Fewest Nuclear Families since 1959

Among the nation's 130 million households in 2021, only 23.1 million were married couples with children under age 18. Not since 1959 have there been fewer nuclear families in the United States. In that year, the 22.9 million married couples with children under age 18 accounted for 45 percent of all households. Now nuclear families account for just 18 percent of households—the smallest share on record.

Percent of households headed by married couples with children under age 18 

2021: 17.8%

2020: 18.4%

2010: 20.9%

2000: 24.1%

1990: 26.3%

1980: 30.9%

1970: 40.3%

1960: 44.2%

1959: 44.5%

Counting both married couples and single parents, 26 percent of the nation's households include children under age 18. This, too, is the lowest share on record and down from 49 percent in 1959. What accounts for the steep decline in households with children? Some of the reasons are delayed marriage and childbearing as well as a growing preference among younger adults for having no children at all. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, a substantial 44 percent of non-parents aged 18 to 49 think it is not too/not at all likely they will have children someday, up from 37 percent who felt this way in 2018. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Census Bureau's Families and Households Data Tables