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.

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

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.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in St. Bernard Parish, LA (S1101SPHOUSE022087) from 2009 to 2023 about St. Bernard Parish, LA; New Orleans; single-parent; LA; households; 5-year; and USA.

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.

Families of tax filers; Single-earner and dual-earner census families by number of children (final T1 Family File; T1FF).

The Federal Housing Administration, generally known as FHA, provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders throughout the United States and its territories. FHA insures mortgages on single family and multifamily homes including manufactured homes and hospitals. It is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world, insuring over 34 million properties since its inception in 1934. The insurance is force represents the outstanding balance of an active loan.

Single Family Purchase Loan Data 1999- 2020

  Single family purchase loan data that has had the PII removed; comprised of monthly snapshots Jan 2019-may 2020 About HUD Housing and Funding Allocation Data: Links to several different HUD datasets including CARES Act and Indian Housing Block Grant FY2020 allocations, and monthly single- and multi-family 2020 loan data with the PII removed. Other datasets contain sheltered/unsheltered/total homeless data by demographic, HUD Continuum of Care area, and State, shelter capacity by state yearly from 2007 to 2019, and American Community Survey 2014-2018 5-year county level estimates for median rent value.
  Geography Level: State, City, County, ZipItem Vintage: 1999-2020
  Update Frequency: N/AAgency: HUD (Multiple)Available File Type: Excel with PDF Supplement (All links go to same FHA dataset) 

  Return to Other Federal Agency Datasets Page

Displacement risk indicator showing the number of property transactions of single-family homes recorded by the King County Assessor that can be classified as "flips" (meaning that the home had previously been sold within the past year and that the sale price had increased between sales at least twice as fast as the increase in regional housing Consumer Price Index during the same time period). Summarized at the census tract level; available for every year from 2004 through the most recent year of available data.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Shelby County, TN (S1101SPHOUSE047157) from 2009 to 2023 about Shelby County, TN; Memphis; single-parent; TN; 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 Mecklenburg County, NC (S1101SPHOUSE037119) from 2009 to 2023 about Mecklenburg County, NC; single-parent; Charlotte; NC; households; 5-year; and USA.

Housing Starts Single Family in the United States decreased to 890 Thousand units in August from 957 Thousand units in July of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Housing Starts Single Family.

In 2024, there were around 7.4 million families with a male householder and no spouse present in the United States. You can get an overview on the total number of households in the U.S. here.

View monthly updates and historical trends for US New Single Family Houses Sold. from United States. Source: Census Bureau. Track economic data with YChar…

View monthly updates and historical trends for US New Single Family Houses For Sale. from United States. Source: Census Bureau. Track economic data with Y…

Displacement risk indicator classifying census tracts according to single-family home sale prices in census tracts where at least 100 single-family homes exist. We classify arms-length transactions only along two dimensions:The median price of sales within the census tract for the specified year, balancing between nominal sale price and sale price per square foot.The change in median sale price (again balanced between nominal sale price and price per square foot) from the previous year.

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.

Single family programs that support repairs or improvements to existing affordable single family units. Units are counted when projects are approved for payment by HED. Unit totals are adjusted to account for units receiving benefits from multiple HED programs.