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The Birth Center Access Map, 2026

Where you live shapes where you can give birth. We mapped every one of the 4,787 birth centers and hospital maternity units in our national directory against Census population data — facilities per 100,000 residents, for all 50 states and DC. The gaps are a genuine health-equity story: the best-served state has roughly 11× the access of the least-served.

This is directory data — counts of listed facilities — not clinical guidance. Always confirm what a facility offers, and talk with your provider about what's right for your pregnancy.

Utah
best-served state (3.91 per 100k)
1.41
facilities per 100k nationally
3,540
freestanding birth centers nationwide

The states leading on birth-place access

Utah, Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, Idaho give families the most listed birth options per person. In each of these leaders, freestanding birth centers — not hospital units — make up the majority of what’s listed.

Facilities per 100,000 residents — every state

#StateFacilitiesFreestandingPer 100k
1 Utah 137 96 3.91
2 Wyoming 20 19 3.4
3 Vermont 22 17 3.39
4 Alaska 24 23 3.24
5 Idaho 64 50 3.2
6 New Hampshire 37 28 2.63
7 South Dakota 23 21 2.49
8 Oregon 98 79 2.29
9 Montana 26 24 2.29
10 Colorado 131 88 2.2
11 Washington 175 139 2.2
12 Maine 29 25 2.06
13 Kansas 60 42 2.02
14 New Mexico 42 34 1.97
15 Wisconsin 115 85 1.93
16 Connecticut 70 56 1.9
17 Tennessee 129 96 1.78
18 Iowa 57 34 1.76
19 Minnesota 94 66 1.62
20 Rhode Island 18 15 1.62
21 Michigan 158 108 1.56
22 Oklahoma 64 47 1.56
23 Missouri 94 67 1.51
24 Massachusetts 107 80 1.5
25 Kentucky 66 47 1.44
26 Texas 420 321 1.34
27 Illinois 169 129 1.33
28 California 520 405 1.32
29 Ohio 156 99 1.31
30 Indiana 90 52 1.3
31 New Jersey 121 76 1.27
32 Virginia 111 87 1.26
33 North Dakota 10 7 1.26
34 Nevada 41 34 1.25
35 Florida 290 214 1.24
36 Georgia 138 105 1.23
37 Arkansas 37 30 1.2
38 Nebraska 24 18 1.2
39 Arizona 89 71 1.17
40 South Carolina 64 49 1.17
41 Delaware 12 10 1.14
42 North Carolina 121 74 1.1
43 Pennsylvania 138 106 1.06
44 District of Columbia 7 5 1
45 Maryland 58 45 0.93
46 New York 183 123 0.92
47 Alabama 46 31 0.89
48 Mississippi 26 21 0.88
49 Louisiana 37 26 0.8
50 West Virginia 14 13 0.79
51 Hawaii 5 3 0.35

"Facilities" counts every listed birth center and hospital maternity unit in our directory; "freestanding" counts the midwife-led birth centers outside hospitals. Counts reflect listed facilities, not birth volumes or outcomes.

Large cities where the map runs thin

Access isn't only a state story. These are the biggest US cities with one or no listed birth facility inside the city limits — the places where the next birth center would serve the most families. (Many sit next to well-served neighbors; the full list has the details.)

CityPopulationListed facilities in city limits
Cleveland, OH 365,379 1
Jersey City, NJ 302,824 1
North Las Vegas, NV 294,034 1
Garland, TX 250,431 0
Cape Coral, FL 233,025 1
Fremont, CA 228,192 0
Fontana, CA 218,455 1
Yonkers, NY 211,040 0
Grand Prairie, TX 207,331 1
Augusta, GA 206,303 1

See all 30 underserved cities →

Cite this data

Journalists, researchers, and bloggers: this dataset is free to cite with attribution and a link.

"Utah has the most birth centers per capita in the US (3.91 listed facilities per 100,000 residents), per the findbirthingcenters.com Birth Center Access Map, 2026." Source: findbirthingcenters.com.

Download the CSV — access by state

Dataset updated July 15, 2026. Refreshed with each quarterly re-crawl of the directory. Questions or the full dataset: hello@findbirthingcenters.com.

Methodology

Facility counts come from our continuously maintained national directory of birth centers and hospital labor & delivery units, compiled from public business listings and each facility's own website, and filtered to genuine birth facilities. Populations are US Census 2024 estimates (state totals; city figures use incorporated-place populations). "Per 100k" divides listed facilities by state population. Freestanding-vs-hospital classification comes from each facility's listing and website. City counts use city limits, not metro areas, so suburbs are counted separately from their core city. This page reports where facilities are — it is directory data, not clinical guidance, and says nothing about the quality or safety of care in any state.

Explore the directory: birth centers by state · freestanding birth centers · all birth center stats.