(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Postal service/Getty Images)

One-in-four parents living with a child in the United States today are single. Driven by declines in marriage overall, besides as increases in births outside of wedlock, this marks a dramatic alter from a half-century ago, when fewer than one-in-ten parents living with their children were unmarried (7%).

At the same time, the profile of unmarried parents has shifted markedly, co-ordinate to a new Pew Enquiry Center analysis of Census Agency information.1 Solo mothers – those who are raising at least one kid with no spouse or partner in the home – no longer dominate the ranks of unmarried parents as they once did. In 1968, 88% of single parents roughshod into this category. By 1997 that share had dropped to 68%, and in 2017 the share of unmarried parents who were solo mothers declined to 53%. These declines in solo mothers take been entirely offset by increases in cohabitating parents: Now 35% of all unmarried parents are living with a partner.2 Meanwhile, the share of unmarried parents who are solo fathers has held steady at 12%.

Due primarily to the ascent number of cohabiting parents, the share of unmarried parents who are fathers has more than doubled over the past 50 years. At present, 29% of all unmarried parents who reside with their children are fathers, compared with simply 12% in 1968.

While it's well-established that married parents are typically better off financially than single parents, there are likewise differences in financial well-being among single parents. For example, a much larger share of solo parents are living in poverty compared with cohabiting parents (27% vs. 16%).3 There are differences in the demographic profiles of each grouping too. Cohabiting parents are younger, less educated and less probable to have ever been married than solo parents. At the aforementioned time, solo parents have fewer children on boilerplate than cohabiting parents and are far more probable to be living with one of their own parents (23% vs. 4%).

As the number of parents who are unmarried has grown, then has the number of children living with an unmarried parent. In 1968, 13% of children – nine million in all – were living in this blazon of arrangement, and by 2017, that share had increased to nigh ane-third (32%) of U.Southward. children, or 24 meg. However, the share of children who will e'er experience life with an unmarried parent is likely considerably higher, given how fluid U.Southward. families have become. One estimate suggests that by the time they turn 9, more than 20% of U.Southward. children born to a married couple and over l% of those born to a cohabiting couple will have experienced the breakup of their parents, for example. The declining stability of families is linked both to increases in cohabiting relationships, which tend to be less long-lasting than marriages, too as long-term increases in divorce. Indeed, one-half of solo parents in 2017 (52%) had been married at once, and the same is truthful for about 1-third of cohabiting parents (35%).

While it has become more common in recent decades, many Americans view the increase in unmarried parenthood – solo mothering peculiarly – as a negative trend for society. In a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, two-thirds of adults said that more than unmarried women raising children on their ain was bad for order, and 48% said the same about more unmarried couples raising children. Acceptance of single parenthood tends to be particularly low amongst whites, college graduates, and Republicans. Even so, other data suggest a slight uptick in acceptance. In 1994, 35% of adults agreed or strongly agreed that single parents could raise children besides equally two married parents, co-ordinate to data from the General Social Survey; by 2012 the share who said as much had risen to 48%.

Declines in marriage and increases in nonmarital births have driven ascension in unmarried parenting

The rise over the by half-century in the share of all U.Southward. parents who are single and living with a child younger than 18 has been driven past increases in all types of unmarried parents. In 1968, only 1% of all parents were solo fathers; that figure has risen to 3%. At the same time, the share of all parents who are solo mothers has doubled, from vii% upwards to 13%. Since 1997, the starting time year for which information on cohabitation are available, the share of parents that are cohabiting has risen from four% to nine%.

All told, more than than 16 million U.South. parents with no spouse at home are now living with their child younger than 18, upwardly from four million in 1968 and only under 14 1000000 in 1997.

