Cost and Access Population and Global Health
RRM Academy Synopsis
Ideal family size for Americans holds at 2.7 children in 2025
American adults put the ideal family at an average of 2.7 children, a 2025 Gallup poll of 1,002 adults finds. The national birth rate sits at a record low of 1.6 births per woman. The average ideal stood at 2.7 children in 2018, 2023 and 2025. Gallup suggests that practical challenges may explain the gap.
Key Findings
- At 1.6 births per woman, the national birth rate sits below both the stated ideal and the replacement rate of 2.1 needed to hold population size steady.
- Two children was the most common ideal (40%), followed by three (27%), four (11%) and five or more (4%); one child drew 4% and none 2%.
- Support for one or two children (44%) and for three or more (42%) was statistically tied for a second straight poll; in 2011, 57% favored one or two.
- The average ideal was 3.6 children in 1936, when Gallup first asked, and 2.8 in 1973; after the 1970s and 1980s, it has ranged from 2.4 to 2.7.
- Men, Republicans, people of color, men under age 50 and weekly or monthly churchgoers were significantly more likely than their counterparts to favor three or more children.
Interpretation
The report describes a national opinion poll that Gallup has repeated for almost 90 years, and each reading captures views at one point in time. Interviewers phoned 1,002 randomly chosen adults, all 18 or older, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Gallup weighted the results to match the national population, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Gallup reads the lasting gap as a sign that economic and cultural pressures may be at work. The report names high costs for housing, child care, health care and college as likely factors, along with birth control, declining religiosity, and later marriage and parenthood.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) adds a clinical question to this gap. For some couples, an undiagnosed health problem in one or both partners may explain why they have fewer children than they hoped. Endometriosis, ovulation disorders and male factor problems are examples. RRM evaluates both partners and seeks the root cause, with the aim of restoring fertility.
Abstract
Gallup poll of 1,002 US adults, conducted July 7-21, 2025, released September 4, 2025. Americans continue to say that the ideal family size includes an average of 2.7 children. Distribution: none 2%, one child 4%, two children 40%, three children 27%, four children 11%, five or more 4%. Preferences for one or two children (44%) are statistically tied with preferences for three or more (42%). The mean ideal has held at 2.7 across the past three readings, in 2018, 2023 and 2025.
