A recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that more women had their first child while living with an unmarried partner in the early 2020s compared to the early 1990s. The study, titled “Women’s Living Arrangements at First Birth,” examines how women’s living situations at the time of their first birth have changed over three decades, focusing on marital status, cohabitation, education level, and race or ethnicity.
The findings indicate that a smaller percentage of women had their first child while neither married nor living with a partner in 2020-2024 than in 1990-1994.
Education played a significant role in these trends. Among women with at least a bachelor’s degree, those who were married at the time of their first birth increased from 74.4% in 1990-1994 to 84.5% in 2020-2024. The proportion of these mothers who were neither married nor cohabiting dropped from 14.4% to 4.4% during the same period.
In contrast, for women without a bachelor’s degree, marriage rates at first birth declined from 58.6% to 40.6%. Cohabitation among this group rose from 19.2% to 34.8%.
The report also details differences by race and ethnicity. In the early 1990s, Asian women were most likely to be married at first birth (81.7%), followed by White (71.8%), Hispanic (61.2%), and Black (31.5%) mothers. By the early 2020s, the share of Hispanic mothers who were married at first birth decreased to 43.9%. There was no statistical change for Asian, White, or Black mothers regarding marital births during this period.
Cohabitation rates increased for both White and Hispanic mothers having their first child: among White mothers it went from 14.5% to 20.2%, and among Hispanic mothers from 20.4% to 34%.
Further details about these patterns can be found through resources such as the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
