U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to a Record Low in 2024, New Analysis Finds, Even as Total Births Tick Up

New data analysis of 2024 birth and fertility trends from Birth Injury Lawyers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia confirms what demographers have been tracking for years: America’s fertility rate has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded, even as the raw number of babies born nationwide edged upward.

The study finds that the U.S. general fertility rate fell 1% in 2024 to 53.8 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, a record low. The total fertility rate, a measure of the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, dropped to 1.599, down from 1.621 in 2023 and well short of the 2.1 births per woman needed to sustain the population without immigration. Since the national birth peak in 2007, the fertility rate has declined 22%, even though total births have fallen a comparatively smaller 16% over that same period, a gap explained largely by population growth among women of childbearing age.

That national fertility slide plays out very differently depending on where a woman lives. South Dakota posted the nation’s highest fertility rate in 2024 at 66.73 births per 1,000 women, nearly a quarter above the national average, followed closely by Nebraska, Alaska, North Dakota and Kentucky. The District of Columbia recorded the lowest rate in the country at 39.76, trailed by Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Oregon. That 27-point spread between South Dakota and the District of Columbia underscores just how differently regions of the country are approaching family formation, shaped by everything from housing costs and education levels to cultural and religious traditions.

Raw birth totals tell a related but distinct story, since they’re driven largely by population size rather than the rate at which women are having children. California and Texas alone accounted for more than 792,000 births in 2024, nearly one in every five babies born nationwide, while the ten most populous birth states combined for just over half of the national total of roughly 3.6 million births. Notably, California ranks 42nd out of 51 jurisdictions for fertility rate despite leading the country in raw births, a distinction that captures the difference between where Americans live and where they’re proportionately having the most children.

The study also documents a growing generational shift toward later motherhood. Women aged 30 to 34 now post the nation’s highest birth rate at 93.7 per 1,000 women, while teen birth rates fell 4% to another record low. A 2025 CDC analysis cited in the study found the average first-time mother in large metro counties was 28.5 years old, compared with 24.8 in rural counties, a gap that widens even further at the state level between Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and New Jersey on one end and Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma on the other.

Marital status and the rising cost of child care, which now averages $13,128 a year nationally and has climbed 29% since 2020, further shape these regional patterns, with unmarried birth rates ranging from 22.1% in Utah to 54.9% in Louisiana.

“The demographic shifts we can see clear evidence of in the birth data are reshaping communities, school systems and economies over the long term,” said a spokesperson for Birth Injury Lawyers Group. “By understanding where and why those shifts are happening, we can more effectively serve the families in those communities.”

The birth of a child is a beautiful and miraculous event. However, when something goes wrong, it can cause a family incalculable pain. When a preventable mistake injures a newborn, the future a family had in mind for their child can quickly disappear, often leaving parents overwhelmed with medical bills and caretaking duties.