3 Facts About New Parents in the US

American parenthood has changed over time. The latest data from Pew Research Center shows that today’s parents are more educated than ever before.

Most women with a young child are in the labor force, and the share of mothers who are stay-at-home moms has held steady in recent decades after falling precipitously in the 1970s and 1980s.

Here are some key findings about American mothers and motherhood from Pew Research Center reports:

Women are becoming mothers later in life. The median age at which women become mothers in the U.S. is 26, up from 23 in 1994. While this change has been driven in part by declines in births to teens, delays in motherhood have continued among women in their 20s.

Parents are spending more time on child care. In 2016, moms spent 14 hours a week on child care, up from previous surveys. Dads, too, are spending more time on child care. In addition to caring for their children, 12% of parents are also providing unpaid care for an adult.

About one-in-four mothers are raising their children on their own. While most U.S. mothers are married (68%), nearly one-quarter are solo moms. All told, about 9 million mothers in the US are living with a child younger than 18 without a spouse or partner. Solo parenthood is less common among fathers, with 7% of dads raising a child without a spouse or partner in the home.