(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
(Photograph past Marvin Joseph/The Washington Mail service/Getty Images)

One-in-4 parents living with a child in the Us today are unmarried. Driven by declines in marriage overall, every bit well as increases in births outside of marriage, this marks a dramatic alter from a one-half-century agone, when fewer than 1-in-ten parents living with their children were single (7%).

At the same time, the profile of unmarried parents has shifted markedly, according to a new Pew Research Center assay of Census Agency data.1 Solo mothers – those who are raising at least one kid with no spouse or partner in the domicile – no longer dominate the ranks of unmarried parents as they once did. In 1968, 88% of unmarried parents barbarous 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 have been entirely first by increases in cohabitating parents: Now 35% of all unmarried parents are living with a partner.2 Meanwhile, the share of single 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 l years. Now, 29% of all single parents who reside with their children are fathers, compared with only 12% in 1968.

While it'south well-established that married parents are typically meliorate off financially than single parents, there are also differences in financial well-being among unmarried parents. For example, a much larger share of solo parents are living in poverty compared with cohabiting parents (27% vs. 16%).3 At that place are differences in the demographic profiles of each grouping also. Cohabiting parents are younger, less educated and less likely to have ever been married than solo parents. At the same fourth dimension, solo parents accept fewer children on boilerplate than cohabiting parents and are far more likely to be living with ane of their own parents (23% vs. 4%).

As the number of parents who are unmarried has grown, so has the number of children living with an unmarried parent. In 1968, xiii% of children – 9 million in all – were living in this type of organization, and by 2017, that share had increased to about one-third (32%) of U.Southward. children, or 24 million. Even so, the share of children who volition ever experience life with an unmarried parent is probable considerably higher, given how fluid U.S. families have go. One estimate suggests that by the time they turn ix, more than 20% of U.S. children born to a married couple and over 50% of those born to a cohabiting couple will have experienced the breakdown of their parents, for instance. The declining stability of families is linked both to increases in cohabiting relationships, which tend to be less long-lasting than marriages, besides equally long-term increases in divorce. Indeed, one-half of solo parents in 2017 (52%) had been married at one time, and the same is true for near ane-third of cohabiting parents (35%).

While it has become more common in recent decades, many Americans view the increase in unmarried parenthood – solo mothering especially – every bit a negative tendency for society. In a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, two-thirds of adults said that more single women raising children on their own was bad for lodge, and 48% said the same most more unmarried couples raising children. Acceptance of unmarried parenthood tends to be particularly low among whites, college graduates, and Republicans. Nonetheless, other data suggest a slight uptick in acceptance. In 1994, 35% of adults agreed or strongly agreed that single parents could raise children likewise as two married parents, according to information from the General Social Survey; past 2012 the share who said equally much had risen to 48%.

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

The rise over the past half-century in the share of all U.S. parents who are single and living with a kid younger than 18 has been driven by 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 7% upward to 13%. Since 1997, the first year for which data on cohabitation are bachelor, the share of parents that are cohabiting has risen from 4% to ix%.

All told, more than than sixteen one thousand thousand U.South. parents with no spouse at domicile are now living with their child younger than eighteen, up from four 1000000 in 1968 and just under 14 million in 1997.

The growth in unmarried parenthood overall has been driven by several demographic trends. Perhaps about of import has been the refuse in the share of people overall who are married. In 1970, about 7-in-ten U.Due south. adults ages 18 and older were married; in 2016, that share stood at l%. Both delays in marriage and long-term increases in divorce take fueled this trend. In 1968, the median age at get-go marriage for men was 23 and for women it was 21. In 2017, the median age at offset marriage was thirty for men and 27 for women. At the same time, marriages are more than likely to finish in divorce now than they were nigh one-half a century ago.four For instance, among men whose first marriage began in the belatedly 1980s, almost 76% were still in those marriages x years later on, while this figure was 88% for men whose marriages began in the tardily 1950s.

Not simply are fewer Americans getting married, but it'south also becoming more than common for unmarried people to have babies. In 1970 there were 26 births per 1,000 single women ages xv to 44, while that rate in 2016 stood at 42 births per 1,000 single women. Meanwhile, birthrates for married women take declined, from 121 births per 1,000 down to about 90. As a result, in 2016 4-in-ten 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 also contributed to the overall growth in unmarried parenthood. In 1997, the beginning year for which information on cohabitation are available, 20% of unmarried parents who lived with their children were as well living with a partner.five 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; past 1997 the share had risen to 22%, and in 2017 it stood at 29%. At the same time, solo parents remain overwhelmingly female: 81% of solo parents in 2017 were mothers, as were 88% in 1968.

