You need single mom statistics you can trust, whether you are a solo mom sizing up your own situation or a writer who needs numbers to cite. This page collects the latest federal figures on single mother households, work, income, poverty, childcare, and benefits, and every statistic links to the primary government source behind it.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Rules change and vary by state. Check the linked official source or talk to a qualified professional.
One housekeeping note before the numbers: each figure is labeled with its data year, because “latest” means different years for different surveys. The newest household counts come from the 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), which the Census Bureau released in December 2025.
Key numbers at a glance
- 7.7 million US families are headed by a single mom with children under 18 (2025 CPS ASEC, Census Table FM-1).
- 15.3 million children, about 1 in 5, live with their mother only (2025 CPS ASEC, Census Table CH-1).
- 75.6% of moms heading single-mother families were employed in 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- $60,440 was the 2024 median income for family households headed by a woman with no spouse present, against $128,700 for married couples (Census, Income in the United States: 2024).
- 21.8% of female-householder families were in poverty in 2024, against 4.3% of married-couple families (Census, Poverty in the United States: 2024).
- $240 a week was the median amount parents paid for childcare in 2024 (Federal Reserve SHED).
- 51% of single mothers in one-parent family groups had never been married; 29% were divorced (2022 CPS, Census Bureau).
- 841,209 families a month, on average, received TANF cash assistance in fiscal year 2024 (HHS Administration for Children and Families).
How many single mothers are in the US?
There were 7.7 million single-mother families in the United States in 2025, counted as families headed by a mother living with her own children under 18 and no spouse present (2025 CPS ASEC, Census Table FM-1). They sit inside a larger group of 10.2 million one-parent families, so mothers head about 3 in 4 single-parent homes.
For scale: the same Census table counts 33.6 million total families with children under 18. Single-mom families are 23% of them.
Counted by children instead of families, 15.3 million children, 21% of all US kids, lived with their mother only in 2025 (Census Table CH-1). Add father-only homes and 18.6 million children, about 1 in 4, live with one parent.
Takeaway: nearly a quarter of all American families raising kids are headed by a single mom.
Who America’s single moms are
The divorced-mom stereotype is out of date. Among one-parent family groups in 2022, 51% of single mothers had never married and 29% were divorced, with the rest separated, widowed, or married with an absent spouse (2022 CPS, Census Bureau).
Solo parenting also crosses every demographic line. In the 2023 CPS, 44% of Black children, 24% of Hispanic children, and 16% of White children lived with their mother only (Census Tables CH-2, CH-3, and CH-4).
The Census child support report adds one more angle: about 1 in 4 children under 21 lived with one parent while their other parent lived outside the household in 2022 (Custodial Parents and Their Child Support: 2022).
Takeaway: most single moms never walked through a divorce court; never-married mothers are the largest group by a wide margin.
Single mom employment and income statistics
Single moms work. In 2025, 75.6% of mothers heading families on their own were employed, and 79.2% of families maintained by women had at least one employed member (BLS, Employment Characteristics of Families, 2025).
Across all mothers, labor force participation reached 73.9% in 2025 (BLS). The age of the youngest child matters: 68.0% of mothers with a child under 6 were in the labor force, against 78.2% of mothers whose youngest was 6 to 17. Unemployment shows the solo penalty clearly: 2.4% for married mothers, 6.3% for mothers of other marital statuses. (BLS notes its 2025 annual figures are 11-month averages because the October 2025 survey was not collected.)
Working hard and earning less can both be true. Median income by household type, from the 2024 Census income report, Table A-1:
| Household type | Median income, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Married-couple family households | $128,700 |
| All US households | $83,730 |
| Family households, male householder, no spouse present | $83,260 |
| Family households, female householder, no spouse present | $60,440 |
Takeaway: three out of four single moms are employed, yet their households bring in less than half the income of married-couple homes.
The single mother poverty rate
In 2024, 21.8% of families headed by a woman with no spouse present were below the official poverty line, compared with 11.0% of male-householder families and 4.3% of married-couple families (Census, Poverty in the United States: 2024).
For context, the overall official poverty rate was 10.6%, covering 35.9 million people. The child poverty rate was 14.3% in 2024, down from 15.3% in 2023 (same report).
Takeaway: a family headed by a single mom is about five times more likely to be in poverty than a married-couple family.
