The Age That Women Have Babies: How a Gap Divides America

We experience this and it is pretty strange. We had a child by choice at 24. Got pregnant first try, the first month after our wedding. Both finished our levels of education on time or early. We live near our parents (in a rich coastal city) though, unlike those who move elsewhere. We're not religious, more coastal liberal.

Our "peers" tend to be in their early to mid thirties, at a similar stage of growing their family. Our age peers are either 1. Generally on a good path, living in a nice place, full time with benefits, finished a degree or 2. Having kids, have no money, didn't finish any school, live at home or in a really cheap / sketchy area.

The dichotomy is very pronounced. The people our age who are in the "success" bucket seem confused about choosing to have kids, so we hang out with people like that but who are ten years older. This is pretty weird, and we can't really form close friendships (or haven't figured out how to yet).

The people in our age bracket with kids seem to have experienced their entire 20s more or less by accident, and it is hard to find things to talk about. Mostly they seem to struggle with money, with their relationships, with their jobs and have very different priorities.