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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Unit Characteristics: Percent Black or African American by Composition of Consumer Unit: One Parent, at Least One Child Under 18 (CXU980270LB0609M) from 1984 to 2023 about parent, consumer unit, African-American, child, percent, and USA.

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.

In 2021, roughly ******* children living with single mothers who never married were receiving public assistance in the U.S. Comparatively, there were around ****** children of widowed mothers receiving public assistance.

This dataset includes teen birth rates for females by age group, race, and Hispanic origin 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.

National data on births by Hispanic origin exclude data for Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma in 1989; New Hampshire and Oklahoma in 1990; and New Hampshire in 1991 and 1992. Birth and fertility rates for the Central and South American population includes other and unknown Hispanic. Information on reporting Hispanic origin is detailed in the Technical Appendix for the 1999 public-use natality data file (see ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/DVS/natality/Nat1999doc.pdf).

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

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.

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.

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.

The Stress and Families Project was undertaken to investigate the relationship between life situation and mental health among low-income mothers, the group at greatest risk for depression. This longitudinal research project was interdisciplinary in approach and involved interview and observation data on mothers, children, and fathers. The participants were 43 low-income mothers who were recruited for the study without regard to their current mental health status. Each woman had at least one child between three and seven years of age. Approximately one-half were white and one-half African-American, and within each of those groups approximately one-half were single and one-half living with a husband or boyfriend. The women ranged in age from 21 to 44 and represented every legal marital status. Data were collected by teams of two researchers conducting interviews and observations in the women's homes over a period of several months. Interview topics included a description of a typical day in the life of the family; mental health assessment including measures of locus of control, self-esteem, stability of self-image, depression, and anxiety; social network; employment; generational change; current life conditions and stresses; social service institutions; nutrition; life events; coping; discrimination; six observations of the child; interviews on parenting with mothers and consenting fathers; and interviews with the children on their relationships with their parent(s). The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study (copies of all original record paper data, including child observations and parenting interviews). If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data. Note: Paper Data box 8 of 8 is marked confidential and is not available for public access.

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.

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.