Since 2007 Peak, Births Have Fallen in 49 States

The annual number of births in the United States peaked in 2007 at 4.3 million. Since then, births have fallen in every year but one. This ongoing baby bust is widespread, being felt in nearly every state. North Dakota is the only state in which 2018 births surpassed 2007 births—by a large 20.3 percent. The District of Columbia experienced a 3.9 percent increase in births between those years. But these gains are old news. The annual number of births has been falling in North Dakota since 2014 and in the District of Columbia since 2016.

Apart from North Dakota and the District of Columbia, these are the five states in which the baby bust is having the smallest impact...

Percent change in births, 2007 to 2018
-3.0% in South Dakota
-3.3% in Washington
-5.6% in Nebraska
-7.0% in Tennessee
-7.4% in Florida

These are the five states in which the baby bust is having the biggest impact...

Percent change in births, 2007 to 2018
-24.9% in New Mexico
-21.6% in Arizona
-20.4% in Mississippi
-19.9% in Illinois
-19.8% in California

Looking at the latest annual trend, the number of births fell in all but three states between 2017 and 2018. The only exceptions were Missouri, Maine, and New Jersey. The increases in those states were minuscule, however, ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 percent.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Births: Provisional Data for 2018 (PDF)