Living arrangements of children by race/ethnicity, 1970-2022

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

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Living Arrangements

Q:	How do the living arrangements of children vary by race?
A:	In 2022, the majority of white children and Hispanic children lived in two-parent homes (75.6% and 67.5% respectively), compared with four in ten (43.0%) Black children.

Note: * Persons of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race; however, most are white. Race proportions include persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
The Current Population Survey methodology changed to more accurately reflect children’s coresidence with their parents. This change is reflected in the estimates beginning in 2007, where two parent homes include all homes in which a child lives with both parents, married or unmarried (biological, step or adoptive). For more information please read: Improvements to data collection about families in CPS 2007.

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More than half (51.2%) of all Black children lived with one parent in 2022, compared with about one in five (21.3%) of white children.
Between 1980 and 2022, the proportion of children living in two-parent families declined for white youth (82.7% to 75.6%) and Hispanic youth (75.4% to 67.5%); for Black youth, the proportion of children living in two-parent families in 2022 (43.0%) was about the same as in 1980 (42.2%).
Between 1970 and 2022, the proportion of children living with their mothers in single-parent households increased from 7.8% to 16.7% for white youth and from 29.5% to 45.6% for Black youth. For children of Hispanic ethnicity, the proportion living with their mother in single-parent households increased from 19.6% in 1980 to 24.5% in 2022.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/population/qa01202.asp?qaDate=2022. Released on January 10, 2023.

Data Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current Population Survey - Families and Living Arrangements, Historical Tables. Table CH-2: "Living Arrangements of White Children Under 18 Years Old: 1960 to Present;" Table CH-3: "Living Arrangements of Black Children Under 18 Years Old: 1960 to Present;" Table CH-4: "Living Arrangements of Hispanic Children Under 18 Years Old: 1970 to Present." [Internet release date: November 2022]. Web-based data files available at: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/children.html.