In 2022, there were about 4.15 million Black families in the United States with a single mother. This is an increase from 1990 levels, when there were about 3.4 million Black families with a single mother.
Single parenthood
The typical family is comprised of two parents and at least one child. However, that is not the case in every single situation. A single parent is someone who has a child but no spouse or partner. Single parenthood occurs for different reasons, including divorce, death, abandonment, or single-person adoption. Historically, single parenthood was common due to mortality rates due to war, diseases, and maternal mortality. However, divorce was not as common back then, depending on the culture.
Single parent wellbeing
In countries where social welfare programs are not strong, single parents tend to suffer more financially, emotionally, and mentally. In the United States, most single parents are mothers. The struggles that single parents face are greater than those in two parent households. The number of families with a single mother in the United States has increased since 1990, but the poverty rate of black families with a single mother has significantly decreased since that same year. In comparison, the poverty rate of Asian families with a single mother, and the percentage of white, non-Hispanic families with a single mother who live below the poverty level in the United States have both been fluctuating since 2002.
In 1990, 48.1 percent of all Black families with a single mother in the United States lived below the poverty level. In 2023, that figure had decreased to 25.9 percent. This is significantly higher than white households with a single mother. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter.
In 2023, there were about 1.06 million Black families with a single mother living below the poverty level in the United States. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter.
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Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in St. Louis city, MO (S1101SPHOUSE029510) from 2009 to 2023 about St. Louis City, MO; St. Louis; single-parent; MO; households; 5-year; and USA.
In 2023, 17.8 percent of Black families with a single father were living below the poverty line in the United States. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter.
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The single-parent household rate is calculated as the sum of male and female single-parent households with their own children who are younger than 18-years of age divided by total households with their own children who are younger than 18-years of age (ACS 5-year variables S1101_C03_005E, S1101_C04_005E, and S1101_C01_005E respectively from table S1101).
Multiyear estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) are "period" estimates derived from a data sample collected over a period of time, as opposed to "point-in-time" estimates such as those from past decennial censuses. ACS 5-year estimate includes data collected over a 60-month period. The date of the data is the end of the 5-year period. For example, a value dated 2014 represents data from 2010 to 2014. However, they do not describe any specific day, month, or year within that time period.
Multiyear estimates require some considerations that single-year estimates do not. For example, multiyear estimates released in consecutive years consist mostly of overlapping years and shared data. The 2010-2014 ACS 5-year estimates share sample data from 2011 through 2014 with the 2011-2015 ACS 5-year estimates. Because of this overlap, users should use extreme caution in making comparisons with consecutive years of multiyear estimates.
Please see "Section 3: Understanding and Using ACS Single-Year and Multiyear Estimates" on publication page 13 (file page 19) of the 2018 ACS General Handbook (https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/acs/acs_general_handbook_2018.pdf) for a more thorough clarification.
In 2023, there were about 15.09 million children living with a single mother in the United States, and about 3.05 million children living with a single father. The number of children living with a single mother is down from its peak in 2012, and the number of children living with a single father is down from its peak in 2005.
Marriage and divorce in the United States
Despite popular opinion in the United States that “half of all marriages end in divorce,” the divorce rate in the U.S. has fallen significantly since 1992. The marriage rate, which has also been decreasing since the 1990s, was still higher than the divorce rate in 2021. Half of all marriages may not end in divorce, but it does seem that fewer people are choosing to get married in the first place.
New family structures
In addition to a falling marriage rate, fewer people in the U.S. have children under the age of 18 living in the house in comparison to 1970. Over the past decade, the share of families with children under 18, whether that be married couples or single parents, has stayed mostly steady, although the number of births in the U.S. has also fallen.
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Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Black Hawk County, IA was 36.33% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Black Hawk County, IA reached a record high of 37.47 in January of 2022 and a record low of 33.25 in January of 2015. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Black Hawk County, IA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.
There are over 3.18 million single parent families in the United Kingdom as of 2023, compared with 2.94 million in 2022.
This graph shows the Percentage of households led by a female householder with no spouse present with own children under 18 years living in the household in the U.S. in 2021, by state. In 2021, about 4.24 percent of Californian households were single mother households with at least one child.
