Indicator 3: Types of Families with Children

In 2005, approximately 38.1 million families with children under 18 resided in the United States (data not shown in tables). These families with children consisted of married couples (67 percent), female householders with no husband present (25 percent), and male householders with no wife present (8 percent).⁶

Across all racial/ethnic groups shown except Blacks, the majority of families with children under 18 were married couples. Some 82 percent of all Asian families with children were married couples, higher than the percentages for White families (74 percent), Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander families (65 percent), Hispanic families (62 percent), American Indian/Alaska Native families (53 percent), and Black families (36 percent). Black families with children had the highest percentage of families headed by females with no husband present (55 percent), followed by American Indian/Alaska Native (36 percent), Hispanic (27 percent) and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (26 percent), then White (19 percent), and Asian (12 percent) families. A higher percentage of Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native families with children (each 11 percent) were headed by males with no wife present than Black (9 percent), White (7 percent), and Asian (5 percent) families.

View Table 3
View Figure 3