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Roughly 1.5 Million Single Dads in U.S. Represent 5% of Parent-Child Families
It’s not easy being a single parent. But in addition to the challenges of raising children alone, single fathers face a unique set of stigmas and challenges, many of which may feel isolating. Yet, according to a new report from LendingTree, there are over 1.5 million single dads in the U.S. — a number that’s anything but insignificant.
In recognition of Father’s Day, LendingTree researchers looked at where fathers are parenting by themselves. This study looks at the number of single fathers who live with their children and compares it to single-mother families, parents living with unmarried partners and parents who live with spouses.
Key findings
- Single fathers head 4.6% of families where parents live with their children. This translates to more than 1.5 million single fathers. In contrast, more than 6.3 million single-mother families represent 19.1% of parent-child families.
- Single fathers are most prevalent in Nevada. In the Silver State, single fathers represent 6.8% of parent-child families; the other states above 6% are Montana and Oklahoma. On the other hand, single fathers make up less than 4% of parent-child families in Utah, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York — the lowest in the U.S.
- Montana rises to the top when we narrow that view to single-parent families headed by fathers. Here, the difference is it’s looking solely at single-dad families versus single-mom families. In Montana, 31.0% of single-parent families are headed by fathers, followed by Maine (27.6%) and North Dakota (27.0%). Comparatively, dads are least likely to lead single-parent families in Mississippi (12.6%), the District of Columbia (13.4%) and Alabama (14.6%).
- The average income for single-father families is $67,405 — a third less than the average for all families where parents raise their children ($101,536). Even so, it’s significantly higher than the average income among single-mother families ($40,500).
- Single fathers are most financially behind other parent-child families in the District of Columbia. Single fathers earn 53.6% less, on average, than all parent-child families within the district — $75,399 versus $162,354. The other states with the widest gaps are Vermont (47.2%) and Massachusetts (42.7%). The states with the narrowest gaps are Wyoming (21.7%), Nevada (22.6%) and Mississippi (22.9%).
LendingTree researchers analyzed U.S. Census Bureau 2020 American Community Survey microdata to calculate the number of families headed by single men, single women, married couples and unmarried couples who live with their own children younger than 18.
Single parents, in this case, are people who don’t live with a spouse or unmarried partner. Married and unmarried partners include same-sex couples. “Own children” include:
- Biological children
- Adopted children
- Stepchildren
Prevalence of single dads, by state
When it comes to families where parents live with their children, parents with partners (either married or unmarried) are most common, accounting for 76.3% of parent-child families. Although single parents lead only 23.7% of parent-child families, the bulk of this is single mothers (19.1%) — single fathers lead just 4.6% of all parent-child families.
But while single-father families aren’t all that common, LendingTree researchers found that Nevada has the largest rate of single-father families, at 6.8% of all parent-child families. Montana (6.3%) and Oklahoma (6.1%) have the next-highest shares of single fathers who live with their children.
In states where single-father families are least prevalent, the percentage of single dads living with children plummets below 4% of all parent-child families. In Utah and New Jersey, single-father families are nearly half as prevalent as in Nevada — accounting for just 3.6% of all parent-child families in each state. Massachusetts and New York are also at the bottom of the list, with single dads making up 3.7% and 3.9% of the parent-child families in each state, respectively.
While single-father families are nowhere near as prevalent as single-mother families in the U.S., some states come closer to closing the gap than others.
When looking solely at single parents and not all parent-child families, Montana has the largest share of single dads compared to single moms. Among the single-parent families in Montana, 31.0% are led by single-father families.
Notably, however, Montana has a smaller percentage of single-parent families than the U.S. average. Just 20.3% of all parent-child families in Montana are led by single parents — 41st overall and below the U.S. average of 23.7%.
Single dads also come closer to matching the rate of single moms in Maine (27.6%) and North Dakota (27.0%). Both states also have a lower rate of single-parent families than the U.S. average — Maine is 40th (20.4%) and North Dakota is 37th (20.9%).
Conversely, the states where the rate of single moms far outnumbers the rate of single dads the most are where single-parent families are most common.
Mississippi, which ranks second-highest for single-parent households, sees the widest margin between partnerless mothers and fathers. While 33.2% of parent-child families in the state are single-parent, single fathers lead just 12.6% of these. In the District of Columbia, where the gap between single moms and single dads is second-largest, single-parent families make up 39.5% of parent-child relationships — the highest of any state — but single dads lead just 13.4% of them.
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