If the numbers on this page describe your own budget rather than a research project, two free tools can shorten the work: the Benefits Triage quiz on the SoloMom money page points you to programs you may qualify for in about two minutes, and the free Toolbox printables include a one-income budget starter sheet and a school-hours income planner. The fastest way to get the printables is the email signup at the bottom of this page.
What childcare costs single moms
The Federal Reserve’s 2024 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, published in May 2025, is the cleanest federal read on childcare costs (Federal Reserve SHED). Parents who paid for childcare paid a median of $240 a week. Families using 20 or more hours of paid care a week paid a median of $1,400 a month.
Just over half of parents who paid for childcare spent at least 50% as much on childcare as on housing. The survey also shows how single parents cope: 49% of single working parents relied only on unpaid childcare, such as family, the highest share of any group studied. Paid care tracks income, too: 12% of parents earning under $50,000 used it, against 35% of parents earning $100,000 or more.
Takeaway: childcare can rival rent, so half of single working parents build their work lives around free care instead.
Benefits participation
Federal programs reach millions of families with children, and single-mom households are a large share of the people they serve.
| Program | Participation | Data vintage |
|---|---|---|
| SNAP (food assistance) | 34.3% of SNAP households included children; households with children averaged $574 a month in benefits | USDA, fiscal year 2023 |
| WIC (women, infants, children) | 6.70 million average monthly participants | USDA, fiscal year 2024 |
| TANF (cash assistance) | 841,209 families per month, on average | HHS ACF, fiscal year 2024 |
Children are central to these programs: about 39% of all SNAP participants were kids in fiscal year 2023 (USDA). If you are reading this as a mom rather than a researcher, you may qualify for one or more of these programs even while working full time. Our state-by-state benefits guide lists income limits and application links for all 50 states, and the Benefits Triage quiz on the money page narrows the list to your situation.
Takeaway: benefits are a normal part of the math in millions of working households with kids, and checking eligibility costs nothing.
What’s changing
The long arc bends upward, but the recent trend surprises people. Single-mother families grew from about 2.9 million in 1970 to 6.6 million in 1990 and 8.6 million in 2015. The 2025 count of 7.7 million sits nearly a million below that 2015 level (Census Table FM-1).
The children’s numbers tell the same story: 5.1 million children lived with their mother only in 1960 (8% of kids), 17.3 million in 2010, and 15.3 million in 2025 (Census Table CH-1).
Meanwhile, moms’ employment keeps climbing: mothers’ labor force participation hit 73.9% in 2025 (BLS). And after a decade of decline, WIC participation rose for the third straight year in fiscal year 2024 (USDA).
Takeaway: the single-mom population has leveled off and edged down from its mid-2010s peak, while single moms’ employment keeps rising.
FAQ: single mom statistics
How many single mothers are there in the US?
7.7 million families were headed by a single mother with children under 18 in 2025, per Census Table FM-1 (2025 CPS ASEC). Mothers head about 75% of the 10.2 million one-parent families.
What percentage of single mothers work?
75.6% of mothers heading families on their own were employed in 2025, per the BLS Employment Characteristics of Families release.
What is the single mother poverty rate?
21.8% of female-householder families were below the official poverty line in 2024, about five times the 4.3% rate for married-couple families (Census, 2024).
How many children live with a single mom?
15.3 million children under 18, about 21% of all US children, lived with their mother only in 2025 (Census Table CH-1).
Are most single moms divorced?
No. In 2022, 51% of single mothers in one-parent family groups had never married, while 29% were divorced (Census Bureau, 2022 CPS).
How to cite this page: SoloMom, “Single Mom Statistics 2026,” solomom.com/single-mom-statistics/, updated July 2026. Please link to the page so your readers can reach the primary sources.
Your next step
Pick the one number that touches your own budget and act on it this week: check the benefits guide for your state if the poverty and program numbers hit home, start the one-income budget if the income gap did, or browse work-from-home jobs for single moms if the childcare math is the blocker. For a steady supply of the useful stuff, the free weekly SOS email brings one money tip, one story, and one good idea for the weekend, every week, and the welcome emails deliver the free Toolbox printables, including the one-income budget starter sheet. The signup box is just below this article. Resources, not reassurance.
