Anytime you’re out in public, it’s common to see children out and about with their families, on their way to school, playing at the park and at the playground, or riding bikes down the street. With children seemingly everywhere, it’s hard to believe that the U.S. birth rate is in decline, but it’s a popular talking point these days. That made us wonder: In which cities across America will you find the highest concentrations of children? What about the cities with the lowest concentrations of children? The research team at AAA State of Play turned to the 2020 census results to find the answers. We analyzed the 2020 census results by city for all U.S. cities with more than 100,000 people to find the percentage of their population that is 18 or younger.
The 2020 census data for population showed that the cities with the fewest children had numbers half as high as those of cities on the higher end of the spectrum. A majority of the cities with the most children were in California and Texas, with many of them located along the border. The cities with the fewest children were mainly located along the East Coast, with a fifth of these cities located just in the state of Florida. This comes as no surprise, as Florida does have one of the oldest populations in the country, with 20.3% of the state’s population being over the age of 65.
Read on to see which cities across the U.S. were found to have the most children and which cities have the fewest.
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According to the U.S. Census 2020 results, the city with the most children is Laredo, Texas, with 33% of its population ages 18 or younger. According to the Census in 2020, Laredo’s population is 255,205, which means that there are roughly 84,000 children living in the city. So is Laredo, TX, a good city to raise a child? According to a study by WalletHub that ranked the best cities to raise a family, Laredo ranks in the bottom half, at 107th. The city ranked low in the affordability and family fun categories, which brought its score down.
Not only does Laredo have the largest population of children by percentage, but another study found that it is the U.S. city with the highest share of families with kids. At 44%, nearly half of the families living in Laredo have children. The city’s rate is quite a bit higher than the 28% national average for households with children.
The city in the United States with the least children is San Francisco, California, where only 13.4% of the population is 18 or younger, according to the 2020 census data. With a total population of 873,965, the city of San Francisco has roughly 117,100 children residing in it.
Children under 18 in the U.S. make up 22.3% of the entire population. This percentage is expected to decrease, as the Census reports that the birth rate in the U.S. has been on the decline since 2008. This deceleration began to pick up the pace in 2010, when the number of daily births dropped by an average of 0.96% each year. These low birth rates are predicted to continue for the foreseeable future, which could lead to issues for aging populations in the future.
| City | 2020 Population | Percent of Population Under 18 Years of Age |
1 | Laredo, TX | 255,205 | 33.0% |
2 | Victorville, CA | 134,810 | 31.7% |
3 | Santa Maria, CA | 109,707 | 31.5% |
4 | Salinas, CA | 163,542 | 31.0% |
5 | West Valley City, UT | 140,230 | 30.8% |
6 | Edinburg, TX | 100,243 | 30.7% |
7 | Frisco, TX | 200,509 | 30.5% |
7 | West Jordan, UT | 116,961 | 30.5% |
9 | Brownsville, TX | 186,738 | 30.4% |
10 | Killeen, TX | 153,095 | 30.3% |
11 | Palmdale, CA | 169,450 | 30.0% |
12 | Bakersfield, CA | 403,455 | 29.9% |
12 | Gilbert, AZ | 267,918 | 29.9% |
14 | Pasadena, TX | 151,950 | 29.8% |
15 | San Bernardino, CA | 222,101 | 29.6% |
16 | Visalia, CA | 141,384 | 29.5% |
17 | Dearborn, MI | 109,976 | 29.3% |
18 | Mesquite, TX | 150,108 | 29.1% |
19 | Odessa, TX | 114,428 | 28.9% |
19 | Temecula, CA | 110,003 | 28.9% |
21 | Aurora, IL | 180,542 | 28.8% |
22 | North Las Vegas, NV | 262,527 | 28.7% |
22 | McKinney, TX | 195,308 | 28.7% |
22 | Lancaster, CA | 173,516 | 28.7% |
25 | Fontana, CA | 208,393 | 28.6% |
25 | Murrieta, CA | 110,949 | 28.6% |
27 | Olathe, KS | 141,290 | 28.5% |
28 | Fresno, CA | 542,107 | 28.4% |
29 | Grand Prairie, TX | 196,100 | 28.3% |
29 | McAllen, TX | 142,210 | 28.3% |
| City | 2020 Population | Percent of Population Under 18 Years of Age |
1 | San Francisco, CA | 873,965 | 13.4% |
2 | Quincy, MA | 101,636 | 14.6% |
3 | Seattle, WA | 737,015 | 15.0% |
4 | Pittsburgh, PA | 302,971 | 15.1% |
5 | Scottsdale, AZ | 241,361 | 15.5% |
6 | Daly City, CA | 104,901 | 15.7% |
7 | Boston, MA | 675,647 | 15.9% |
8 | Columbia, SC | 136,632 | 16.2% |
9 | Madison, WI | 269,840 | 16.3% |
10 | Tallahassee, FL | 196,169 | 16.7% |
10 | Charleston, SC | 150,227 | 16.7% |
12 | St. Petersburg, FL | 258,308 | 16.9% |
13 | Eugene, OR | 176,654 | 17.1% |
14 | Hialeah, FL | 223,109 | 17.4% |
15 | Miami, FL | 442,241 | 17.5% |
16 | Richmond, VA | 226,610 | 17.6% |
17 | Glendale, CA | 196,543 | 17.7% |
18 | Portland, OR | 652,503 | 17.8% |
18 | Wilmington, NC | 115,451 | 17.8% |
20 | Washington, DC | 689,545 | 17.9% |
20 | Springfield, MO | 169,176 | 17.9% |
22 | Cape Coral, FL | 194,016 | 18.2% |
22 | Alexandria, VA | 159,467 | 18.2% |
22 | Pasadena, CA | 138,699 | 18.2% |
22 | Burbank, CA | 107,337 | 18.2% |
26 | Atlanta, GA | 498,715 | 18.3% |
26 | Columbia, MO | 126,254 | 18.3% |
28 | Lakewood, CO | 155,984 | 18.4% |
28 | West Palm Beach, FL | 117,415 | 18.4% |
30 | Worcester, MA | 206,518 | 18.8% |
This infographic is brought to you by AAAStateofPlay playground structures and swingsets.
Find more about the author: Kim Hart
