Less Than Half of U.S. Family Households Include Children Under 18

About 39% of U.S. family households this year included the householder’s children under 18, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Source: Census Bureau
November 12, 2024
Written by: Paul Hemez, Clayton Buck, and Lydia Anderson

An interactive data visualization, “Family Households by Age of Householder: 2024,” uses data from the 2024 Current Population Survey to compare characteristics of family households – such as presence of children, family size, family members under 18 and homeownership – by the age of the householder.

About 39% of U.S. family households this year included the householder’s children under 18, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Highlights

Children of the householder (of any age) were most common in family households where the householder was 40 to 44 years old (84%).
Less than 10% of all family households included children under age 3.
Just over half (52%) of all family households had three or more family members.
About 57% of family households did not have any family members under age 18, while 19% had one member, 16% two members, and 9% three or more members under 18.
Homeownership was more common among older householders. About 37% of householders under age 25 owned their home compared to nearly 90% of those age 65 or older.

The Census Bureau also published 2024 estimates in historical tables on a variety of topics, including the living arrangements of adults and children, marital status, households and families.

More data visualizations on families and living arrangements are available:

Explore the estimates on family households by the age of the householder.

More data visualizations on families and living arrangements are available:

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Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.