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.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Black Hawk County, IA (S1101SPHOUSE019013) from 2009 to 2023 about Black Hawk County, IA; Waterloo; single-parent; IA; households; 5-year; and USA.

In 2023, there were about 1.18 million Black families with a single father living in the United States. This is an increase from 1990, when there were 472,000 Black families with a single father in the U.S.

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.

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 November of 2025.

The purpose of this study was to determine the role that extended families play in supporting African American single mothers. The sample consists of 320 African American single mothers and 126 of their "significant others." All mothers were over 20 years old, worked outside the home, and had children under the age of 18 living at home. Significant others were defined as the person who was most supportive of the respondent; half of these were relatives. The mothers completed a questionnaire inquiring about families of origin and families of procreation as well as the following topics: mobility patterns, significant life events, interactions with family and friends, concerns of single mothers, sources of stress, role conflicts and coping strategies, help-seeking and help-exchange patterns, utilization of services, and race-related attitudes. The questionnaire also assessed mental health and included scales about general well-being, anxiety, self-esteem, degree of control, role satisfaction, and life satisfaction. The questionnaire completed by the significant others included many of the same questions as well as questions about the relationship with the mother. The Murray Research Archive holds both numeric file data, and original record paper data from the mothers and the significant others.

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.

Black Hawk County - Single-Parent Households with Children - Historical chart and current data through 2023.

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.

In 2023, there were about 6.65 million white, non-Hispanic families with a single mother living in the United States. This is a slight increase from 1990, when there were 6.4 million white families with a single mother living in the U.S.

In 2024, there were around 15.72 million families with a female householder and no spouse present in the United States, an increase from the previous year. You can get an overview on the total number of households in the U.S. here.

There are just under **** million single parent families in the United Kingdom as of 2024, compared with *** million in 1996.

A national sample survey dataset covering a wide variety of issues on American family life beginning in 1987-88 and at two subsequent timepoints1992-93 and 2001-03. Topics covered included detailed household composition, family background, adult family transitions, couple interactions, parent-child interactions, education and work, health, economic and psychological well-being, and family attitudes. The first wave interviewed 13,017 respondents, including a main cross-section sample of 9,643 persons aged 19 and over plus an oversample of minorities and households containing single-parent families, step-families, recently married couples, and cohabiting couples. In each household, a randomly selected adult was interviewed. In addition, a shorter, self-administered questionnaire was filled out by the spouse or cohabiting partner of the primary respondent. Interviews averaged about 100 minutes, although interview length varied considerably with the complexity of the respondent''s family history. In 1992-94, an in-person interview was conducted of all surviving members of the original sample, the current spouse or cohabiting partner, and with the baseline spouse or partner in cases where the relationship had ended. Telephone interviews were conducted with focal children who were aged 5-12 and 13-18 at baseline. Short proxy interviews were conducted with a surviving spouse or other relative in cases where the original respondent died or was too ill to interview. A telephone interview was conducted with one randomly selected parent of the main respondent. In 2001-03, telephone interviews were conducted with: Surviving members of the original respondents who had a focal child age 5 or over at baseline; the baseline spouse/partner of these original respondents, whether or not the couple was still together; the focal children who were in the household and aged 5-18 at baselinemost of whom were interviewed at wave 2; and all other original respondents age 45 or older in 2000, and their baseline spouse/partner. Oversamples: Blacks, 9.2%; Mexican-Americans, 2.4%; Puerto Ricans, 0.7% * Dates of Study: 1987-2003 * Study Features: Longitudinal, Minority Oversampling * Sample Size (original respondents): ** Wave I (1987-88): 13,017 ** Wave II (1992-93): 10,007 ** Wave III (2001-03): 8,990 Links: * Wave I (ICPSR): http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06041 * Wave II (ICPSR): http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06906 * Wave III (ICPSR): http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/00171

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, **** percent were single mothers in 2014.

Zip Code; Population Size; African American; Asian/Pacific Islander; Latino; White; Foreign-born; Speaks a language other than English at home; Single parent households; Households with children; Average household size; 0-5 years; 6-11 years; 12-17 years; 18-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-44 years; 45-54 years; 55-64 years; Ages 65 and older; Ages 17 and younger. Percentages unless otherwise noted. Source information provided at: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/hi/hd/Documents/City%20Profiles/Methodology/Neighborhood%20profile%20methodology_082914%20final%20for%20web.pdf

This paper examines the association between the Great Recession and real assets among families with young children. Real assets such as homes and cars are key indicators of economic well-being that may be especially valuable to low-income families. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,898), we investigate the association between the city unemployment rate and home and car ownership and how the relationship varies by family structure (married, cohabiting, and single parents) and by race/ethnicity (White, Black, and Hispanic mothers). Using mother fixed-effects models, we find that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a -0.5 percentage point decline in the probability of home ownership and a -0.7 percentage point decline in the probability of car ownership. We also find that the recession was associated with lower levels of home ownership for cohabiting families and for Hispanic families, as well as lower car ownership among single mothers and among Black mothers, whereas no change was observed among married families or White households. Considering that homes and cars are the most important assets among middle and low-income households in the U.S., these results suggest that the rise in the unemployment rate during the Great Recession may have increased household asset inequality across family structures and race/ethnicities, limiting economic mobility, and exacerbating the cycle of poverty.

