In 2022, 49.3% of US newborn boys were circumcised in the hospital, down from 64.5% in 1979. In the western US it's under 20%. The "he'll be the only one" worry is outdated in a lot of the country.
Share of US newborn boys circumcised during their birth hospital stay.
If you grew up in the US in the 70s, 80s or 90s, you probably assume almost every guy is circumcised. For your generation, that was close to true. A national health survey found about 80% of US males aged 14 to 59 were circumcised. (Introcaso et al., 2013)
But that's the adults. The babies being born now are a different story.
The numbers are dropping
The CDC tracked newborn circumcision in hospitals from 1979 to 2010. It fell from 64.5% to 58.3%. (CDC, 2013) A 2025 study picked up where that left off. In 2012 it was 54.1%. By 2022 it was 49.3%, which means most newborn boys now leave the hospital intact. (Yang et al., 2025)
Quick caveat: these numbers only count circumcisions done during the birth hospital stay. Some boys are circumcised later or outside a hospital, for example in a religious ceremony. So the true number is a bit higher. The trend is still clearly down.
Where you live changes everything
In 2022, the share of newborn boys circumcised in the hospital looked like this:
- Midwest: 68.5%
- West: 19.7%
That's a huge gap. A boy born in California and a boy born in Ohio are growing up with very different locker rooms. The West has been dropping the longest. Back in 1979 it was 63.9%, about the same as everywhere else. (CDC, 2013)
There are big differences by background too. In 2022, it was about 66% for Black newborns, 60% for white newborns, 38% for Asian and Pacific Islander newborns and 21% for Hispanic newborns. The biggest drop over the last ten years was among white newborns. (Yang et al., 2025)
Why it's dropping
- Insurance. Many state Medicaid programs stopped paying for it. Hospitals in states where Medicaid covers it circumcise about 24 percentage points more boys. (Leibowitz et al., 2009)
- More families from places where it's rare. In most of Latin America, Europe and Asia, circumcision is uncommon.
- More parents asking questions. It's a lot easier to learn about the foreskin now than it was for our parents.
- No current AAP recommendation. The American Academy of Pediatrics' 2012 policy statement has expired and hasn't been replaced. (JAMA Pediatrics, 2025)
What this means for the locker room
One of the oldest reasons parents give is not wanting their son to feel different. (Brown & Brown, 1987) That made sense in 1987. Today, an intact boy is in the majority in much of the country, and in plenty of schools a circumcised boy is the one who'd be "different." The truth is that the locker room depends on where you live, and it's changing fast.
"So he won't be different" was never a great reason to do surgery on a baby. Now it isn't even true. Kids today are going to see both, and they'll be fine. Let's teach them that both are normal and leave the choice to the person it belongs to.
- Owings M, Uddin S, Williams S. Trends in circumcision for male newborns in U.S. hospitals: 1979-2010. CDC/NCHS. 2013. link
- Yang, et al. Trends in US neonatal male circumcision, 2012-2022. JAMA Pediatrics. 2025. doi
- Introcaso CE, et al. Prevalence of circumcision among men and boys aged 14 to 59 years in the United States, NHANES 2005-2010. Sex Transm Dis. 2013. doi
- Leibowitz AA, Desmond K, Belin T. Determinants and policy implications of male circumcision in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2009. doi
- JAMA Pediatrics correspondence on the expired AAP position. 2025. doi
- Brown MS, Brown CA. Circumcision decision: prominence of social concerns. Pediatrics. 1987. PubMed