Additional information on single mother households and poverty in the United States
For most single mothers a constant battle persists between finding the time and energy to raise their children and the demands of working to supply an income to house and feed their families. The pressures of a single income and the high costs of childcare mean that the risk of poverty for these families is a tragic reality. Comparison of the overall United States poverty rate since 1990 with that of the poverty rate for families with a female householder shows that poverty is much more prevalent in the latter. In 2021, while the overall rate was at 11.6 percent, the rate of poverty for single mother families was 23 percent. Moreover, the degree of fluctuation tends to be lower for single female household families, suggesting the rate of poverty for these groups is less affected by economic conditions.
The sharp rise in the number of children living with a single mother or single father in the United States from 1970 to 2022 suggests more must be done to ensure that families in such situations are able to avoid poverty. Moreover, attention should also be placed on overall racial income inequality given the higher rate of poverty for Hispanic single mother families than their white or Asian counterparts.
This dataset includes live births, birth rates, and fertility rates by race of mother in the United States since 1960.
Data availability varies by race and ethnicity groups. All birth data by race before 1980 are based on race of the child. Since 1980, birth data by race are based on race of the mother. For race, data are available for Black and White births since 1960, and for American Indians/Alaska Native and Asian/Pacific Islander births since 1980. Data on Hispanic origin are available since 1989. Teen birth rates for specific racial and ethnic categories are also available since 1989. From 2003 through 2015, the birth data by race were based on the “bridged” race categories (5). Starting in 2016, the race categories for reporting birth data changed; the new race and Hispanic origin categories are: Non-Hispanic, Single Race White; Non-Hispanic, Single Race Black; Non-Hispanic, Single Race American Indian/Alaska Native; Non-Hispanic, Single Race Asian; and, Non-Hispanic, Single Race Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (5,6). Birth data by the prior, “bridged” race (and Hispanic origin) categories are included through 2018 for comparison.
SOURCES
NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, birth data (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm); public-use data files (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/VitalStatsOnline.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov/).
REFERENCES
National Office of Vital Statistics. Vital Statistics of the United States, 1950, Volume I. 1954. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/vsus_1950_1.pdf.
Hetzel AM. U.S. vital statistics system: major activities and developments, 1950-95. National Center for Health Statistics. 1997. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/usvss.pdf.
National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Statistics of the United States, 1967, Volume I–Natality. 1969. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/nat67_1.pdf.
Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, et al. Births: Final data for 2015. National vital statistics reports; vol 66 no 1. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_01.pdf.
Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, Driscoll AK, Drake P. Births: Final data for 2016. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 67 no 1. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2018. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdf.
Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, Driscoll AK, Births: Final data for 2018. National vital statistics reports; vol 68 no 13. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_13.pdf.
This statistic shows the 50 metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of female-headed family households in the United States in 2019. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan area, located on the Texas-Mexico border, was ranked first with 22.08 percent of households led by single mothers in 2019.
In 2024, the total number of single parent families in Canada increased by 0.03 million families (+1.66 percent) compared to 2023. With 1.84 million families, the total number thereby reached its highest value in the observed period.
This statistic shows the total number of female lone parents (single mothers) in Canada in 2020, distinguished by their age. In 2020, about 41,910 single mothers aged between 0 and 24 years were living in Canada.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset provides information on Who UK armed forces veterans lived with, including household residents by household composition and family status, Census 2021.
Child family status
Identifies whether a person is living in a family with a child and has specific categories for those who have children based on the relationship of the parent couple, those not in a family and those who are children in a family are grouped together. Categories were: • has children (in a lone parent family, married couple family, civil partnership family or cohabiting couple family) • does not have children or is a child within a family • living in a communal establishment
Dependent Child
A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 years in a household or a person aged 16 to 18 years who is in full-time education and lives in a family with their parent, parents, grandparent or grandparents. It does not include any person aged 16 to 18 years who has a spouse, partner or child living in the household
Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group
The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" "Mixed or Multiple" "White" "Other ethnic group"
Family
A family is a group of people who are either: • married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children (the children do not need to belong to both members of the couple) • a lone parent with children • a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present • a single or couple grandparent with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present
Family status
Denotes whether a person is considered to be in a family and the place a person holds within that family. Categories were: • not in a family • in a couple family (as a member of the couple or a dependent or non-dependent child of one or both members of the couple) • in a lone parent family (as a parent or a dependent or non-dependent child of the parent) • living in a communal establishment
Household
A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. This includes all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment and all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence. A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.