The growth in unmarried parenthood overall has been driven by several demographic trends. Possibly about important has been the reject in the share of people overall who are married. In 1970, about seven-in-10 U.Due south. adults ages 18 and older were married; in 2016, that share stood at 50%. Both delays in wedlock and long-term increases in divorce accept fueled this trend. In 1968, the median historic period at showtime marriage for men was 23 and for women it was 21. In 2017, the median age at kickoff spousal relationship was 30 for men and 27 for women. At the same time, marriages are more probable to cease in divorce now than they were well-nigh half a century agone.iv For instance, among men whose beginning matrimony began in the late 1980s, near 76% were still in those marriages 10 years after, while this figure was 88% for men whose marriages began in the late 1950s.

Not but are fewer Americans getting married, but it'due south likewise condign more than mutual for unmarried people to have babies. In 1970 at that place were 26 births per 1,000 unmarried women ages 15 to 44, while that charge per unit in 2016 stood at 42 births per 1,000 single women. Meanwhile, birthrates for married women have declined, from 121 births per one,000 down to about 90. As a result, in 2016 four-in-10 births were to women who were either solo mothers or living with a nonmarital partner.

Increases in the number of cohabiting parents raising children have likewise contributed to the overall growth in single parenthood. In 1997, the first twelvemonth for which data on cohabitation are available, 20% of unmarried parents who lived with their children were also living with a partner.5 Since that time, the share has risen to 35%.

This tendency has boosted the overall share of unmarried parents who are fathers. In 1968, just 12% were fathers; by 1997 the share had risen to 22%, and in 2017 it stood at 29%. At the same time, solo parents remain overwhelmingly female person: 81% of solo parents in 2017 were mothers, as were 88% in 1968.

For solo and cohabiting parents, very different demographic profiles

As a result of the rise and transformation of single parenthood in the U.Due south., significant demographic differences now exist non only between married and unmarried parents, merely among unmarried parents. And in some cases, even amid solo or cohabiting parents, dramatic differences have emerged betwixt fathers and mothers.

Compared with cohabiting parents, solo parents are more than likely to be female person and black

Because cohabiting parents are overwhelmingly opposite-sexual activity couples, they are about evenly divide between men and women.half-dozen Amidst solo parents, however, the vast majority (81%) are mothers; only 19% are fathers. This gender difference is even more than pronounced among black solo parents: 89% are mothers and simply 11% are fathers.

Overall, at that place are significant differences in the racial and ethnic profiles of solo and cohabiting parents. Among solo parents, 42% are white and 28% are blackness, compared with 55% of cohabiting parents who are white and 13% who are black.

These gaps are driven largely by racial differences among the large share of solo parents who are mothers. Solo moms are more than twice equally likely to be black every bit cohabiting moms (30% vs. 12%), and roughly iv times equally likely every bit married moms (seven% of whom are blackness). Iv-in-ten solo mothers are white, compared with 58% of cohabiting moms and 61% of married moms.

There are virtually no racial and ethnic differences in the profiles of solo and cohabiting fathers. About half of each grouping are white, roughly 15% are black, about one-4th are Hispanic and a small share are Asian. Married fathers, however, are more likely than unmarried fathers to be white (61% are) and less likely to be black (8%).

Just 3% of solo or cohabiting parents are Asian, compared with 9% of married parents. A similar pattern emerges amidst both Asian fathers and mothers.

Amidst all parents, Hispanics are about every bit represented across all iii family unit types – solo, cohabiting and married parents – with no large differences among Hispanic mothers and Hispanic fathers.

Solo parents are older, more educated and more probable to have been married than cohabiting parents

Cohabiting parents are younger on boilerplate than solo or married parents. Their median age is 34 years, compared with 38 among solo parents and 40 among married parents.

Cohabiting parents take lower levels of educational attainment than other parents, due at least in part to their relative youth. Just over half (54%) of cohabiting parents have a high schoolhouse diploma or less teaching, compared with 45% of solo parents and 31% of married parents. At the other end of the spectrum, 15% of cohabiting parents have at least a available's degree, compared with 20% of solo parents. Married parents, in contrast, are more twice as likely as unmarried parents to have a available's degree (43% do), reflecting the growing gap in wedlock across educational levels.

