“Three [Kids] Is the New Six”—But Many Can’t Afford Even That

I produced an original article that appeared in New America’s flagship publication, The Thread, about the lessons we can take from falling fertility rates in my home state of Utah to understand similar trends nationwide.

Once the state with the highest birthrate in the nation, Utah has now dropped to number ten, which is a surprising trend in a place where family and parenting remain deeply held cultural values.

To uncover what’s behind this shift, I researched the relationship between wealth, the cost of living, and declining family size, drawing out what Utah’s story reveals about broader national patterns.

What I Learned

• To raise critical questions about wealth and inequality, you need a certain buy-in from your audience at the outset of the piece. You can’t alienate them by seemingly coming across as overly emotional or presenting values that seem contrary to theirs. Finding a way to speak to what they value and using it to raise the critical questions about inequality is the best path to convincing them of your points and vision.