Household size
The number of people in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not count to that household’s size. Living arrangements This classification combines responses to the Census question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.
UK armed forces veteran
People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.
Usual resident
A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset provides information on where UK armed forces veterans lived: usual residents, aged 16 years and over by whether they have previously served in the UK armed forces in England and Wales.
Child family status
Identifies whether a person is living in a family with a child and has specific categories for those who have children based on the relationship of the parent couple, those not in a family and those who are children in a family are grouped together. Categories were: • has children (in a lone parent family, married couple family, civil partnership family or cohabiting couple family) • does not have children or is a child within a family • living in a communal establishment
Dependent Child
A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 years in a household or a person aged 16 to 18 years who is in full-time education and lives in a family with their parent, parents, grandparent or grandparents. It does not include any person aged 16 to 18 years who has a spouse, partner or child living in the household
Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group
The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" "Mixed or Multiple" "White" "Other ethnic group"
Family
A family is a group of people who are either: • married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children (the children do not need to belong to both members of the couple) • a lone parent with children • a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present • a single or couple grandparent with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present
Family status
Denotes whether a person is considered to be in a family and the place a person holds within that family. Categories were: • not in a family • in a couple family (as a member of the couple or a dependent or non-dependent child of one or both members of the couple) • in a lone parent family (as a parent or a dependent or non-dependent child of the parent) • living in a communal establishment
Household
A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. This includes all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment and all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence. A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.
Household size
The number of people in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not count to that household’s size. Living arrangements This classification combines responses to the Census question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.
UK armed forces veteran
People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.
Usual resident
A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.
This statistic shows the percentage of women who were the primary breadwinner in the household that were single mothers in the United States in 2014, by race. Among black women who were the primary income provider to the household, 75.4 percent were single mothers in 2014.
In 2021, roughly 743,000 children living with single mothers who never married were receiving public assistance in the U.S. Comparatively, there were around 13,000 children of widowed mothers receiving public assistance.
The percentage of births to unmarried women in the United States has more than doubled since 1980, reaching 40 percent in 2023. This significant shift in family structure reflects changing societal norms and demographic trends over the past four decades. The rise in births outside of marriage has implications for family dynamics, social support systems, and public policy. Age and ethnicity factors in birth rates While the overall percentage of births to unmarried women has stabilized around 40 percent in recent years, birth rates vary significantly across age groups and ethnicities. Unsurprisingly, in 2023, women between 20 and 34 years old had the highest birth rate at 83 births per 1,000 women, while teenagers aged 15 to 19 had the lowest rate at 8 births per 1,000 women. Additionally, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women had the highest fertility rate among all race/ethnicities in 2022, with approximately 2,237.5 births per 1,000 women, compared to the national average of 1,656.5 births per 1,000 women. Changing household structures The increase in births to unmarried women has contributed to evolving household structures in the United States. In 2023, there were approximately 15.18 million families with a single mother, a significant increase from previous decades. This trend aligns with the overall rise in births outside of marriage and suggests a growing need for support systems and policies that address the unique challenges faced by single-parent households.
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In 2022, there were about 4.15 million Black families in the United States with a single mother. This is an increase from 1990 levels, when there were about 3.4 million Black families with a single mother.
Single parenthood
The typical family is comprised of two parents and at least one child. However, that is not the case in every single situation. A single parent is someone who has a child but no spouse or partner. Single parenthood occurs for different reasons, including divorce, death, abandonment, or single-person adoption. Historically, single parenthood was common due to mortality rates due to war, diseases, and maternal mortality. However, divorce was not as common back then, depending on the culture.
Single parent wellbeing
In countries where social welfare programs are not strong, single parents tend to suffer more financially, emotionally, and mentally. In the United States, most single parents are mothers. The struggles that single parents face are greater than those in two parent households. The number of families with a single mother in the United States has increased since 1990, but the poverty rate of black families with a single mother has significantly decreased since that same year. In comparison, the poverty rate of Asian families with a single mother, and the percentage of white, non-Hispanic families with a single mother who live below the poverty level in the United States have both been fluctuating since 2002.