In 2022, the Census Bureau counted 10.9 million U.S. one-parent family groups with a child under 18. Mothers maintained 80% of those groups. This historical snapshot counts family groups. It does not measure every single parent, custody arrangements, or parenting quality.
Read U.S. marriage statistics and their limits→
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What the Census counted
The Census Bureau counted family groups with at least one child under 18. A one-parent family group has one parent maintaining that family group. In 2022, the count was 10.9 million, and mothers maintained 80% of them.
That answers a narrow question: how are family groups with children arranged in the Census survey? It does not count every parent who is not married, every shared-custody arrangement, or every parent who lives somewhere else.
The Census uses more than one denominator
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| Measure | Population | Result | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-parent family groups | Family groups with a child under 18 | 10.9 million; mothers maintained 80% | 2022 |
| Children living with mother only or father only | U.S. children under 18 in Table 1, excluding group quarters and family reference persons or spouses | 21.4% with mother only; 4.4% with father only | 2019 |
Do not combine the shares The two rows use different populations and years.
How to read it: Neither measure identifies dating availability, custody arrangements, or parenting quality.
Download the table (CSV) ↓What the mother and father counts can explain
The 80% figure describes the share of one-parent family groups maintained by a mother. The Census release reports that difference without identifying its causes. A family count cannot establish why an individual child lives with one parent.
The same Census release reported different marital histories. Among one-parent family groups, 41% of fathers were never married and 38% were divorced. Among mothers, 51% were never married and 29% were divorced. These percentages describe the marital history of the parent maintaining the group. They do not measure custody orders or child support.
Why counting children gives a different percentage
Census historical child tables use a different denominator: children under 18. Their categories include living with mother only, father only, two parents, or no parent. One family group can contain several children. A percentage of children therefore answers a different question from a percentage of family groups. The report also distinguishes parents from a parent’s cohabiting partner when that partner is not the child’s parent.
The Census report for 2019, published in 2022, estimated that 21.4% of the U.S. children under 18 covered by Table 1 lived with their mother only and 4.4% lived with their father only. Table 1 excludes children in group quarters and children who are a family reference person or spouse. Its percentages use all eligible children in that table as the denominator. Keep the population and year beside each number when comparing sources.
What this cannot say about dating
A one-parent family count cannot tell you how many parents are dating, looking for a relationship, available to meet, or interested in dating parents. It also cannot predict what a particular family needs or what a relationship will be like.
For a broader look at household measures that do connect to dating-pool definitions, see U.S. marriage statistics and the share of U.S. men who are single. They count different groups.