For solo and cohabiting parents, very different demographic profiles

As a upshot of the rising and transformation of unmarried parenthood in the U.Due south., significant demographic differences now exist not only between married and unmarried parents, but among single parents. And in some cases, even among solo or cohabiting parents, dramatic differences have emerged betwixt fathers and mothers.

Compared with cohabiting parents, solo parents are more likely to be female and blackness

Considering cohabiting parents are overwhelmingly opposite-sex couples, they are about evenly split between men and women.six Among solo parents, yet, the vast bulk (81%) are mothers; only 19% are fathers. This gender difference is even more than pronounced amid black solo parents: 89% are mothers and merely 11% are fathers.

Overall, there are meaning differences in the racial and ethnic profiles of solo and cohabiting parents. Among solo parents, 42% are white and 28% are black, compared with 55% of cohabiting parents who are white and 13% who are black.

These gaps are driven largely by racial differences amongst the large share of solo parents who are mothers. Solo moms are more than than twice every bit likely to be black as cohabiting moms (30% vs. 12%), and roughly four times as likely as married moms (7% of whom are blackness). Four-in-ten solo mothers are white, compared with 58% of cohabiting moms and 61% of married moms.

In that location are about no racial and ethnic differences in the profiles of solo and cohabiting fathers. About one-half of each grouping are white, roughly xv% are black, about i-fourth are Hispanic and a small-scale share are Asian. Married fathers, still, are more likely than unmarried fathers to be white (61% are) and less likely to be black (8%).

Only three% of solo or cohabiting parents are Asian, compared with ix% of married parents. A similar pattern emerges amongst both Asian fathers and mothers.

Amidst all parents, Hispanics are near equally represented across all three family unit types – solo, cohabiting and married parents – with no large differences amidst Hispanic mothers and Hispanic fathers.

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

Cohabiting parents are younger on average 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 role to their relative youth. But over half (54%) of cohabiting parents take a high school diploma or less education, compared with 45% of solo parents and 31% of married parents. At the other end of the spectrum, fifteen% of cohabiting parents accept at least a bachelor's degree, compared with twenty% of solo parents. Married parents, in dissimilarity, are more than twice every bit likely as unmarried parents to have a bachelor'due south degree (43% do), reflecting the growing gap in marriage across educational levels.

Cohabiting fathers, in detail, take lower levels of educational activity than their solo counterparts. Roughly half dozen-in-10 cohabiting fathers (61%) – versus 51% of solo fathers – accept a loftier schoolhouse diploma or less educational activity. Conversely, just 12% of cohabiting fathers have a bachelor's degree, while 21% of solo fathers practise. There 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 accept never married, meaning that near children with cohabiting parents were born exterior of wedlock. In contrast, about one-half (48%) of solo parents take never been married.

Cohabiting mothers and fathers are about equally likely to accept never married. Among solo parents, all the same, mothers are more probable 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 dissimilar 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, 16% of single parents living with a partner are living beneath the poverty line, while about one-4th (27%) of solo parents are. In comparison, simply 8% of married parents are living in poverty.vii

Among solo parents, mothers are near twice as 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 about as 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 between the 2 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 as well. Solo parents don't take a partner at home, but they are far more likely than their married and cohabiting counterparts to be living with at least one of their own parents – 23% exercise. This is particularly common among solo dads, 31% of whom are residing with at least one of their parents. Among solo moms, this figure stands at 22%. In comparing, only four% of cohabiting parents are living with at least one of their ain or their partner's parents – the aforementioned share as amongst their married counterparts.

While the role of these grandparents cannot be adamant for certain from this data, prior Pew Research Centre analyses of 2011 Demography Bureau data suggest that many could be playing an important part every bit caregiver to whatsoever grandchildren in the household. In fact, a 2013 analysis found that amidst all grandparents who lived with at to the lowest degree one grandchild at the time (whether the child'south parent was nowadays or non), most iv-in-ten (39%) said they were responsible for most of that grandchild's basic needs.

Cohabiting parents accept more than children, on average, than solo parents do. Merely over one-half (53%) of cohabiting parents have more than 1 kid at dwelling house, compared with 44% of solo parents. Among solo parents, though, moms are more than likely than dads to have multiple kids at domicile – near half (46%) do, while 35% of solo fathers are raising more than than one child.