This 20-year longitudinal study, begun in 1969-1970, examines the influence of adoption on child and family development in intraracial, transracial, single-parent, and two-parent adoptive and biological families. Data collection included child, parent, and family interviews; and child completion of psychological tests, and questionnaires about racial and gender identity (e.g., Doll Puzzle, Doll Test, Semantic Differential Pictures, Toy Preferential Pictures, Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire), intelligence (e.g., Preschool Attainment Record, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Slosson Intelligence Test for Children and Adults), and social maturity (i.e., the Vineland Social Maturity Scale). Collectively, the study samples consisted of 158 African-American children ranging from birth to age two, and with approximately equal numbers of females and males. Seventy-five percent of adopting families were from the upper middle and middle class, and 25% were working class. The study participants were selected from single-parent, transracial, and traditional adoptive placements made by two Chicago agencies. The study included five groups: single parents at adoption; white parents transracially adopting; African-American parents adopting African-American children; single parents of biological children; and two-parent African-American families with biological child. Data collection has been continuous over 20 years with data collection periods spanning 1969-1972 across groups at Time I; 1973-1976 for all groups at Time II; 1977-1981 at Time III; 1982-1987 for Time IV; and 1987-1989 for Time V. The Murray Research Archive holds original record paper data from each cohort and each wave.

Explore available grants and financial assistance programs for single mothers in Mississippi. This dataset estimates how much a single-parent family of 2 earning $0/month may receive in cash aid, food support, child care assistance, utility relief, and Medicaid coverage.

City, Population Size, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, White, Foreign-born, Speaks a language other than English at home, Single parent households, Households with children, Average household size, 0-5 years, 6-11 years, 12-17 years, 18-24 years, 25-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54 years, 55-64 years,Ages 65 and older, Ages 17 and younger. Percentages unless otherwise noted. Source information provided at: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/hi/hd/Documents/City%20Profiles/Methodology/Neighborhood%20profile%20methodology_082914%20final%20for%20web.pdf

This study was in response to Grant Number HHS-2020-ACF-OZA-ZB-1817 from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Study enrollment began on April 1, 2021, and continued through March 1, 2024. The sample size for the study was 1,403. The goal of the descriptive evaluation was to assess the extent to which participation in the program was associated with improved parenting, co-parenting, and financial attitudes and behaviors among program participants. The aim of the AVANCE-Houston FRAMEWorks program was to promote healthy family relationships and economic stability, particularly in areas with a high number of single-family households, high poverty rates, low educational attainment, and high incidences of domestic violence. We believe this report can inform practitioners in the HMRF field and beyond about innovative approaches that help adults from predominately low-income households build the skills necessary to engage in healthy relationships and economic behaviors. Primary research questions for this study are as follows: a) How did parenting attitude outcomes change from program enrollment to program completion? b) How did parenting behavior outcomes change from program enrollment to one year after enrollment? c) How did partner relationship attitude outcomes change from program enrollment to program completion? d) How did partner relationship behavior outcomes change from program enrollment to one year after enrollment? e) How did employment attitude outcomes change from program enrollment to one year after enrollment? f) How did financial readiness behavior outcomes change from program enrollment to one year after enrollment? Secondary research questions for this study are as follows: g) How did participant outcomes above change from program enrollment to program completion or one year after enrollment when delivering the SSHF curriculum with a virtual format compared to an in-person format? h) How did participant outcomes above change from program enrollment to program completion or one year after enrollment when delivering the SSHF curriculum in English-language compared to Spanish-language? Implementation study research questions are as follows: a) To what extent is the SSHF curriculum received by program participants? b) What were the unplanned adaptations to key intervention components? Participants in the study resided in the greater Houston, TX area. At 76%, the majority of AVANCE FRAMEWorks participants received the program virtually. The average age of participants was 40 years, and almost three-fourths reported that they were in a relationship. The average age of their youngest child was just above eight years of age. Most (75%) participants were female. The majority of participants (64%) indicated they were Hispanic, with exactly 50% reporting their race as White and 26% as Black or African American. About 44% of participants reported having full-time employment, and 35% reported being either unemployed or a stay-at-home parent/homemaker at the time of survey completion. Paired t-tests were conducted on continuous constructs using timepoint 1 (nFORM Entrance, OLLE Pre) and timepoint 2 (nFORM Exit, OLLE Post, OLLE Follow-Up) data. For categorical variables—such as yes/no questions about having a checking or savings account or a resume—McNemar’s chi-square tests were used to compare pre- to post-test differences in proportions. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05, and no adjustments for multiple comparisons were made. Tests were reported in terms of p-values. Results were significant and positive for participants’ partner relationships, financial readiness, and employment outlook. We did not find a significant association with the parenting attitudes outcome, measured from baseline to post-program, or parenting behaviors outcome, measured from baseline to one-year post-enrollment. When analyzing virtual and in-person subgroups, we found the same positive results in the group of participants who received the program virtually compared to the overall results. We also found similar results for participants who received the program in person; however, there was not a significant association with employment outlook. We found high rates of program retention, with 95% of participants reaching the required number of curriculum hours on average.