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.

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 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.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Milwaukee County, WI (S1101SPHOUSE055079) from 2009 to 2023 about Milwaukee County, WI; Milwaukee; single-parent; WI; 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.

In 2023, about 3.52 million Hispanic families with a single mother were living in the United States. This is an increase from 1990, when there were about 1.19 million Hispanic families with a single mother in the U.S.

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.

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.

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 Cook County, IL (S1101SPHOUSE017031) from 2009 to 2023 about Cook County, IL; single-parent; Chicago; IL; households; 5-year; and USA.

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.

Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Cobb County, GA was 27.72% in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Cobb County, GA reached a record high of 31.08 in January of 2014 and a record low of 26.65 in January of 2009. 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 Cobb County, GA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2022.

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.

Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in San Diego County, CA was 25.54% 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 San Diego County, CA reached a record high of 28.19 in January of 2015 and a record low of 25.54 in January of 2023. 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 San Diego County, CA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.

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.

In 2024, around *** million families with a female householder lived below the poverty level in the U.S. 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.

The Families and Households data from the 2021 Federal Census covers household, household size, census family, and marital status. For questions, please contact socialresearch@calgary.ca. Please visit Data about Calgary's population for more information.

Household refers to a person or group of persons who occupy the same dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada or abroad. The dwelling may be either a collective dwelling or a private dwelling. The household may consist of a family group such as a census family, of two or more families sharing a dwelling, of a group of unrelated persons or of a person living alone. Household members who are temporarily absent on reference day are considered part of their usual household.

Household size refers to the number of persons in a private household.

Census family refers to a married couple and the children, if any, of either and/or both spouses; a couple living common law and the children, if any, of either and/or both partners; or a parent of any marital status in a one‑parent family with at least one child living in the same dwelling and that child or those children. All members of a particular census family live in the same dwelling.

Children may be biological or adopted children regardless of their age or marital status as long as they live in the dwelling and do not have their own married spouse, common‑law partner or child living in the dwelling. Grandchildren living with their grandparent(s) but with no parents present also constitute a census family.

One-parent refers to mothers or fathers, with no married spouse or common-law partner present, living in a dwelling with one or more children.

Marital status refers to whether or not a person is living in a common‑law union as well as the legal marital status of those who are not living in a common‑law union. All persons aged less than 15 are considered as never married and not living common law. Possible marital statuses are: Common-law, Divorced, Married, Separated, Single, and Widowed.

This is a one-time load of Statistics Canada federal census data from 2021 applied to the Communities, Wards, and City geographical boundaries current as of 2022 (so they will likely not match the current year's boundaries). Update frequency is every 5 years. Data Steward: Business Unit Community Strategies (Demographics and Evaluation). This dataset is for general public and internal City business groups.

Single-Parent Households with Children as a Percentage of Households with Children (5-year estimate) in Buffalo County, SD was 71.11% 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 Buffalo County, SD reached a record high of 71.11 in January of 2023 and a record low of 43.20 in January of 2013. 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 Buffalo County, SD - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.