A
record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include
mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the
family, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the
U.S. Census Bureau. The share was just 11% in 1960.
Chapter 1: Overview
These “breadwinner moms” are made up of two very different groups:
5.1 million (37%) are married mothers who have a higher income than
their husbands, and 8.6 million (63%) are single mothers.1
The income gap between the two groups is quite large. The median
total family income of married mothers who earn more than their husbands
was nearly $80,000 in 2011, well above the national median of $57,100
for all families with children, and nearly four times the $23,000 median
for families led by a single mother.2
The groups differ in other ways as well. Compared with all mothers
with children under age 18, married mothers who out-earn their husbands
are slightly older, disproportionally white and college educated. Single
mothers, by contrast, are younger, more likely to be black or Hispanic,
and less likely to have a college degree. Continue at Pew Research
