July 4 is a rare birthday in these historical U.S. records. It ranks #362 of 366 dates, where #1 means most common, and is the least common July date. Its 185,315 recorded births account for 0.216% of the 1994 through 2014 total, or about 1 in 463 recorded births.
In a separate SSA-only comparison from 2000 through 2014, July 4 had fewer births than nearby dates of the same weekday in 14 of the 15 years. The exception was Sunday, July 4, 2004.
July 4, beside other birthdays
Average recorded births each time a date occurred, 1994 through 2014.
- Commonness rank
- 362 / 366
- Share of recorded births
- 0.216 %
- Recorded births
- 185,315
Bars start at zero. Rank 1 means most common and uses total births across all 366 dates. The bars use births per actual occurrence; February 29 appeared five times, while the other dates appeared 21 times.
Check July 4 and compare with a friend →How do July 3, July 4, and July 5 compare?
July 4's low count stands out against both neighboring dates. July 5 is also toward the rare end of the full calendar, while July 7 is one of the busiest dates. These comparisons use the same 1994 through 2014 baseline.
| Date | Recorded births | Commonness rank | Birth share |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1 | 249,847 | 29 | 0.291% |
| July 3 | 238,398 | 121 | 0.278% |
| July 4 | 185,315 | 362 | 0.216% |
| July 5 | 219,284 | 347 | 0.256% |
| July 7 | 255,094 | 7 | 0.298% |
| July 11 | 248,795 | 34 | 0.290% |
Each date occurred 21 times. July 4 averaged 8,824.5 births per actual occurrence, so its low total reflects fewer recorded births on its appearances, rather than fewer appearances on the calendar.
The July birthday guide compares all dates in the month. This page takes a closer look at whether July 4's pattern holds in individual years.
Was Independence Day quieter every year?
For each July 4 from 2000 through 2014, we averaged June 20, June 27, July 11, and July 18 of the same year. They fall one or two weeks away from July 4 and share its weekday. This avoids comparing a holiday Sunday directly with the Monday next to it.
Across the SSA window, July 4 averaged 8,815.3 recorded births, against 12,070.6 on those comparison dates: 27.0% fewer. A negative percentage in the annual table means July 4 had fewer births than its nearby weekday average.
| Year | Weekday | Recorded births | Nearby mean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Tuesday | 9,550 | 13,404.5 | -28.8% |
| 2001 | Wednesday | 9,608 | 12,945 | -25.8% |
| 2002 | Thursday | 9,481 | 13,191.8 | -28.1% |
| 2003 | Friday | 9,504 | 12,969 | -26.7% |
| 2004 | Sunday | 7,820 | 7,750.8 | +0.9% |
| 2005 | Monday | 7,733 | 12,536 | -38.3% |
| 2006 | Tuesday | 9,083 | 14,252.3 | -36.3% |
| 2007 | Wednesday | 9,746 | 14,291.3 | -31.8% |
| 2008 | Friday | 9,449 | 13,513.3 | -30.1% |
| 2009 | Saturday | 7,978 | 8,618 | -7.4% |
| 2010 | Sunday | 7,279 | 7,283 | -0.1% |
| 2011 | Monday | 7,541 | 12,355 | -39.0% |
| 2012 | Wednesday | 9,296 | 12,777 | -27.2% |
| 2013 | Thursday | 8,883 | 12,695 | -30.0% |
| 2014 | Friday | 9,278 | 12,476.5 | -25.6% |
Most years show a clear gap. But July 4, 2004, was slightly above its nearby Sunday average. July 4, 2010, also fell on Sunday and was almost level with the comparison. These weekend results are a useful limit on the headline: the low overall birthday rank does not mean the date has a large shortfall in every year.
The weekday birth study explains why raw weekend counts tend to be lower. A weekday-matched comparison asks whether July 4 is quiet even against the kind of day on which it falls.
Does this show that holiday scheduling caused the gap?
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists Independence Day on July 4. Our table follows that calendar date every year. It does not move the birth counts to a weekday on which a workplace observes the holiday.
The daily SSA counts do not identify scheduled deliveries, hospitals, or reasons for choosing a birth date. They therefore cannot establish why July 4 differs from nearby days. Nor does a low July 4 count prove that births were transferred specifically to July 5 or July 7.
Our fixed-date holiday study places Independence Day alongside Christmas, New Year's Day, and Valentine's Day using the same SSA window. Its comparisons provide wider holiday context, while this table shows the variation behind July 4's average.
How should you read the rank and odds?
The commonness rank sorts total births: a larger rank means a less common date. Birth share instead divides July 4's count by births on all dates in the baseline. Neither number tells us how many living people have this birthday or predicts a baby's delivery date.
The results come from U.S. birth records compiled by FiveThirtyEight. The main ranking combines CDC/NCHS 1994 through 1999 with SSA 2000 through 2014, excluding overlapping years. The annual analysis uses SSA alone. These are historical U.S. administrative records with different source coverage, not worldwide or current birth rates.
See the methodology for the source choices, the full rare-birthday ranking for other dates, or check your birthday to make a comparison.
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