Prevalence: 

Single motherhood is very common. Around half of today’s mothers will spend at least some time as the sole custodial parent. 

Update: As of 2011, 11.7 million families in the US were headed by a single parent, 85.2% of which were headed by a female.1

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Characteristics: 

Around 45% of single mothers have never married, around 55% are divorced, separated or widowed. Half have one child, 30% have two. About two fifths are White, one third Black, one quarter Hispanic. One quarter have a college degree, one sixth have not completed high school.

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Employment: 

At any one time, about two thirds of single mothers are also working outside the home, a slightly greater share than the share of married mothers who are also working outside the home. However, only two fifths of single mothers are employed full-time the entire year, and a quarter are jobless the entire year.

Update: In 2011, there were 2.3 million women with children under 18 years old who unemployed, according to a recent report from the Labor Department. Single mothers account for more than half — 1.2 million — of the total number of unemployed mothers.

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Income: 

Half of single mother families have an annual income less than $25,000. Median income for single mother families ($24,487) is only one third the median for married couple families ($77,749). Only one third of single mothers receive any child support, and the average amount these mothers receive is only about $300 a month.2

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Poverty: 

Two fifths of single mother families are poor, triple the poverty rate for the rest of the population. Single-mother families are nearly five times as likely to be poor than married-couple families.

The poverty rate for single-mother families is 40.7% compared to 8.8% for married-couple families.3 The majority of poor children are in single mother families with 24% of children now living in such households.4

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Hardship: 

Two fifths of single mother families are “food insecure,” one seventh use food pantries, one fifth have no health insurance, one third spend more than half their income on housing. Three quarters of homeless families are single mother families.

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Welfare & Food Stamp Receipt: 

Two thirds of all single mothers receive Food Stamps5. Among children with single mothers, 41% get food stamps and 59% don’t.

Although two fifths of all single mothers are poor, only one tenth of all single mothers receive TANF. Though a small percentage, they represent more than 90% of all TANF families.

For those who do receive assistance, the amount was far less than the minimum they’d need to to stave off hardship. In 2010, TANF benefit levels for a family of three were less than half of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) in all states.

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Compared to Single Mothers in Peer Countries: 

The single mother poverty rate in the U.S. is far above the average in high income countries even though the single mother employment rate in the U.S. is also above the average. Less generous income support programs in the U.S. help explain the exceptionally high poverty rate for single mother families in the U.S.6

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Quick Links:

1. U.S. Census Bureau – Table FG10. Family Groups: 2011 [↩]
2. Source: Catalyst, April 2012 – Do Women Outearn Men? [↩]
3. U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Social and Economic Supplement (Table PoV07)” (2011) [↩]
4. U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Social and Economic Supplement (Table PoV03)” (2011) [↩]
5. Source: USDA – Building a Happy America [↩]
6. Source: The Women’s Legal Defense & Education Fund - you can download the pdf report here. [↩]

Last updated: August 2, 2012 by Susan