The Real Reasons Michiganders Are Skipping Kids

I don't know why, but I was kind of surprised to see that Michigan is one of the top states in the country for adults that have chosen to not have kids.

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This information was collected from researchers at Michigan State University.

They got this data from the Civic Health and Institutions Project (CHIP).

It focused on surveys from a nationally representative sample of over 20,000 adults covering all 50 U.S. states in 2024.

The surveys made it possible to distinguish childfree people from people who plan to have kids in the future or who couldn’t have kids.

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Michigan Ranks 2nd Nationally for Adults Choosing to Be Childfree

The researchers found that around 20% or 1 in 5 adults in Michigan have purposely chosen to be childfree.

Michigan comes in just behind California at number one with around 22% of their adult population not wanting to have kids.

On the opposite end of this list are the states of Louisiana, and the Dakotas with around only 10% of adults wanting to be kid-free.

Why Michiganders Don't Want To Have Kids?

Everyone has their own unique reasons as to why they want to have kids or not have them.

The biggest reasons why people said they didn't want to have kids is because the cost of living is so high that it feels impossible to raise a child.

Other personal demographics included adults age and marital status.

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Doing my own research among friends who are in their 30s-50s and don't want to have kids most of them say it's because they couldn't afford it.

Others feel like they don't have the support system or village they need to do so.

And a few of my other friends simply just want to enjoy their lives the way they are and be childfree.

I have no problem with anyone not wanting to have kids because that's what they really want out of life, but it does bother me to think that because things have gotten so unaffordable over time for people that they're making a financially responsible choice to not have them.

You can read the full report by Michigan State University here.