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 report, titled “Women’s Living Arrangements at First Birth,” examines changes in living arrangements—such as being married, cohabiting, or neither—at the time of a woman’s first birth, and how these patterns differ by education level and race or ethnicity.
According to the findings, fewer women had their first child while neither married nor living with a partner in 2020-2024 than did so in 1990-1994.
The report provides several insights regarding education. For women with at least a bachelor’s degree, the percentage who were married at their first birth increased from 74.4% in 1990-1994 to 84.5% in 2020-2024. In contrast, only 4.4% of these mothers were neither married nor cohabiting at first birth during 2020-2024—a decrease from 14.4% three decades earlier.
For women without a bachelor’s degree, marriage rates at first birth declined from 58.6% to 40.6% over this period, while cohabitation rose from 19.2% to 34.8%.
The study also analyzed trends by race and ethnicity. In the early 1990s, Asian women were most likely to be married when they had their first child (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 their first birth dropped to 43.9%. There was no significant change for Asian, White or Black mothers regarding marital status at first birth over this time frame.
Cohabitation increased among both White and Hispanic mothers having their first child: for White mothers it rose from 14.5% to 20.2%, and for Hispanic mothers it grew from 20.4% to 34%.
Further details about these trends can be found through resources such as the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts provided by the U.S Census Bureau.
For more information about women’s living arrangements at the time of their first birth refer to the Current Population Survey, June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
