States With The Highest & Lowest Share Of Single Mothers

Map created by reddit user idgafayaihm

The map above shows the percentage of single mother run households with children there are in each state. It ranges from a low of 9% in Utah to a high of 24% in Mississippi and 29% in Washington DC.

The data comes from the 2022 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from US Census Bureau.

Here is the full data by state:

Percentages:

State	Percentage of households with single parents	Percentage of households with single mothers	Percentage of households with single fathers	Percentage of households that are married-couple parents
D.C.	33.3%	29.1%	8.5%	49.9%
Mississippi	27.4%	23.9%	6.8%	51.2%
Louisiana	27.2%	22.9%	8.4%	51.9%
Georgia	24.2%	20.5%	6.5%	57.3%
New Mexico	24.1%	18.7%	10.7%	50.2%
South Carolina	23.9%	20.3%	6.4%	56.2%
Delaware	23.8%	18.8%	9.0%	55.2%
Rhode Island	23.8%	19.4%	7.6%	57.1%
Alabama	23.7%	20.0%	6.7%	56.6%
Arkansas	23.3%	19.0%	7.4%	57.5%
Ohio	23.2%	18.7%	7.8%	57.9%
Nevada	23.1%	17.4%	10.3%	55.4%
North Carolina	22.7%	18.7%	6.7%	59.3%
Tennessee	22.5%	18.1%	7.7%	57.8%
Florida	22.2%	18.0%	7.4%	57.1%
Michigan	21.9%	17.3%	7.7%	60.5%
Oklahoma	21.7%	16.7%	8.5%	59.0%
Connecticut	21.5%	17.8%	6.0%	62.7%
New York	21.5%	17.9%	5.8%	60.0%
Pennsylvania	21.4%	17.0%	7.3%	60.5%
Maryland	21.4%	17.5%	6.4%	60.9%
Indiana	21.2%	16.6%	7.7%	60.0%
Missouri	21.2%	16.5%	7.7%	60.5%
Kentucky	21.1%	16.5%	8.1%	57.7%
Wisconsin	20.9%	15.6%	8.6%	62.7%
Illinois	20.7%	17.0%	6.0%	62.1%
Texas	20.7%	17.0%	6.0%	61.5%
Arizona	20.5%	15.7%	8.3%	57.9%
Massachusetts	20.3%	16.7%	5.7%	63.8%
Vermont	19.9%	14.4%	8.7%	62.7%
Virginia	19.7%	15.8%	6.1%	64.1%
West Virginia	19.5%	15.2%	7.3%	57.6%
Iowa	19.4%	14.8%	7.1%	64.7%
Nebraska	19.0%	14.3%	7.1%	66.0%
Kansas	18.9%	14.3%	7.1%	65.0%
Oregon	18.8%	14.1%	7.5%	63.2%
Montana	18.3%	12.8%	8.5%	64.6%
South Dakota	18.2%	13.7%	7.0%	64.7%
New Jersey	18.1%	15.0%	4.8%	66.3%
Minnesota	18.1%	13.5%	6.8%	66.9%
Colorado	18.0%	13.0%	7.4%	67.3%
Maine	17.9%	13.4%	7.2%	62.6%
Alaska	17.7%	12.6%	8.2%	62.4%
North Dakota	17.6%	13.0%	6.7%	68.5%
California	17.4%	13.6%	6.1%	62.3%
Washington	16.9%	12.7%	6.3%	65.8%
Wyoming	16.9%	11.9%	7.4%	67.3%
New Hampshire	16.3%	12.2%	6.1%	65.9%
Idaho	15.3%	10.8%	6.6%	68.9%
Hawaii	14.8%	11.1%	6.3%	58.4%
Utah	12.8%	9.4%	4.7%	74.0%

Interestingly, the states with the highest share of Single Fathers is very different to that of single mothers, with New Mexico  Nevada, and Delaware all at rates of over 9%.

Absolute Numbers:

State	Total Households with one or more people under 18	Number of Households Married with children under 18	Number of Households Cohabiting couple with children under 18	Number of Households Female householder, no partner with children under 18	Number of Households Male householder, no partner with children under 18
D.C.	61,992	30,929	2,580	18,047	2,627
Mississippi	355,179	181,788	21,284	85,045	12,438
Louisiana	541,709	281,246	43,715	123,860	23,571
Georgia	1,280,171	733,565	79,032	262,143	47,849
New Mexico	232,365	116,678	26,930	43,472	12,534
South Carolina	580,739	326,554	39,835	118,007	20,998
Delaware	106,791	58,960	9,093	20,117	5,320
Rhode Island	118,016	67,363	10,966	22,932	5,152
Alabama	567,058	321,090	32,357	113,277	21,393
Arkansas	363,642	209,038	25,129	69,122	15,522
Ohio	1,364,252	789,959	120,728	254,482	61,995
Nevada	350,004	194,077	33,032	60,736	20,003
North Carolina	1,218,725	722,891	84,635	228,238	48,436
Tennessee	808,658	467,704	55,573	146,158	36,018
Florida	2,227,426	1,272,584	190,691	401,829	93,757
Michigan	1,110,029	671,804	92,136	191,812	51,446
Oklahoma	483,568	285,118	37,667	80,713	24,289
Connecticut	410,168	257,122	30,158	72,836	15,459
New York	2,150,793	1,290,623	153,972	386,065	75,445
Pennsylvania	1,428,537	864,621	116,203	243,138	63,063
Maryland	723,835	440,869	48,228	126,763	28,202
Indiana	801,917	481,355	67,818	133,074	36,853
Missouri	708,287	428,467	56,500	117,058	32,989
Kentucky	536,701	309,536	42,999	88,385	24,953
Wisconsin	653,677	409,900	59,212	101,683	35,110
Illinois	1,463,560	908,600	105,167	248,976	54,410
Texas	3,734,897	2,298,602	246,627	633,636	138,840
Arizona	824,034	477,016	78,695	129,291	39,682
Massachusetts	779,816	497,804	53,364	130,100	28,159
Vermont	63,960	40,082	5,895	9,201	3,503
Virginia	1,010,937	647,536	60,377	159,659	39,279
West Virginia	186,454	107,450	16,179	28,404	7,876
Iowa	372,448	241,033	33,656	55,148	17,054
Nebraska	238,621	157,565	18,721	34,160	11,248
Kansas	350,615	228,049	25,565	50,018	16,105
Oregon	465,591	294,206	41,102	65,422	22,015
Montana	115,751	74,801	9,039	14,818	6,389
South Dakota	103,306	66,843	8,492	14,190	4,663
New Jersey	1,087,329	720,426	72,863	162,878	34,356
Minnesota	664,163	444,289	55,309	89,970	30,093
Colorado	670,852	451,421	39,924	87,489	33,471
Maine	140,617	87,982	14,681	18,825	6,304
Alaska	86,528	53,960	7,788	10,903	4,433
North Dakota	89,005	60,932	6,835	11,580	4,086
California	4,433,837	2,762,776	345,763	601,899	169,901
Washington	894,754	588,901	75,364	114,061	37,133
Wyoming	67,590	45,518	5,449	8,035	3,364
New Hampshire	145,097	95,586	12,399	17,772	5,868
Idaho	217,374	149,775	15,343	23,503	9,815
Hawaii	148,602	86,767	11,414	16,486	5,489
Utah	416,492	308,270	18,337	39,025	14,459

Also interesting to note that Texas (and not California) has the highest number of single mother households at 633,636 with California having the most single father households in total.

Data was compiled by The Badger Institute.

Why do you think there is such variation between states?