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 report, titled “Women’s Living Arrangements at First Birth,” examines changes in women’s marital and cohabitation status at the time of their first birth, with a focus on differences by education level, race, and ethnicity.
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.
Education played a significant role in these trends. Among first-time mothers with at least a bachelor’s degree, the percentage who were married increased from 74.4% in 1990-1994 to 84.5% in 2020-2024. The share of these mothers who were neither married nor living with a partner dropped from 14.4% to 4.4% over the same period. In contrast, for women without a bachelor’s degree, marriage rates declined from 58.6% to 40.6%, while cohabitation at first birth rose from 19.2% to 34.8%.
Racial and ethnic differences were also noted. 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 first-time mothers decreased to 43.9%. There was no significant change for Asian, White, or Black mothers regarding marital births during this period.
Cohabitation increased among certain groups as well: it rose 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.
For additional details about these trends, data can be found through resources such as the Current Population Survey June Fertility Supplement File and America Counts.
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