Cohabiting parents are besides more likely than their solo counterparts to have young children at dwelling. This is linked to the fact that they themselves tend to be younger. Fully 60% of cohabiting parents are living with at least one child younger than six, compared with 37% of solo parents and 44% of married parents. Among solo parents, mothers are much more than likely than fathers to take a preschool-age child in the firm. Nearly four-in-ten (39%) do, compared with 26% of dads.

Public views of single parenthood

Equally unmarried parenthood has grown more than mutual in the U.Southward., the public has become somewhat more accepting of it, though large shares say that this tendency is bad for society.

A 2015 Pew Research Center survey found that the trends toward more single women having children and more than unmarried couples raising children were seen as relatively more harmful to guild, compared with other changes in American families.8

Americans were far more than likely to express a negative view regarding the ascent of unmarried mothers than whatever other trend: Two-thirds (66%) said that more unmarried women having children was bad for society, and just 4% said this tendency was good for lodge (the remaining 29% said the trend doesn't make much difference). At the same time, almost half (48%) said more than unmarried couples raising children was bad for society, while just vi% said it was good for society and 45% said it didn't make much difference.

By comparing, other family unit trends were seen as less negative, though substantial shares saw some of those trends as bad for society. For instance, four-in-ten adults said that the growing number of children who have parents who are gay or lesbian was bad for society, and a similar share (39%) said the same near more than couples living together without being married. When information technology came to more mothers of young children working outside the domicile, 36% said this was a bad thing, but a sizable minority (22%) saw it as a skilful thing. Relatively few Americans (11%) said the trends toward more children with parents of different races and more interracial marriages were bad for society; at least twice as many viewed each of these trends every bit good for order (22% and 29%, respectively). In each case, majorities or pluralities of the public said these trends didn't brand much of a difference for society.

Views on unmarried parents vary widely by party affiliation. The overwhelming bulk (83%) of Republicans and independents who lean to the Republican Party said that more unmarried women having children without a partner is bad for society; 56% of Democrats and those who lean Democratic said the same. Partisan differences were fifty-fifty wider on attitudes nigh unmarried parents raising children together: While 70% of Republicans saw this as bad for society, about half equally many Democrats (32%) said the same.

Older Americans and those with college levels of educational activity were peculiarly probable to view these trends every bit bad for gild.

There were racial and indigenous gaps likewise, particularly on views about unmarried couples raising children: 53% of whites viewed more unmarried couples raising children every bit a bad matter, compared with 37% of blacks and 32% of Hispanics.

Other information suggest there has been some softening in views towards unmarried parenthood. In 2012, 48% of adults agreed or strongly agreed that unmarried parents could enhance children besides every bit two parents can, according to the General Social Survey. This marked a slight increase from 1994, when simply 35% said as much. At the same fourth dimension, the share of people who disagreed or strongly disagreed that single parents could heighten children as well as two parents ticked down, from 48% to 41%.

Nigh 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), also known as the Almanac Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC). The survey produces a nationally representative sample of the non-institutionalized U.S. population. The analysis in this report starts with 1968, the first year for which ASEC data are publicly available.

Because the CPS is based on households, merely parents who are living with at least 1 of their children younger than 18 are included in this analysis. Prior Pew Enquiry Center assay indicates that 17% of fathers of children younger than 18 are living autonomously from all of these children, and fathers living apart from their children accept different characteristics than those who live with their children.

The CPS does not explicitly enquire well-nigh custody arrangements, but any parent whose child lives with them nearly of the time is counted as "living with" that kid. In cases where custody is split up fifty-l, the parent is counted as "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 kid younger than 18 years, and to people who are their spouses or partners. These include both biological parents and parents who are non biologically linked to the children in their family.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) does not explicitly ask about custody arrangements, but any parent whose child lives with them nearly of the time is counted equally "living with" that child. In cases where custody is split 50-fifty, the parent is counted every bit "living with" their child if the child is present at the time of the interview.

All cohabiting parents – pregnant parents who are living with a partner to whom they are not married – are identified in analyses since 2007. From 1995 to 2006, the CPS only collected information on cohabitation amongst unmarried household heads, so 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 tin can't exist determined, but in 2007 the vast bulk (93%) of all cohabiting parents were either the head of household or the partner of the caput. Prior to 1995, cohabiting couples were not identified in the CPS.

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

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

"Some college" includes those with an associate caste and those who attended college but did non obtain a degree. "High school" includes those who have a loftier schoolhouse diploma or its equivalent, such equally a General Education Development (GED) document.

Whites, blacks and Asians include only unmarried-race non-Hispanics. Hispanics are of whatsoever race. Asians include Pacific Islanders.