This year was the first time in the American Family Survey’s 11-year run that people said finances were the top reason they capped, or planned to cap, the size of their family. Photo / 123rf
Most Americans think raising children is unaffordable, with finances as the major factor in determining family size, a new report found.
Seven in 10 respondents said they believe raising children is too expensive - a 13% jump from last year, according to the American Family Survey, which tracks public opinion about family life in the United States annually.
This year was the first time in the survey’s 11-year run that Americans said finances were the top reason they capped, or planned to cap, the size of their family.
They cited it twice as often as any other factor, researchers said, mirroring nationwide concerns about rising costs.
The results, released on Saturday NZT, are a key signal of how finances are shaping Americans’ decisions about whether to have children, and if they do, when and how many. The country’s birth rate stood at 1.6 children per woman in 2024 - up less than 1% from the previous year’s historic low.
The survey was conducted by Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute and Centre for the Study of Elections and Democracy, and the Deseret News. Researchers surveyed 3000 people between August 6 and 18. The margin of error was 2%.
Susan Brown, director of Bowling Green State University’s Centre for Family and Demographic Research, called the affordability concerns the survey’s most striking finding.
“To get 70% of Americans to agree on something, just that alone is telling us something,” said Brown, who is not affiliated with the report.
Conservatives, alarmed by America’s declining birth rate, have been embracing the “pronatalist” movement, which encourages having more children - in part by creating family friendly government policies. The survey results suggest many people broadly support or remain neutral on government programmes to help people with children.
Economic concerns have been surfacing across the US in recent months - in grocery store aisles, the job market, and state and local elections.
Consumers are tightening their spending as they battle rising food and electricity costs.
More than one million people working for US employers have been laid off this year.
Some politicians, including democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who won New York City’s mayoral race, centred their campaigns on affordability and scored victories in this month’s elections.
Elsewhere, politicians have sought to make family related costs more affordable.
New Mexico is piloting the first programme in the US to offer free childcare, regardless of income. US President Donald Trump has floated the idea of creating 50-year home mortgages.
Respondents to the American Family Survey were asked about the factors that played a role in limiting the number of children they had or planned to have. They could select from a list of nine items, according to the report.
“Insufficient money” was the most popular choice, at 43%, followed by 41% who said none of the factors - including “relationship instability”, “lack of family support” and “conflict with career goals” - played a role.
Beyond that, respondents most frequently selected “lack of personal desire” and “lack of supportive partner” as factors limiting the number of children they had or planned to have.
Money has long been a consideration for people thinking about starting a family.
But in recent years, the rising costs of everyday needs for children and families - such as groceries, housing and childcare - have become a bigger factor in those decisions, said Matt Brooks, a sociology professor at Florida State University.
“People really want to make sure that they have all their economic and financial ducks in a row before having kids,” Brooks said.
While the US birth rate has been declining for years, it hit a historic low in 2023, a 2% decrease from the previous year, according to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The development alarmed conservatives who view the family unit as the centre of American life.
For months, members of the pronatalist movement - who tend to align ideologically with Republicans - have pushed the Trump Administration to enact policies to encourage Americans to have more children.
The new survey found some partisan difference in attitudes about factors limiting family size.
Those who identified as Democrats were more likely to say that “insufficient money” was a reason to limit the number of children than Republicans and independents were.
Half or more of the Democratic, Republican and independent respondents said they would support an increased child tax credit.
Republicans were least likely to express support for various forms of government assistance to parents. The survey asked about a child tax credit, universal day care and direct payments to parents caring for children at home, among other options.
Christina Gibson-Davis, a sociology and public policy professor at Duke University, cautioned that even if the federal Government were to create new policies meant to make raising children more affordable, it is unlikely that those programmes would significantly increase the birth rate.
“It’s really hard to say that you would have a child if given X amount of money from the Government, because I think that’s just not the calculus,” Gibson-Davis said. “It is a very intimate, personal decision that people make.”
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