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Birth Center Stats, 2026

We mapped where Americans can give birth — 4,787 listed birth centers and hospital maternity units with 630,138 parent reviews between them. Here's where birth options are easy to reach, and where they aren't. (Journalists & bloggers: cite freely with a link.)

4,787
listed facilities
3,540
freestanding birth centers
1,247
hospital L&D units
1,092
offer water birth

Birth centers per million residents, by state

Every state welcomes babies, but birth-place options are wildly uneven. Listed birth centers and maternity units per million residents — a rough proxy for how much choice families have about where to give birth.

#StateFacilitiesPer million people
1 Utah 137 39.1
2 Wyoming 20 34
3 Vermont 22 33.9
4 Alaska 24 32.4
5 Idaho 64 32
6 New Hampshire 37 26.3
7 South Dakota 23 24.9
8 Oregon 98 22.9
9 Montana 26 22.9
10 Colorado 131 22
11 Washington 175 22
12 Maine 29 20.6
13 Kansas 60 20.2
14 New Mexico 42 19.7
15 Wisconsin 115 19.3

Utah leads with 39.1 listed facilities per million residents — roughly 3× the national median state (Texas, 13.4).

Where freestanding birth centers are (and aren't)

Freestanding birth centers — midwife-led facilities outside a hospital — are the option many families search for first, and the one that's hardest to find. They make up 74% of the facilities we list; hospital maternity units make up the rest. States with the most:

#StateFreestanding birth centers
1 California 405
2 Texas 321
3 Florida 214
4 Washington 139
5 Illinois 129
6 New York 123
7 Michigan 108
8 Pennsylvania 106
9 Georgia 105
10 Ohio 99
11 Tennessee 96
12 Utah 96
13 Colorado 88
14 Virginia 87
15 Wisconsin 85

Freestanding birth centers serve low-risk pregnancies and maintain hospital-transfer plans; hospital L&D units handle all risk levels. Confirm what any facility offers — and whether it fits your pregnancy — directly with the facility and your provider. Browse them all in the freestanding birth center directory.

Where water birth is actually available

1,092 of the 4,787 facilities we list (23%) show evidence of offering water birth or labor tubs — on their own websites, in their listings, or in parent reviews. It's one of the most-searched birth options in America, and one of the most unevenly available: common at freestanding birth centers, far rarer on hospital labor floors. Tub availability can change and often depends on your pregnancy, so confirm directly with the facility and your provider. Browse by city in the water birth directory.

America's best-served cities

Listed facilities per 100k residents, cities over 50,000 population with 2+ birth centers or maternity units.

#CityFacilitiesPer 100k
1 Greenville, SC 15 20.2
2 Pensacola, FL 9 16.7
3 Santa Cruz, CA 10 16
4 Bozeman, MT 9 15.5
5 Idaho Falls, ID 9 12.9
6 Murray, UT 6 11.8
7 Orem, UT 11 11.4
8 Grand Junction, CO 8 11.3
9 Rockwall, TX 6 11.2
10 Ypsilanti, MI 6 11
11 Saratoga Springs, UT 6 10.5
12 St. George, UT 11 10.3
13 Frederick, MD 9 10.1
14 Troy, NY 5 9.8
15 Richland, WA 6 9.3

Small towns with a place to give birth

Birth centers aren't only a big-city thing. The smallest towns in our directory with a listed birth center or maternity unit:

TownPopulationFacilities
Sebring, FL —
Safety Harbor, FL —
Salem, VA —
Hinsdale, IL —
Fayetteville, GA —
Oxford, MS —
Tomball, TX —
Bartow, FL —
South Windsor, CT —
Bellefontaine, OH —
Payson, UT —
Jasper, AL —
Greeneville, TN —
Bristol, TN —
Fayetteville, GA —

America's most-reviewed birth facilities

Every review is a family that took the time after one of the biggest days of their lives. These facilities have the most.

  1. Kootenai Health — Coeur d'Alene, ID ★★★★★ 4.6 (9,266 reviews)
  2. St. Mark's Hospital — Salt Lake City, UT ★★★★★ 4.5 (7,974 reviews)
  3. Iredell Memorial Hospital — Statesville, NC ★★★★★ 4.7 (7,317 reviews)
  4. HCA Florida Brandon Hospital — Brandon, FL ★★★★☆ 3.9 (7,257 reviews)
  5. St. David's Medical Center — Austin, TX ★★★★★ 4.6 (7,182 reviews)
  6. Dignity Health Chandler Regional Medical Center — Chandler, AZ ★★★★☆ 4.3 (6,918 reviews)
  7. AdventHealth Sebring — Sebring, FL ★★★★★ 4.6 (6,637 reviews)
  8. Johnston-Willis Hospital — Richmond, VA ★★★★★ 4.5 (6,424 reviews)
  9. Morton Plant Hospital — Clearwater, FL ★★★★★ 4.5 (6,369 reviews)
  10. Baptist Health South Miami Hospital — Miami, FL ★★★★★ 4.7 (6,300 reviews)

Methodology: facility counts from our continuously maintained national directory (public business listings, filtered to genuine birth centers and hospital maternity units); population = US Census 2024 estimates (state and city). Freestanding vs hospital classification and water-birth indicators come from each facility's own listing, website, and parent reviews — always confirm capabilities directly with the facility and your provider. Counts reflect listed facilities, not birth volumes. Want the dataset for a story? Email us.