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 changes in women’s living situations—married, cohabiting, or neither—at the time of their first birth, and how these patterns vary by education level and race or ethnicity over time.
The findings indicate that fewer women had their first child while neither married nor living with a partner in 2020-2024 than in 1990-1994.
Educational attainment played a significant role in these trends. The percentage of first-time mothers with at least a bachelor’s degree who were married increased from 74.4% in 1990-1994 to 84.5% in 2020-2024. Among this group, only 4.4% 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, the share who were married at first birth declined from 58.6% to 40.6% between the two periods. At the same time, cohabitation among these women rose from 19.2% to 34.8%.
The report also highlights differences by race and ethnicity. In the early 1990s, Asian women were most likely to be married at their first birth (81.7%), followed by White (71.8%), Hispanic (61.2%), and Black (31.5%) mothers.
By the early 2020s, the proportion of Hispanic mothers who were married at their first birth decreased to 43.9%. There was no significant statistical change for Asian, White, or Black mothers regarding marital status at first birth during this period.
Cohabitation rates increased for both White and Hispanic mothers: among White mothers it rose from 14.5% to 20.2%, and among Hispanic mothers from 20.4% to 34%.
More information on these findings is available through resources such as the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
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