(March 2003) About 8 percent of American households can be categorized as female-headed households with children, but there is significant variation in the share of female-headed households by race and ethnicity. In 2002, about 5 percent of non-Hispanic white and Asian households were headed by women with children. In contrast, single mothers with kids accounted for 22 percent of all black households. The percentage of Hispanic households headed by women with kids falls in between these two estimates, at about 14 percent.
Over the past 25 years, the percentage of female-headed households with children has increased particularly rapidly among blacks, but this trend appears to have slowed during the last five years.
References
AmeriStat, tabulations from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (March Supplement), various years.