Cohabiting fathers, in detail, have lower levels of didactics than their solo counterparts. Roughly six-in-x cohabiting fathers (61%) – versus 51% of solo fathers – have a loftier school diploma or less didactics. Conversely, just 12% of cohabiting fathers accept a bachelor's caste, while 21% of solo fathers do. In that location are no large educational differences in the profile of solo and cohabiting mothers.

The relative youthfulness of cohabiting parents also contributes to the high share (65%) that have never married, meaning that nearly children with cohabiting parents were born outside of wedlock. In dissimilarity, about half (48%) of solo parents have never been married.

Cohabiting mothers and fathers are nigh equally likely to have never married. Among solo parents, notwithstanding, mothers are more likely than fathers to have never been married (51% of solo mothers vs. 36% of solo fathers), suggesting that solo mothers and solo fathers may take somewhat different paths to unmarried parenthood.

Three-in-ten solo mothers are living in poverty

Despite the fact that cohabiting parents are younger and less educated than solo parents, they are still far less likely to be poor. All told, sixteen% of unmarried parents living with a partner are living below the poverty line, while almost ane-fourth (27%) of solo parents are. In comparison, simply 8% of married parents are living in poverty.7

Among solo parents, mothers are most twice equally likely as fathers to be living below the poverty line (30% vs. 17%), but poverty rates for cohabiting parents don't differ among mothers and fathers.

Solo and cohabiting parents are almost equally likely to be employed (72% and 73%, respectively). Notwithstanding, a majority (53%) of cohabiting parents are in a dual-earner household, which accounts for some of the differences in poverty levels betwixt the two groups.

Roughly one-in-four solo parents are living with their ain parent

Not only do solo and cohabiting parents differ in terms of their demographic and economic profiles, but their household situations are different every bit well. Solo parents don't have a partner at dwelling house, but they are far more probable than their married and cohabiting counterparts to be living with at least 1 of their own parents – 23% do. This is particularly common among solo dads, 31% of whom are residing with at least one of their parents. Amongst solo moms, this effigy stands at 22%. In comparison, only 4% of cohabiting parents are living with at least one of their own or their partner's parents – the same share as amid their married counterparts.

While the part of these grandparents cannot be determined for sure from this data, prior Pew Research Center analyses of 2011 Demography Bureau information suggest that many could be playing an important function as caregiver to any grandchildren in the household. In fact, a 2013 analysis found that among all grandparents who lived with at least one grandchild at the time (whether the child's parent was present or not), about iv-in-ten (39%) said they were responsible for most of that grandchild's bones needs.

Cohabiting parents accept more children, on boilerplate, than solo parents do. Only over half (53%) of cohabiting parents have more than one child at abode, compared with 44% of solo parents. Amid solo parents, though, moms are more than likely than dads to have multiple kids at home – almost one-half (46%) practice, while 35% of solo fathers are raising more i child.

Cohabiting parents are besides more than probable than their solo counterparts to have young children at dwelling. This is linked to the fact that they themselves tend to exist younger. Fully 60% of cohabiting parents are living with at least one child younger than 6, compared with 37% of solo parents and 44% of married parents. Among solo parents, mothers are much more than probable than fathers to accept a preschool-age kid in the house. About four-in-ten (39%) practice, compared with 26% of dads.

Public views of unmarried parenthood

As single parenthood has grown more common in the U.S., the public has become somewhat more accepting of it, though large shares say that this trend is bad for society.

A 2015 Pew Research Heart survey plant that the trends toward more single women having children and more unmarried couples raising children were seen every bit relatively more harmful to order, compared with other changes in American families.eight

Americans were far more likely to limited a negative view regarding the rising of single mothers than any other tendency: 2-thirds (66%) said that more single women having children was bad for club, and only 4% said this trend was expert for society (the remaining 29% said the trend doesn't make much difference). At the same fourth dimension, about half (48%) said more single couples raising children was bad for gild, while just 6% said information technology was adept for society and 45% said it didn't brand much difference.

