Missouri and the Nation Change in Children Living in Single Parent Families in Missouri and the U.S. Nearly one-fourth (23.6 percent) of all U.S. children were living in single parent families in 2000 (Table 1). That was an increase from 19.5 percent in 1990 (Table 1). That was an increase from 19.5 percent in 1990 (Table 2). The percent of children living in single parent families increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia during the 1990s. The magnitude of the increase during the 1990s was significant (Table 3). There were 11 states in which the number of children in single parent families increased by more than 40 percent during the 1990s; there were 15 additional states in which the increase ranged from 30-40 percent, and 20 states in which the increase was between 20 and 30 percent. There were only four states (Illinois, West Virginia, Louisiana and Michigan) and the District of Columbia in which the number of children in single parent families increased by less than 20 percent. However, those were states with a large population of children in single parent families in 1990. The highest proportion of children in single parent families was in the District of Columbia in both 1990 (38.7 percent) and in 2000 (44.7). Louisiana and Mississippi followed ranking 49th and 50th in both 1990 and 2000. Mississippi increased from 25.9 percent to 30.0 percent during the 1990s, and Louisiana increased from 25.3 percent to 29.3 percent. Map 1 click map for larger version Map 1 shows that the highest concentration of children in single parent families in 2000 was in the Southeast with more than 25 percent of children in single parent families in seven adjacent states. Three of the remaining four states with more than 25 percent were New York, Delaware and Rhode Island in the Northeast. New Mexico is the other state with greater than 25 percent. In the majority of the states (33) between 20 and 25 percent of children were living in single parent families. Those states are uniformly distributed geographically. The seven states with the lowest percentage of children in single parent families are found in a cluster of four states in the upper Midwest and two states in the Rocky Mountains and Hawaii. These last three states - Utah, Idaho and Hawaii - have the lowest percentages of single parent families nationally with 13.6 percent, 17.7 percent and 19.1 percent respectively. Missouri and Its Neighbors Missouri had a population of 256,615 children living in single parent families in 1990, which increased to 346,354 in 2000. Missouri ranked 36th nationally on this measure in both 1990 and 2000 (Tables 4 and 5). The increase in Missouri during the 1990s was 35 percent - just about the same as the national increase. However, Missouri's national rank in percent of children living in single parent families declined from 27th in 1990 to 34th in 2000. There is significant variation among Missouri's neighboring states. The following shows where Missouri's neighboring states ranked in 1990 and 2000 with regard to the percentage of children living in single parent family households. States having a higher percentage than Missouri in both 1990 and 2000 were: State 1990 Rank 2000 Rank Tennessee 21.0% 40 24.9% 40 Arkansas 20.3% 31 24.7% 39 Missouri 20.3% 27 24.3% 34 States having a lower percentage than Missouri in both 1990 and 2000: State 1990 Rank 2000 Rank Nebraska 15.8% 7 19.6% 6 Iowa 15.8% 6 19.8% 7 Kansas 16.8% 11 20.2% 9 Kentucky 18.8% 22 23.2% 29 Oklahoma 19.4% 24 23.5% 30 Compared with neighboring states Missouri had a relatively greater increase in percent of children living in single parent families during the 1990s. Three of Missouri's neighbors - Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas - had the nation's 6th, 7th and 9th lowest percentage of children living in single parent families. Their position remained the same or improved during the 1990s. The most notable change among Missouri's neighboring states was in Illinois that had the 34th lowest (18th highest) percent of children in single parent families in 1990 but dropped to having the 18th lowest percent in 2000. In contrast Missouri, which ranked 27th in 1990, moved down to becoming 34th in 2000. Detailed Tables Percent Children Living in Single Parent Families 2000, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Percent Children Living in Single Parent Families 1990, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Children Living in Single Parent Families 2000, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Children Living in Single Parent Families 1990, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Change in Children Living in Single Parent Families, 1990-2000, for All U.S. States    HTML PDF Percent Change in Children Living in Single Parent Families, 1990-2000, for All U.S. States    HTML PDF