30.5%
2025 (latest)
ONE-PARENT FAMILIES WITH OWN CHILDREN UNDER 18
percent of families with own children under 18 · 1950–2025 · neither direction is "better" · computed from the U.S. Census Bureau historical family and living-arrangement tables (counts divided within the same table)
7.4%
1950
32.3%
high · 2012
7.4%
low · 1950
+23 pts
since 1950
┊ dashed lines mark 1979 Oil shock & inflation peak · 1987 Black Monday crash · 1991 Gulf War recession · 2001 Dot-com bust & 9/11 · 2008 Global financial crisis · 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
Method & caveats. Computed from one-parent families divided by all families with own children under 18, not all families. Unrelated subfamilies included before 1980; earlier totals were revised by Census. Breaks: 2014 ASEC questionnaire redesign; decennial population-control revisions (the publisher's lettered r rows, taken over the original); 2021 appears twice in the tables (the later-method row is taken); 2025 uses Vintage-2025 population controls; 2019 onward includes same-sex married couples.
Sources
Every value on this page is read from the publisher below. Current and historical source documents:
- https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/families/time-series/families/fm1.xls
- https://github.com/danielmiessler/substrate/tree/main/Data/US-Family-And-Society
Data
| Year | One-parent families with own children under 18 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 30.5% | +0.7 pts |
| 2024 | 29.8% | +0.5 pts |
| 2023 | 29.3% | −1.8 pts |
| 2022 | 31.2% | −0.0 pts |
| 2021 | 31.2% | +1.8 pts |
| 2020 | 29.4% | −0.6 pts |
| 2019 | 30.1% | −0.8 pts |
| 2018 | 30.9% | −0.2 pts |
| 2017 | 31.0% | −0.6 pts |
| 2016 | 31.6% | +0.4 pts |
| 2015 | 31.3% | −0.3 pts |
| 2014 | 31.5% | −0.4 pts |
| 2013 | 31.9% | −0.3 pts |
| 2012 | 32.3% | +1.0 pts |
| 2011 | 31.2% | +1.0 pts |
| 2010 | 30.2% | +0.7 pts |
| 2009 | 29.5% | −0.0 pts |
| 2008 | 29.5% | +0.7 pts |
| 2007 | 28.8% | +0.1 pts |
| 2006 | 28.8% | +0.3 pts |
| 2005 | 28.4% | +0.2 pts |
| 2004 | 28.2% | +0.3 pts |
| 2003 | 27.9% | +0.2 pts |
| 2002 | 27.8% | +1.3 pts |
| 2001 | 26.5% | −0.5 pts |
| 2000 | 27.0% | −0.5 pts |
| 1999 | 27.6% | +0.3 pts |
| 1998 | 27.3% | −0.3 pts |
| 1997 | 27.6% | +0.5 pts |
| 1996 | 27.1% | +0.7 pts |
| 1995 | 26.4% | +0.1 pts |
| 1994 | 26.3% | +0.6 pts |
| 1993 | 25.7% | +0.3 pts |
| 1992 | 25.4% | +0.7 pts |
| 1991 | 24.7% | +0.7 pts |
| 1990 | 24.0% | +0.5 pts |
| 1989 | 23.5% | +0.5 pts |
| 1988 | 22.9% | +0.2 pts |
| 1987 | 22.7% | +0.5 pts |
| 1986 | 22.2% | +0.1 pts |
| 1985 | 22.2% | +0.6 pts |
| 1984 | 21.6% | +0.7 pts |
| 1983 | 20.9% | −0.2 pts |
| 1982 | 21.1% | +0.9 pts |
| 1981 | 20.2% | +0.6 pts |
| 1980 | 19.5% | +0.3 pts |
| 1979 | 19.3% | +0.4 pts |
| 1978 | 18.9% | +1.4 pts |
| 1977 | 17.5% | +0.7 pts |
| 1976 | 16.8% | +0.5 pts |
| 1975 | 16.3% | +1.2 pts |
| 1974 | 15.0% | +0.9 pts |
| 1973 | 14.2% | +0.7 pts |
| 1972 | 13.5% | +0.6 pts |
| 1971 | 12.8% | +1.5 pts |
| 1970 | 11.3% | +0.0 pts |
| 1969 | 11.3% | +0.4 pts |
| 1968 | 11.0% | +0.4 pts |
| 1967 | 10.6% | +0.5 pts |
| 1966 | 10.1% | +0.0 pts |
| 1965 | 10.1% | +0.4 pts |
| 1964 | 9.7% | +0.1 pts |
| 1963 | 9.6% | +0.2 pts |
| 1962 | 9.4% | +0.3 pts |
| 1961 | 9.2% | +0.1 pts |
| 1960 | 9.1% | +0.4 pts |
| 1959 | 8.7% | +0.1 pts |
| 1958 | 8.6% | −0.1 pts |
| 1957 | 8.7% | −0.2 pts |
| 1956 | 8.9% | −0.3 pts |
| 1955 | 9.2% | +0.8 pts |
| 1954 | 8.4% | +0.1 pts |
| 1953 | 8.3% | +0.1 pts |
| 1952 | 8.2% | −0.7 pts |
| 1951 | 8.9% | +1.5 pts |
| 1950 | 7.4% | — |
Also in Family & Society