By comparison, other family trends were seen as less negative, though substantial shares saw some of those trends as bad for society. For case, four-in-x adults said that the growing number of children who have parents who are gay or lesbian was bad for lodge, and a like share (39%) said the same nigh more than couples living together without being married. When it came to more mothers of young children working outside the home, 36% said this was a bad matter, only a sizable minority (22%) saw it every bit a adept thing. Relatively few Americans (11%) said the trends toward more children with parents of dissimilar races and more than interracial marriages were bad for lodge; at least twice as many viewed each of these trends as good for society (22% and 29%, respectively). In each case, majorities or pluralities of the public said these trends didn't make much of a divergence for society.

Views on single parents vary widely by political party affiliation. The overwhelming majority (83%) of Republicans and independents who lean to the Republican Party said that more than single women having children without a partner is bad for society; 56% of Democrats and those who lean Autonomous said the same. Partisan differences were even wider on attitudes near unmarried parents raising children together: While 70% of Republicans saw this as bad for lodge, well-nigh one-half as many Democrats (32%) said the aforementioned.

Older Americans and those with higher levels of education were especially likely to view these trends equally bad for order.

In that location were racial and ethnic gaps also, particularly on views about unmarried couples raising children: 53% of whites viewed more unmarried couples raising children as a bad thing, compared with 37% of blacks and 32% of Hispanics.

Other data advise there has been some softening in views towards unmarried parenthood. In 2012, 48% of adults agreed or strongly agreed that unmarried parents could raise children too every bit two parents can, according to the General Social Survey. This marked a slight increase from 1994, when but 35% said as much. At the same time, the share of people who disagreed or strongly disagreed that single parents could raise children also as 2 parents ticked downwards, from 48% to 41%.

About the data

This report is based primarily on data from the U.S. Census Bureau'due south March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS), too known as the Almanac Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC). The survey produces a nationally representative sample of the not-institutionalized U.S. population. The assay in this report starts with 1968, the get-go year for which ASEC data are publicly available.

Because the CPS is based on households, only parents who are living with at least one of their children younger than xviii are included in this analysis. Prior Pew Research Eye analysis indicates that 17% of fathers of children younger than 18 are living apart from all of these children, and fathers living autonomously from their children have different characteristics than those who live with their children.

The CPS does not explicitly ask about custody arrangements, merely any parent whose kid lives with them most of the time is counted equally "living with" that child. In cases where custody is split fifty-l, the parent is counted every bit "living with" their child if the child is present at the time of the interview.

Throughout this report, "fathers," "mothers" and "parents" refer to people who are living with their child younger than eighteen years, and to people who are their spouses or partners. These include both biological parents and parents who are not biologically linked to the children in their family.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) does non explicitly ask about custody arrangements, just any parent whose child lives with them most of the time is counted equally "living with" that child. In cases where custody is separate 50-50, the parent is counted as "living with" their kid if the kid is present at the time of the interview.

All cohabiting parents – significant parents who are living with a partner to whom they are non married – are identified in analyses since 2007. From 1995 to 2006, the CPS only collected data on cohabitation among unmarried household heads, and then only those respondents and their partners are counted as cohabiting. This leads to an undercount of cohabiting parents for those years. The size of this undercount prior to 2007 can't be determined, but in 2007 the vast majority (93%) of all cohabiting parents were either the head of household or the partner of the head. Prior to 1995, cohabiting couples were not identified in the CPS.

All same-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, are classified as "cohabiting," since that is the convention used in the CPS. For more on same-sexual practice parents, run into "LGB Families and Relationships: Analyses of the 2013 National Health Interview Survey."

The small share of parents who are married merely not living with a spouse or partner are classified every bit "solo parents," along with those who are neither married nor living with a partner.

"Some college" includes those with an associate degree and those who attended higher but did not obtain a degree. "High school" includes those who have a loftier schoolhouse diploma or its equivalent, such as a General Education Development (GED) document.

Whites, blacks and Asians include but single-race not-Hispanics. Hispanics are of any race. Asians include Pacific Islanders.