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America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009

Family Structure and Children's Living Arrangements

The structure of children's families is associated with the economic, parental, and community resources available to children and their well-being.

Indicator FAM1.A: Percentage of children ages 0–17 by presence of parents in the household, 1980–2008

NOTE: Prior to 2007, Current Population Survey (CPS) data identified only one parent on the child's record. This meant that a second parent could only be identified if they were married to the first parent. In 2007, a second parent identifier was added to CPS. This permits identification of two coresident parents, even if the parents are not married to each other. In this figure "two parents" reflects all children who have both a mother and father identified in the household, including biological, step, and adoptive parents. Before 2007, "mother only" and "father only" included some children who lived with a parent who was living with the other parent of the child, but was not married to them. Beginning in 2007, "mother only" and "father only" refer to children for whom only one parent has been identified, whether biological, step, or adoptive.

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements.

In 2008, 67 percent of children ages 0–17 lived with two married parents, down from 77 percent in 1980.
In 2008, 23 percent of children lived with only their mothers, 4 percent lived with only their fathers, and 4 percent lived with neither of their parents.¹
In 2008, 75 percent of White, non-Hispanic, 64 percent of Hispanic, and 35 percent of Black children lived with two married parents.²
The proportion of Hispanic children living with two married parents decreased from 75 percent in 1980 to 64 percent in 2008.
Due to improved measurement, it is now possible to identify children living with two parents who are not married to each other. Three percent of all children lived with two unmarried parents in 2008.

While most children spend the majority of their childhood living with two parents, some children have other living arrangements. Information about the presence of parents and other adults in the family, such as the parent's unmarried partner, grandparents, and other relatives, is important for understanding children's social, economic, and developmental well-being.

Indicator FAM1.B: Percentage of children ages 0–17 living in various family arrangements, 2008

¹ Includes children living with two stepparents.

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement.

FAM1.B provides more detailed data about children's living arrangements, using information about the coresident parents for each child, as well as the detailed type of relationship between parent and child—biological, step, or adoptive. In 2008, there were about 74 million children ages 0–17. Seventy percent of them lived with two parents, 26 percent lived with one parent, and about 4 percent lived in households without parents.
Among children living with two parents, 92 percent lived with both biological or adoptive parents, and 8 percent lived with a biological or adoptive parent and a stepparent. About 74 percent of children living with at least one stepparent lived with their biological mother and stepfather.³
About 4 percent of children who lived with both biological or adoptive parents had parents who were not married.
The majority of children living with one parent lived with their single mother. Some single parents had cohabiting partners. Nineteen percent of children living with single fathers and 10 percent of children living with single mothers also lived with their parent's cohabiting partner. Out of all children ages 0–17, 4.6 million (6 percent) lived with a parent or parents who were cohabiting.
Among the 2.8 million children (4 percent) not living with either parent in 2008, 54 percent (1.5 million) lived with grandparents, 25 percent lived with other relatives, and 21 percent lived with nonrelatives. Of children in nonrelatives' homes, 38 percent (228,000) lived with foster parents.
Older children were less likely to live with two parents—65 percent of children ages 15–17 lived with two parents, compared with 69 percent of children ages 6–14 and 73 percent of those ages 0–5. Among children living with two parents, older children were more likely than younger children to live with a stepparent and less likely than younger children to live with cohabiting parents.³

table icon FAM1.A HTML Table, FAM1.B HTML Table

¹ The majority of children who live with neither of their parents are living with grandparents or other relatives. Others who live with neither parent live with foster parents or other nonrelatives.

² Federal surveys now give respondents the option of reporting more than one race. Therefore, two basic ways of defining a race group are possible. A group such as Black may be defined as those who reported Black and no other race (the race-alone or single-race concept) or as those who reported Black regardless of whether they also reported another race (the race-alone-or-in-combination concept). This indicator shows data using the first approach (race alone). Use of the single-race population does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. The U.S. Census Bureau uses a variety of approaches. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected separately. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

³ For more information, refer to America's Families and Living Arrangements 2008 detailed tables, available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2008.html.