a lot of people that would mean divorce was her likely purpose."

The safest city for vows in the magazine survey was San Jose, Calif., followed by Columbia, S.C., and El Paso, Texas.