A new report highlights that nearly 17% of American households with children under 18 are led by single mothers.
According to visualcapitalist.com, the study provides a state-by-state breakdown, offering a closer look at the regions with the largest proportions of single-mom households across the United States.
This means there are over 6 million single moms in the U.S., but that share varies depending on the state, as this map shows.
Data for this graphic and article is sourced from the Badger Institute published 2024. Their figures are based off the latest American Community Survey findings.
For context, the same region has the highest share of single dad households as well. This indicates that economic pressures of raising children as a single parent are high.
In fact, per statistics from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, nearly one-third of all single parent households were below the poverty threshold in 2021.
The share is far higher for single mothers (35%) than for single dads (17%), but both are much higher than the rate for two-parent households (9.5%).
Zooming out from that bit of analysis, Utah has the lowest share of single mom households in the country. Utah has a large segment of the population that is Mormon, and the religion discourages children outside marriage.
Finally, Pew Research found that nearly a quarter of all American children below 18 lived in a single parent household, the highest share across the world.
