A family home, a white picket fence and 2.5 children: for generations, that image has represented the American dream.
Of course, no one can literally have half a child. The figure has long meant two or perhaps three children, and over the past 70 years it has become shorthand for the traditional American nuclear family.
But as that dream grows increasingly difficult for ordinary families to afford, wealthy Americans appear to be embracing a larger version of it—one that comes with four children.
Pew Research Center data shows millennials and Generation Z are having fewer children, driven by economic pressures and changing social priorities. Among affluent families, however, large households are emerging alongside Hamptons summer properties, advanced home security and other markers of privilege.
Few figures embody that modern version of American success more clearly than Patrick Mahomes.
On Tuesday, the NFL superstar and his wife, Brittany Mahomes, announced that they are expecting their fourth child. The baby will join their daughters Sterling Skye and Golden Raye, as well as their son, Patrick “Bronze” Lavon Mahomes III.
“Another blessing from God & then there were 6,” the high school sweethearts wrote in an Instagram announcement.
The news arrived just four months after Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance welcomed their fourth child, a son named Alec Neel. The couple also have sons Ewan Blaine and Vivek, along with daughter Mirabel Rose.
NFL star Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany announced Tuesday that they are expecting their fourth child
Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance welcomed their fourth child, Alec Neel, in July
They are far from the only high-profile parents building families of four.
Kim Kardashian and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, David and Victoria Beckham, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, and Jason and Kylie Kelce are also parents to four children.
Data from the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances suggests that having a third child may help distinguish the nation’s wealthiest households from other high earners.
An October analysis by economist Mike Konczal found that roughly 35 to 45 percent of families earning between $26,000 and $1.4 million a year have at least three children. Among families earning more than $1.4 million annually, the share rises to 49 percent.
The ultra-wealthy, however, are increasingly moving beyond three children—with a fourth becoming an understated display of financial power.
Researchers estimate that raising one child from birth through age 17 costs about $300,000. That calculation excludes private school tuition, college, extracurricular activities and family travel.
For a family of four children, the basic expense can therefore reach approximately $1.2 million—before many of the luxuries associated with the new version of the American dream are added.
That estimate also leaves out the roughly $1,400 mini Range Rover and child-sized Mercedes-Benz reportedly given to the Mahomes children for Christmas in 2025, as well as the $5,000 Balenciaga ensemble worn by North West, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 13-year-old daughter, in New York City last year.
“Given that financial resources are one important roadblock that the wealthy do not face, this opens up the path for them to have more children,” Northwestern University sociologists Doron Shiffer-Sebba and Julia Behrman told the Daily Mail.
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend are parents to four children
Kim Kardashian and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, have four children: Saint, Psalm, Chicago and North
North, the eldest of the siblings, was photographed in New York City last year wearing a $5,000 Balenciaga outfit
Shiffer-Sebba studies wealthy families, while Behrman’s research focuses on fertility preferences.
The affordability crisis facing American households has contributed to the country’s falling birth rate, which reached a record low last year—down 23 percent from 2007.
For the wealthy, having children in today’s economy can instead function as “a form of conspicuous consumption,” Jennifer Glass, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Daily Mail.
In that sense, economic status is no longer signaled only by Birkin handbags, Rolex Daytonas or Ferraris. For some affluent families, it is also displayed through the number of children they can support—and the luxury goods those children receive.
Cardi B, who has three children with rapper Offset and one with NFL wide receiver Stefon Diggs, famously gave her daughter Kulture an $8,000 pink Birkin bag for her second birthday. A year later, Kulture received a custom pastel-yellow Birkin covered in rainbow Swarovski crystals, reportedly worth $48,000.
Glass and other demographers have been examining this shift for years.
Larger families were once more common among people with limited access to contraception and fertility planning. Now, they are increasingly appearing among society’s wealthiest households. Glass said surrogacy, which can cost between $150,000 and $200,000 in the United States, has also helped make larger families more accessible to affluent, appearance-conscious women.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have four children, all under the age of 12
Cardi B, who has four children, famously gave her daughter Kulture an $8,000 pink Birkin bag for her second birthday
Kardashian and Teigen have both used surrogates. Kardashian’s two youngest children, daughter Chicago and son Psalm, were born via gestational carriers, as was Teigen’s youngest son, Wren. Teigen’s surrogate, Alexandra Ryan, recently told the Daily Mail that she was paid in monthly installments for carrying and delivering Wren in 2023.
Brand strategist Eugene Healey argues, however, that money alone does not explain how affluent parents manage larger families.
“You need active support systems through family or paid childcare. You need enough accumulated career capital to take parental leave without it being career suicide,” Healey wrote in a Substack post.
He describes four children as “the ultimate status symbol” because raising that many requires several forms of privilege to operate at the same time.
At first glance, a larger number of children in wealthy families might appear likely to spread elite fortunes among more heirs, potentially narrowing inequality.
But research by Shiffer-Sebba indicates that the richest families have structures—including trusts, corporations and family mission statements—designed to preserve wealth even as their households expand.
For America’s wealthiest families, it seems, more children can mean more status—and the resources to keep it all together.