The Age Gaps Between Chip & Joanna Gaines' Five Kids, Explained

Chip and Joanna Gaines have built a home renovation and lifestyle empire, starting with the HGTV show "Fixer Upper" from 2013 to 2018, and transitioning to their own television network, Magnolia, in 2021. So, Chip and Joanna have had quite the lifestyle transformation throughout their journey together. However, they started their lives together about a decade before they became famous figures, marrying in 2003 in Waco, Texas. Furthermore, they got the titles of mom and dad well before the public knew their names.

Chip and Joanna have five kids, who are growing up fast. Their eldest son, Drake, was born on February 5, 2005, followed by a daughter named Ella on October 20, 2006. Next came their son Duke, on May 23, 2008, and their youngest daughter, Emmie, who was born on January 5, 2010. There are about five years between Chip and Joanna's four eldest children, but about a nine-year gap between their youngest daughter and their youngest son, Crew, who was born on June 21, 2018.

The couple has said that the age gap was intentional, explaining to Entertainment Tonight that they were busy raising the four kids they had when their careers took off, and once they had success and more financial stability, they decided that their family wasn't actually complete. "What Crew has brought to me is just the idea of stopping and seeing the moments around me that are full of wonder," Joanna told ET about raising a little boy at this season in her life, when she's more established but still very busy.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have strict household rules for their kids, especially around social media and technology — they've said they don't even have a TV at home. Those chores and guidelines are surely essential, considering they have 40 acres of land and 60 animals on their farm property in a suburb of Waco, Texas.

Four of the five kids were born before they were famous, so the couple has acknowledged that Crew's upbringing will inevitably be different than the kids who are now teenagers. "Like, this kid is going to have a totally different upbringing," Chip told People in a 2025 joint interview with Joanna. "These prior four were out shoveling cow manure at [ages] 6, 8, and 10."

Overall, the Gaines family values have remained the same — they've always valued time together and the business they were building together. But Joanna told People that having a child when their careers were more established and secure, in a strange way, allows them to slow down and dream more. "We can finally have this space to think beyond just the everyday grind," she admitted, adding that there are no limits to what they dream for the future of their family and businesses.