Majority of Children Live with Two Parents

U.S. Census Bureau Reports on Housing of Children Under 18

The majority of America’s 73.7 million children under age 18 live in families with two parents (69 percent), reports the U.S. Census Bureau. This is compared to other types of living arrangements, such as living with grandparents or having a single parent. 

The second most common family arrangement is children living with a single mother, at 23 percent. These statistics come from the Census Bureau’s annual America’s Families and Living Arrangements table package.

Between 1960 and 2016, the percentage of children living in families with two parents decreased from 88 to 69. Of those 50.7 million children living in families with two parents, 47.7 million live with two married parents and 3.0 million live with two unmarried parents.

During the 1960–2016 period, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from 8 to 23 percent and the percentage of children living with only their father increased from 1 to 4 percent. The percentage of children not living with any parent increased slightly from 3 to 4 percent.

“Despite the rise of childbearing outside of marriage, the majority of children in the United States still live with two married parents,” noted Jonathan Vespa, demographer in the Fertility and Family Statistics Branch at the Census Bureau.

The data comes from the 2016 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, which has collected statistics on families for more than 60 years. The data shows characteristics of households, living arrangements, married and unmarried couples, and children.

Photo: U.S. Census Bureau