04/25/2026
Marriage is an economy of scale. And divorce means confronting harsh realities about the cost of being solo.
Ileana Garcia and her husband lived in a five-bedroom brick colonial home with a dining-room table that could seat a dozen people.
Just before her divorce was finalized in 2023, she downsized from her home of more than two decades in suburban New York to a nearby apartment. She still likes having people over, but at her 55th birthday party recently, everyone had to crowd around her kitchen island.
“There wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit,” said Garcia, who works in software sales. “That part sucked.”
The toughest part: Her rent is $5,000 a month. That is even more than the mortgage payments she and her husband paid with a combined income that was twice what she earns now.
Garcia knows she is fortunate financially. She earns about $250,000 a year—around what she was making when she was married. But without her ex-husband’s salary, it feels like she took a huge pay cut.
For others, the lifestyle adjustment after divorce is more extreme.
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