This graph shows the Percentage of households led by a female householder with no spouse present with own children under 18 years living in the household in the U.S. in 2021, by state. In 2021, about 4.24 percent of Californian households were single mother households with at least one child.
Additional information on single mother households and poverty in the United States
For most single mothers a constant battle persists between finding the time and energy to raise their children and the demands of working to supply an income to house and feed their families. The pressures of a single income and the high costs of childcare mean that the risk of poverty for these families is a tragic reality. Comparison of the overall United States poverty rate since 1990 with that of the poverty rate for families with a female householder shows that poverty is much more prevalent in the latter. In 2021, while the overall rate was at 11.6 percent, the rate of poverty for single mother families was 23 percent. Moreover, the degree of fluctuation tends to be lower for single female household families, suggesting the rate of poverty for these groups is less affected by economic conditions.
The sharp rise in the number of children living with a single mother or single father in the United States from 1970 to 2022 suggests more must be done to ensure that families in such situations are able to avoid poverty. Moreover, attention should also be placed on overall racial income inequality given the higher rate of poverty for Hispanic single mother families than their white or Asian counterparts.
The data this week comes from the National Database of Childcare Prices.
childcare_costs.csv
variable | class | description |
---|---|---|
county_fips_code | double | Four- or five-digit number that uniquely identifies the county in a state. The first two digits (for five-digit numbers) or 1 digit (for four-digit numbers) refer to the FIPS code of the state to which the county belongs. |
study_year | double | Year the data collection began for the market rate survey and in which ACS data is representative of, or the study publication date. |
unr_16 | double | Unemployment rate of the population aged 16 years old or older. |
funr_16 | double | Unemployment rate of the female population aged 16 years old or older. |
munr_16 | double | Unemployment rate of the male population aged 16 years old or older. |
unr_20to64 | double | Unemployment rate of the population aged 20 to 64 years old. |
funr_20to64 | double | Unemployment rate of the female population aged 20 to 64 years old. |
munr_20to64 | double | Unemployment rate of the male population aged 20 to 64 years old. |
flfpr_20to64 | double | Labor force participation rate of the female population aged 20 to 64 years old. |
flfpr_20to64_under6 | double | Labor force participation rate of the female population aged 20 to 64 years old who have children under 6 years old. |
flfpr_20to64_6to17 | double | Labor force participation rate of the female population aged 20 to 64 years old who have children between 6 and 17 years old. |
flfpr_20to64_under6_6to17 | double | Labor force participation rate of the female population aged 20 to 64 years old who have children under 6 years old and between 6 and 17 years old. |
mlfpr_20to64 | double | Labor force participation rate of the male population aged 20 to 64 years old. |
pr_f | double | Poverty rate for families. |
pr_p | double | Poverty rate for individuals. |
mhi_2018 | double | Median household income expressed in 2018 dollars. |
me_2018 | double | Median earnings expressed in 2018 dollars for the population aged 16 years old or older. |
fme_2018 | double | Median earnings for females expressed in 2018 dollars for the population aged 16 years old or older. |
mme_2018 | double | Median earnings for males expressed in 2018 dollars for the population aged 16 years old or older. |
total_pop | double | Count of the total population. |
one_race | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race. |
one_race_w | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being only White or Caucasian. |
one_race_b | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being only Black or African American. |
one_race_i | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being only American Indian or Alaska Native. |
one_race_a | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being only Asian. |
one_race_h | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being only Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. |
one_race_other | double | Percent of population that identifies as being one race and being a different race not previously mentioned. |
two_races | double | Percent of population that identifies as being two or more races. |
hispanic | double | Percent of population that identifies as being Hispanic or Latino regardless of race. |
households | double | Number of households. |
h_under6_both_work | double | Number of households with children under 6 years old with two parents that are both working. |
h_under6_f_work | double | Number of households with children under 6 years old with two parents with only the father working. |
h_under6_m_work | double | Number of households with children under 6 years old with two parents with only the mother working. |
h_under6_single_m | double | Number of households with children under 6 years old with a single mother. |
h_6to17_both_work | double | Number of households with children between 6 and 17 years old with two parents that are both working. |
h_6to17_fwork | double | Number of households with children between 6 and 17 years old with two parents with only the father working. |
h_6to17_mwork | double | Number of households with children between 6 and 17 year... |
MIT Licensehttps://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
License information was derived automatically
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
MIT Licensehttps://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
License information was derived automatically
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
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset provides information on Who UK armed forces veterans lived with, including household residents by household composition and family status, Census 2021.
Child family status
Identifies whether a person is living in a family with a child and has specific categories for those who have children based on the relationship of the parent couple, those not in a family and those who are children in a family are grouped together. Categories were: • has children (in a lone parent family, married couple family, civil partnership family or cohabiting couple family) • does not have children or is a child within a family • living in a communal establishment
Dependent Child
A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 years in a household or a person aged 16 to 18 years who is in full-time education and lives in a family with their parent, parents, grandparent or grandparents. It does not include any person aged 16 to 18 years who has a spouse, partner or child living in the household
Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group
The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" "Mixed or Multiple" "White" "Other ethnic group"
Family
A family is a group of people who are either: • married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children (the children do not need to belong to both members of the couple) • a lone parent with children • a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present • a single or couple grandparent with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present
Family status
Denotes whether a person is considered to be in a family and the place a person holds within that family. Categories were: • not in a family • in a couple family (as a member of the couple or a dependent or non-dependent child of one or both members of the couple) • in a lone parent family (as a parent or a dependent or non-dependent child of the parent) • living in a communal establishment
Household
A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. This includes all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment and all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence. A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.
