• Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year
• About 4.1 million babies were born in the United States last year, up slightly from 2004.
  • More than 1.5 million of those were to unmarried women; that is about 37 percent of the total.
    • In 2004, about 36 percent of births were out of wedlock.
• The number of unmarried-couple households with children has been climbing, hitting more than 1.7 million last year, up from under 200,000 in 1970.
• The birth rate among teenagers declined 2 percent in 2005, continuing a trend from the early 1990s.
  • The rate is now about 40 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19.

• As of 2000, 10.8 million people live in the exurbs of large metropolitan areas
  • 5 million (47%) live in exurbian areas of the South
  • 2.6 million (one-fourth) live in midwestern exurbs
• Nationwide 245 counties have at least one fifth of their residents living in exurbs
  • Louisville metro area has 13 counties
  • Atlanta, Richmond, and Washington D.C. has 11 counties
  • These exurban counties grew by 12% between 2000 and 2005

In 1970, only 15 percent of Americans 25 to 29 were unmarried. Now nearly half are, according to 2005 census numbers. Census statistics suggest that young adults living in states where there is a high cost of living and a competitive career market often wait longer to marry. Statistics also show that today's young adults are making less, when adjusted for inflation, than people their age did 30 years ago.

Americans have become less likely to marry and this is reflected in a decline of 50% from 1970 to 2004

Read more from The State of Our Unions Survey