The Share Of Households With A Stay-At-Home Parent Holds Steady

The days of a primary breadwinner father and a stay-at-home mother are long over. Now, it’s more common for a child to grow up with a single parent.

Zillow examined household structure in the U.S. In terms of all households with a child, 37 percent have married parents that each have full-time jobs, 31 percent are single parents, and 22 percent are couples with one full-time worker and one stay-at-home parent. The breakdown has roughly remained the same over the last 20 years. In 1970, though, most households had a stay-at-home parent, and 30 percent had two working parents.

A stay-at-home parent isn’t always a mother. Around two million fathers stay home and look after the household while the mother works full-time.

Across the country, staying at home is least common among middle-income households and appears to be a luxury for the very highest income households, particularly in expensive housing markets.

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