Practically 17% of all American households with youngsters beneath the age of 18 are run by a single mother.
This implies there are over 6 million single mothers within the U.S., however, as Visible Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao particulars within the graphic under, that share varies relying on the state, as this map reveals.
Knowledge for this graphic and article is sourced from the Badger Institute revealed 2024. Their figures are primarily based off the most recent American Group Survey findings.
ℹ️ Figures for D.C. have been excluded from the graphic, however are included for reference within the desk under.
Ranked: States With the Highest Share Single Mothers
Poorer states within the South – Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia – have a number of the highest charges of single mother households.
| Rank | State | State Code | Share of Single Mother Households |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington D.C.* | DC | 29% |
| 2 | Mississippi | MS | 24% |
| 3 | Louisiana | LA | 23% |
| 4 | Alabama | AL | 20% |
| 5 | Georgia | GA | 20% |
| 6 | South Carolina | SC | 20% |
| 7 | Arkansas | AR | 19% |
| 8 | Delaware | DE | 19% |
| 9 | North Carolina | NC | 19% |
| 10 | New Mexico | NM | 19% |
| 11 | Ohio | OH | 19% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | RI | 19% |
| 13 | Connecticut | CT | 18% |
| 14 | Florida | FL | 18% |
| 15 | Maryland | MD | 18% |
| 16 | New York | NY | 18% |
| 17 | Tennessee | TN | 18% |
| 18 | Illinois | IL | 17% |
| 19 | Indiana | IN | 17% |
| 20 | Massachusetts | MA | 17% |
| 21 | Michigan | MI | 17% |
| 22 | Missouri | MO | 17% |
| 23 | Nevada | NV | 17% |
| 24 | Oklahoma | OK | 17% |
| 25 | Pennsylvania | PA | 17% |
| 26 | Texas | TX | 17% |
| 27 | Arizona | AZ | 16% |
| 28 | Kentucky | KY | 16% |
| 29 | Virginia | VA | 16% |
| 30 | Wisconsin | WI | 16% |
| 31 | Iowa | IA | 15% |
| 32 | New Jersey | NJ | 15% |
| 33 | West Virginia | WV | 15% |
| 34 | California | CA | 14% |
| 35 | Kansas | KS | 14% |
| 36 | Minnesota | MN | 14% |
| 37 | Nebraska | NE | 14% |
| 38 | Oregon | OR | 14% |
| 39 | South Dakota | SD | 14% |
| 40 | Vermont | VT | 14% |
| 41 | Alaska | AK | 13% |
| 42 | Colorado | CO | 13% |
| 43 | Maine | ME | 13% |
| 44 | Montana | MT | 13% |
| 45 | North Dakota | ND | 13% |
| 46 | Washington | WA | 13% |
| 47 | New Hampshire | NH | 12% |
| 48 | Wyoming | WY | 12% |
| 49 | Hawaii | HI | 11% |
| 50 | Idaho | ID | 11% |
| 51 | Utah | UT | 9% |
| N/A | Nationwide Common | USA | 17% |
Observe: *U.S. federal district. Figures rounded.
For context, the identical area has the best share of single dad households as properly. This means that financial pressures of elevating youngsters as a single mother or father are excessive.
In actual fact, per statistics from the Workplace of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, almost one-third of all single mother or father households have been under the poverty threshold in 2021.
The share is much greater for single moms (35%) than for single dads (17%), however each are a lot greater than the speed for two-parent households (9.5%).
Zooming out from that bit of study, Utah has the bottom share of single mother households within the nation. Utah has a big section of the inhabitants that’s Mormon, and the faith discourages youngsters outdoors marriage.
Lastly, Pew Analysis discovered that almost 1 / 4 of all American youngsters under 18 lived in a single mother or father family, the best share the world over.
Take a look at Mapped: Poverty Charges by State to see the correlations talked about on this article visualized.
