The percentage of children living in a two-parent household has hit its highest point in nearly 30 years.
In an analysis of 2020 US Census data, the Institute for Family Studies found more than 70% of people under 18 live in a home with two parents, while 25% live with one parent and 4% live with neither parent.
The finding on children living in two-parent homes is a slight increase from the 69% reported in 2010 and 2000. However, it remains slightly below the 72% recorded in 1990 and well below the 87% from 1960.
The report also drew from 2012 and 2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Household Education Survey, which likewise shows increases in the presence of two-parent households for high school seniors.
Nicholas Zill, research psychologist and a senior fellow at IFS, wrote in the report that “although certainly not out of intensive care, the supposed corpse of the two-parent family seems to be breathing new life.”
He attributed the slight turnaround to multiple factors, among them marriages happening “at older ages and education levels,” a “decline in teen childbirth” and a “greater awareness of benefits of two-parent upbringing.”
But Zill adds that before “celebrating the turning of the tide, it’s important to note how grave the condition of the two-parent family has been and still is.”