November 13 is toward the rare end of the calendar in these historical U.S. records. It ranks #318 of 366 dates, where #1 means most common. Its 226,740 recorded births account for 0.265% of the 1994 through 2014 total, or about 1 in 378 recorded births.
That fixed-date rank is different from a Friday-the-13th result. In the separate SSA series from 2000 through 2014, November 13 fell on Friday only in 2009. Its lower nearby-weekday count also appears in the years when it fell on other weekdays.
November 13, beside other birthdays
Average recorded births each time a date occurred, 1994 through 2014.
- Commonness rank
- 318 / 366
- Share of recorded births
- 0.265 %
- Recorded births
- 226,740
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 November 13 and compare with a friend →How does November 13 compare with November 12 and 14?
Both neighboring dates have higher birth totals in the 1994 through 2014 baseline. November 6 and November 20, exactly one week before and after, also rank ahead of November 13.
| Date | Recorded births | Commonness rank | Birth share |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 6 | 233,852 | 184 | 0.273% |
| November 12 | 233,581 | 187 | 0.273% |
| November 13 | 226,740 | 318 | 0.265% |
| November 14 | 237,247 | 134 | 0.277% |
| November 20 | 241,571 | 100 | 0.282% |
| October 13 | 226,792 | 317 | 0.265% |
These dates each occurred 21 times in the baseline. November 13 averaged 10,797.1 births per occurrence. Dividing every November date by the same occurrence count would leave their order unchanged.
A rank describes position among dates, rather than the size of the difference. The counts and shares let you compare the gap directly. The November guide covers the full month, including the late-November dates that can fall on Thanksgiving.
Is November 13 low after matching weekdays?
We compared each November 13 with November 6 and November 20 of the same year, using SSA records from 2000 through 2014. All three dates share a weekday. November 13 averaged 11,099.9 recorded births, compared with 11,646 on the two nearby dates: 4.7% fewer.
November 13 was below this nearby average in all 15 years. Negative percentages in the table mean fewer births on November 13 than on its comparison dates.
| Year | Weekday | Recorded births | Nearby mean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Monday | 11,480 | 12,418 | -7.6% |
| 2001 | Tuesday | 12,382 | 13,132.5 | -5.7% |
| 2002 | Wednesday | 12,097 | 12,588 | -3.9% |
| 2003 | Thursday | 12,438 | 12,894.5 | -3.5% |
| 2004 | Saturday | 8,626 | 8,741.5 | -1.3% |
| 2005 | Sunday | 7,420 | 7,579.5 | -2.1% |
| 2006 | Monday | 12,546 | 13,473 | -6.9% |
| 2007 | Tuesday | 13,640 | 14,483.5 | -5.8% |
| 2008 | Thursday | 12,541 | 13,294.5 | -5.7% |
| 2009 | Friday | 11,739 | 12,658 | -7.3% |
| 2010 | Saturday | 8,115 | 8,318.5 | -2.4% |
| 2011 | Sunday | 6,877 | 7,227 | -4.8% |
| 2012 | Tuesday | 12,364 | 13,058.5 | -5.3% |
| 2013 | Wednesday | 12,130 | 12,308 | -1.4% |
| 2014 | Thursday | 12,103 | 12,515 | -3.3% |
The choice of nearby dates matters here. Using the two-week dates alone gives a pooled difference of +5.1%, reversing the direction. That comparison includes November 27, which can be Thanksgiving or the Friday after it. Those holiday-week counts can make November 13 look higher by comparison. We therefore use the one-week dates for the main result, avoiding Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after it. November 20 can still fall earlier in Thanksgiving week.
What happened when November 13 was a Friday?
The 2009 occurrence had 11,739 recorded births, against 12,658 on its nearby Friday comparison. Its difference was -7.3%.
This comparison rests on 1 occurrence. It cannot tell us whether the Friday difference is stable across years or explain November 13's whole birthday rank. The other 14 November 13 occurrences also had a lower pooled count than their same-weekday comparisons.
The wider question of whether the 13th differs from other numbered days belongs to the day-of-month study, which combines all months and uses an occurrence-based average.
Does superstition explain the birth counts?
A separate study of birthday selection examined modern Virginia and Nevada birth records. It found fewer births on the 13th relative to the 6th and 20th, with a larger difference when the 13th was Friday. That study considers cultural preferences and birth scheduling; its populations and period differ from our nationwide SSA date comparison.
Our daily totals do not identify parents' beliefs or delivery methods. They show a pattern in recorded births, not a test of luck, personality, or why an individual was born that day.
Sources and what the odds cover
We use 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 table uses SSA alone. Administrative coverage differs between the two sources.
The birth share describes this historical dataset, not current births, worldwide births, or living people with a November 13 birthday. Read the methodology for the calculation details, compare other dates in the rare-birthday ranking, or use the birthday checker.
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