Family size in Utah

Claims

"Large families, usually averaging seven or eight children, are the norm."
- Know Your Utah Mormon, Wild Utah

"Utah has the largest average family size...They just keep making babies...."
- Waana, Reasons Why The Mormon Church Iss Not True, posted on Recovery from Mormonism

How big are Utah families?

Utah does tend to have larger families, but the average is nowhere near seven or eight. The table below shows the estimated average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, based on the total fertility rate* for 2002.

Table 1. Estimated average number of children per female, 2002, selected states.
Rank State Children
1 Alaska 2.55
2 Utah 2.54
3 Arizona 2.36
4 Texas 2.35
5 Idaho 2.27
  U.S. Average 2.01
46 New Hampshire 1.73
47 Massachusetts 1.71
48 Rhode Island 1.70
49 Maine 1.66
50 Vermont 1.60

* The total fertility rate is an estimate of "the number of births that a hypothetical cohort of 1,000 women would have if they experienced throughout their childbearing years the same age-specific birth rates observed in a given year." (National Vital Statistics Report, 52(10) p. 6)

The following map shows how total fertility rates vary across the country.

Figure 1. Total fertility rates, 2002.

Sources

Total fertility rates are from Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, Menacker F, Munson ML. Births: Final Data for 2002. National Vital Statistics Reports 52(10). Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 2003. Table 10, p. 46.

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