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 “Women’s Living Arrangements at First Birth” report examines changes in women’s marital and cohabitation status at the time of their first birth, highlighting differences by education level and race or ethnicity over three decades.
The data indicate that in 2020-2024, a smaller share of women had their first child while neither married nor living with a partner than was seen in 1990-1994.
Educational attainment played a significant role in these trends. Among first-time mothers with at least a bachelor’s degree, those who were married 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% over the same period.
In contrast, among women without a bachelor’s degree, marriage rates at first birth declined from 58.6% to 40.6%. Cohabitation among this group rose notably, increasing from 19.2% to 34.8%.
The report also explored 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 percentage of married Hispanic mothers at first birth decreased to 43.9%, while there was no statistically significant change for Asian, White, or Black mothers during this period.
Cohabitation became more common across several groups as well: it increased from 14.5% to 20.2% among White first-time mothers and from 20.4% to 34.0% among Hispanic first-time mothers between the two periods studied.
Additional information on women’s living arrangements at their first birth is available through resources such as the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
For further details about these findings visit https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2023/demo/fertility/womens-living-arrangements-first-birth.html
