A new 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 “Women’s Living Arrangements at First Birth” report analyzes how women’s living situations—whether married, cohabiting, or neither—at the time of their first birth have changed over time and differ by education level and race or ethnicity.
According to the findings, fewer women had their first child while not married or cohabiting in 2020-2024 than in 1990-1994.
In terms of education, a higher percentage of first-time mothers with at least a bachelor’s degree were married at childbirth in recent years. Specifically, this group saw an increase from 74.4% being married at first birth in 1990-1994 to 84.5% in 2020-2024. Additionally, only 4.4% of these mothers were neither married nor living with a partner during their first birth in 2020-2024, down from 14.4% three decades earlier.
For women without a bachelor’s degree, there was a decline in marriage rates at first birth—from 58.6% in the early ’90s to 40.6% recently—while cohabitation rose significantly for this group from 19.2% to 34.8%.
The report also highlighted differences among racial and ethnic groups. In the early ’90s, Asian women were most likely to be married at their first childbirth (81.7%), followed by White (71.8%), Hispanic (61.2%), and Black (31.5%) mothers. By the early ’20s, the percentage of Hispanic mothers who were married at their first birth fell to 43.9%. There was no statistical change for Asian, White, or Black mothers regarding marital status at first birth during this period.
Cohabitation increased among both White and Hispanic mothers having their first child: for White mothers from 14.5% to 20.2%, and for Hispanic mothers from 20.4% to 34%.
The U.S Census Bureau encourages those interested in more details about these trends to refer to data available through the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
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