Household size
The number of people in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not count to that household’s size. Living arrangements This classification combines responses to the Census question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.
UK armed forces veteran
People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.
Usual resident
A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.
The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) series involved three rounds of data collection, this study NatSCEV I (baseline), NatSCEV II, and NatSCEV III. For more information on other parts to the series, please use the following links: NatSCEV II (ICPSR 36177) - http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36177.v1 NatSCEV III (ICPSR 36523) - http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36523.v1 The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence I was designed to obtain lifetime and one-year incidence estimates of a comprehensive range of childhood victimizations across gender, race, and developmental stage. Conducted between January and July, 2008, it assessed the experiences of a nationally representative sample of 4,549 children aged 1 month to 17 years living in the contiguous United States (excluding New Hampshire). The primary sample of households was selected from a nationwide sampling frame of residential telephone numbers by random digit dialing (RDD). A second sample was drawn by over-sampling United States telephone exchanges that had a population of 70 percent or more of African American, Hispanic, or low-income households. A short interview was conducted with an adult caregiver (usually a parent) to obtain family demographic information. One child was randomly selected from all eligible children in a household by selecting the child with the most recent birthday. The survey used an enhanced version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ), an inventory of childhood victimization. This version of the JVQ obtains reports on 48 forms of offenses against youth that cover five general areas of concern including: conventional crime, child maltreatment, peer and sibling victimization, sexual assault, and witnessing and indirect victimization. Follow-up questions for each victimization item gathered additional information about the victimization incident. The data set has 1,824 variables and 4,549 cases.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset provides information on where UK armed forces veterans lived: usual residents, aged 16 years and over by whether they have previously served in the UK armed forces in England and Wales.
Child family status
Identifies whether a person is living in a family with a child and has specific categories for those who have children based on the relationship of the parent couple, those not in a family and those who are children in a family are grouped together. Categories were: • has children (in a lone parent family, married couple family, civil partnership family or cohabiting couple family) • does not have children or is a child within a family • living in a communal establishment
Dependent Child
A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 years in a household or a person aged 16 to 18 years who is in full-time education and lives in a family with their parent, parents, grandparent or grandparents. It does not include any person aged 16 to 18 years who has a spouse, partner or child living in the household
Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group
The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" "Mixed or Multiple" "White" "Other ethnic group"
Family
A family is a group of people who are either: • married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children (the children do not need to belong to both members of the couple) • a lone parent with children • a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present • a single or couple grandparent with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present
Family status
Denotes whether a person is considered to be in a family and the place a person holds within that family. Categories were: • not in a family • in a couple family (as a member of the couple or a dependent or non-dependent child of one or both members of the couple) • in a lone parent family (as a parent or a dependent or non-dependent child of the parent) • living in a communal establishment
Household
A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. This includes all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment and all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence. A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.
Household size
The number of people in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not count to that household’s size. Living arrangements This classification combines responses to the Census question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.
UK armed forces veteran
People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.
Usual resident
A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.
This dataset explores the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service Program - Commodity Supplemental Food Program by recording the total participation by state for the years 2003-2007. The Commodity Supplemental Food Programs (CSFP) is a Federally funded program, which works to improve the health of low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, other new mothers up to one year postpartum, infants, children up to age six, and elderly people at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA commodity foods. It provides food and administrative funds to States to supplement the diets of these groups. * If a State operated for less than a full year, its annual average does not include non-operating months (e.g., if it operated for two month, the annual participation sum is divided by two rather than twelve). Consequently, the sum of the States exceeds the Total for most years. In FY 2005, Louisiana participation is an 8 month average; there was no activity in September due to Hurricane Katrina. In FY 2006, its participation gradually rose from under 6,000 in the initial month to 62,000 during the last two months. CSFP was originally a food distribution alternative to the WIC Program which provided supplemental food packages to women, infants and children. It began serving elderly persons on a pilot basis in FY 1982. By FY 1999, most participants were elderly. FY 2007 data are preliminary; all data are subject to revision.
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This graph shows the Percentage of households led by a female householder with no spouse present with own children under 18 years living in the household in the U.S. in 2021, by state. In 2021, about 4.24 percent of Californian households were single mother households with at least one child.
Additional information on single mother households and poverty in the United States
For most single mothers a constant battle persists between finding the time and energy to raise their children and the demands of working to supply an income to house and feed their families. The pressures of a single income and the high costs of childcare mean that the risk of poverty for these families is a tragic reality. Comparison of the overall United States poverty rate since 1990 with that of the poverty rate for families with a female householder shows that poverty is much more prevalent in the latter. In 2021, while the overall rate was at 11.6 percent, the rate of poverty for single mother families was 23 percent. Moreover, the degree of fluctuation tends to be lower for single female household families, suggesting the rate of poverty for these groups is less affected by economic conditions.
The sharp rise in the number of children living with a single mother or single father in the United States from 1970 to 2022 suggests more must be done to ensure that families in such situations are able to avoid poverty. Moreover, attention should also be placed on overall racial income inequality given the higher rate of poverty for Hispanic single mother families than their white or Asian counterparts.