Full Description Children are all persons under the age of 18 years. 'Own children' in a family are sons and daughters, including stepchildren and adopted children, of the householder. 'Single-parent family' means only one parent is present in the home, and is never-married, widowed, divorced, or married, spouse absent. This data originates from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates, table B11003. The ACS collects these data from a sample of households on a rolling monthly basis. ACS aggregates samples into one-, three-, or five-year periods.

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.

This statistic shows the amount of lone parent families in Canada in 2022, distinguished by province and territory. In 2022, about 749,769 lone parent families were living in Ontario.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Los Angeles County, CA (S1101SPHOUSE006037) from 2009 to 2023 about single-parent; Los Angeles County, CA; Los Angeles; CA; households; 5-year; and USA.

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

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; single-parent; St. Louis; MO; households; 5-year; and USA.

Single-parent Families reports the percent of families with children that are headed by a single parent, per race/ethnicity of the householder. Dimensions Year;Measure.Type;Variable Full Description Children are all persons under the age of 18 years, living in families, and related as children by birth, marriage, or adoption to the householder. Children living with married step-parents are not included. Single-parent families may include unmarried couples. This data originates from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates, table B11003. The ACS collects these data from a sample of households on a rolling monthly basis. ACS aggregates samples into one-, three-, or five-year periods. At this time only state-level annual data are available on CTdata.org. Town-level data aggregated from the five-year datasets (considered to be more accurate for geographic areas that are the size of a county or smaller) can be produced using Census tables currently available on the Census website.

The total number of single parent families in Canada was 1.84 million in 2024. Between 2006 and 2024, the total number rose by 370,000, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Cook County, IL (S1101SPHOUSE017031) from 2009 to 2023 about Cook County, IL; single-parent; Chicago; IL; households; 5-year; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Franklin County, OH (S1101SPHOUSE039049) from 2009 to 2023 about Franklin County, OH; single-parent; Columbus; OH; households; 5-year; and USA.

Dataset population: Households

Lone-parent households with dependent children where the lone parent is aged 16 to 74

In most tables, the term 'lone-parent household' is used to describe a household that comprises a lone parent family and no other person. In the alternative household type variable, a lone-parent household is defined as a household that contains at least one lone-parent family but does not contain any married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couples.

A count of the dependent children living in a household. A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

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.

Dataset population: Lone-parent households with dependent children where the lone parent is aged 16 to 74

Economic activity

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was aged 16 and over was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.

A person's economic activity is derived from their 'activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status if not employed and not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed.

The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment, unemployment and economic status.

Lone-parent households with dependent children where the lone parent is aged 16 to 74

In most tables, the term 'lone-parent household' is used to describe a household that comprises a lone parent family and no other person. In the alternative household type variable, a lone-parent household is defined as a household that contains at least one lone-parent family but does not contain any married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couples.

A count of the dependent children living in a household. A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Philadelphia County, PA (S1101SPHOUSE042101) from 2009 to 2023 about Philadelphia County/City, PA; single-parent; Philadelphia; PA; households; 5-year; and USA.

Census Key Statistics Table KS22: Lone parent households with dependent children A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 - 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16-18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s). For the Census; part-time is defined as working 30 hours or less a week. Full time is defined as 31or more hours a week. For the purposes of this table; a lone parent is defined as a parent with a dependent child living in a household with no other persons (whether related to that dependent child or not). This definition is to be distinguished from the standard definitition of a lone parent used in other tables. Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data. All data is © Crown Copyright 2003. Census day was 29 April 2001.

This statistic shows the number of single-parents families with children under 18 years of age in France from 1990 to 2020 (in thousands). It displays that there were ***** thousand single-parents families in France in 2020.

Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Los Angeles County, CA was 32.63% 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 Los Angeles County, CA reached a record high of 34.00 in January of 2014 and a record low of 31.77 in January of 2019. 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 Los Angeles County, CA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

A lone parent is defined as a parent with a dependent child living in a household with no other people (whether related to that dependent child or not). Source: Census 2001 Publisher: Neighbourhood Statistics Geographies: Output Area (OA), Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA), Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA), Ward, Local Authority District (LAD), Government Office Region (GOR), National Geographic coverage: England and Wales Time coverage: 2001 Type of data: Survey (census)

Lone parents are not a new phenomenon in Canada, however an increase of 33% has been observed between 1986 and 1996. Today there are approximately 1 138 000 lone-parent families, and families headed by women continue to outnumber those headed by men by four to one, or 83% of all lone-parent families. Lone parent families make up 22% o all families with children.

A lone parent is defined as a parent with a dependent child living in a household with no other people (whether related to that dependent child or not). Source: Census 2001 Publisher: Neighbourhood Statistics Geographies: Output Area (OA), Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA), Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA), Ward, Local Authority District (LAD), Government Office Region (GOR), National Geographic coverage: England and Wales Time coverage: 2001 Type of data: Survey (census)