The US birth rate falls to its lowest point ever even as more women in their 30s and early 40s become moms

America is having fewer babies than at any time on record. A new federal report finds the general fertility rate dipped another 1% in 2025 to set a fresh low and extend a slide that has run for about 20 years.

The steepest drops came among younger women. Births to women ages 20 to 24 fell 6% in a single year while births to women in their late teens fell 7%. Brady Hamilton, a demographer at the CDC's statistics center who helped write the report, called the decline among women in their early 20s notable.

The picture is not all downhill. The same data show a small but real rise in births to women ages 30 to 45. Without that bump among older moms the overall drop would have been even bigger.

Waiting longer by choice

Dr. Tanise Branche runs labor and delivery at a hospital network in Philadelphia. She says more of her younger patients are putting their own goals first before they think about children. She is part of the trend too. She began having kids at 37 and is now expecting her fourth, which she will deliver at 43. She says the upside is that women now get to choose.

A study released last month by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that Gen Z women are far less likely than earlier generations to say they want children. It pointed to wider job options, more independence, rising costs, shifting priorities and worries about dying in childbirth.

Money weighs heavily on many families. Author Anna Louie Sussman, who froze her eggs and had her child in her early 40s, says plenty of young adults still hope for a family but feel they simply cannot afford one. Experts say cheaper housing, child care and health coverage could help people have the kids they want.

A country growing older

The ripple effects are already showing up. The number of Americans under 18 fell by more than 1 million between 2010 and 2020. The median age climbed to 39.4 in 2025 and a growing list of states, including Vermont, are now losing population.

In small towns that can mean fewer kids in class. Some communities worry about keeping their local elementary schools open as the number of young families shrinks.