Nearly 4% of Children in the U.S. Live Without Parents

While it is still most common for children under the age of 18 to be living with two biological parents in the United States, as many as nearly four in ten children live in a different kind of family constellation. This is according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey data, analyzed by the Washington Post.

As the following chart shows, 62.9 of under 18 year olds were recorded as living with both biological parents in 2022. The second most common family for children was living with a single biological parent, accounting for one in four children and after that, the combination of one biological parent and a stepparent (5.1 percent). Close to four percent of children that year were living without a parent, whether biological, adoptive or a stepparent.

According to the Post, same-sex couples are far more likely to adopt. Native American adults also had a higher likelihood of adopting children than other groups.