Definitions: Children under age 18 who live with their own single parent either in a family or subfamily.



In this definition, single-parent families may include cohabiting couples and do not include children living with married stepparents. Children who live in group quarters (for example, institutions, dormitories, or group homes) are not included in this calculation.

Data Source: Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, 2001 Supplementary Survey, 2002 through 2018 American Community Survey.



The data for this measure come from the 2005 through 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS, fully implemented, is designed to provide annually updated social, economic, and housing data for states and communities. (Such local-area data have traditionally been collected once every ten years in the long form of the decennial census.) Race/ethnic groups represented in this table are not mutually exclusive. The category of white includes only non-Hispanic white. The categories Black or African American, American Indian, and Asian and Pacific Islander include both Hispanic and non-Hispanic. Those in the Hispanic or Latino category include those identified as being in one of the non-White race groups.

Footnotes: Updated January 2020.

S - Estimates suppressed when the confidence interval around the percentage is greater than or equal to 10 percentage points.

N.A. – Data not available.

A 90 percent confidence interval for each estimate can be found at Children in single-parent families by race.