The U.S. birth rate plunged to an all-time low in 2024 after being on a downward trajectory for roughly 20 years, with soaring housing costs widely cited as a major contributing factor.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated birth data for the previous year, revealing that the nation’s fertility rate decreased to fewer than 1.6 kids per woman, down from 2.1 kids per woman recorded in 2006, which is the rate the country needs to sustain its population.

The last two decades saw women increasingly delaying having children, or choosing not to have them at all. There are many factors fueling this trend, including personal and cultural, and one of them is the rising housing costs, according to some experts.

Data analyzed by

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