• Issues

    • Caregiving and Families

    Care is an essential support for parents’ full participation in the economy and for children’s well-being and development. Policies that advance affordable and high-quality child care, elder care, and paid sick and family leave for mothers and families support and uplift caregivers.

    Data

    See data by gender below. Click "Visualize data" for a breakdown by gender and race/ethnicity, where applicable.

    Child Care

    Visualize data
    United States Value
    Cost of Home-Based Infant Care $12,336
    Cost of Center-Based Infant Care $15,728
    United States
    Value
    United States Share of Women's Earnings Share of Men's Earnings Share of All Earnings
    Cost of Home-Based Infant Care as a Percentage of Earnings (16+) 22.40% 18.80% 20.60%
    Cost of Center-Based Infant Care as a Percentage of Earnings (16+) 28.60% 24.00% 26.20%
    United States
    Share of Women's Earnings
    Share of Men's Earnings
    Share of All Earnings
    United States 3-year-olds 4-year-olds
    Three and Four-Year-Olds Enrolled in Pre-School 17% 46%
    United States
    3-year-olds
    4-year-olds

    Sources:  American Community Survey, 2024; Child Care Aware, 2026; National Institute for Early Education Research, 2026.

    Notes: Data on infant care costs and preschool enrollment are reported for 2025.

    For infant care costs: NR = not reported by the state; blank = state does not collect price data.

    For infant care costs as a proportion of earnings: earnings are median annual values; where no value is listed, cost data is unavailable (see note above).

    For preschool enrollment data: Totals can overestimate public enrollment in state pre-K, pre-K special education, and Head Start as some or all of Head Start children may be served in a state’s pre-K program and many states could not report this information.

     

    Single Householder

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    United States Single Female Headed Single Male Headed All Single-Headed Households
    Single-Headed Households in Poverty (100% Threshold) 21.10% 10.90% 18.40%
    Single-Headed Households in Poverty (200% Threshold) 44.30% 27.80% 39.90%
    Single-Headed Households with Children in Poverty (100% Threshold) 32.40% 15.30% 28.90%
    Single-Headed Households with Children in Poverty (200% Threshold) 60.70% 36.70% 55.90%
    United States
    Single Female Headed
    Single Male Headed
    All Single-Headed Households

    Data Source: American Community Survey, 2024.

    Notes: Data shown for individuals aged 16+.

    “Single householders” are male or female householders living in family households without a spouse present.

    The Census uses the family’s size, number of related children, and age of the primary householder to determine the Federal Poverty Threshold.

    Where no value is listed, the sample size is too small to compute an estimate. U = sample size is insufficient for the reported value to be representative of the population. Estimates should be interpreted with caution.

     

    Work and Family

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    United States Women Men All
    Parents of Young Children in the Labor Force 71.60% 94.70% 82.20%
    Part-Time Status of Workers with Young Children 27.60% 7.30% 17.00%
    United States
    Women
    Men
    All

    Source: American Community Survey, 2024.

    Notes: Data shown for individuals aged 16+.

    Labor force participation counts as either being employed or being unemployed but actively looking for a job. Part-time work is being employed but working less than 35 hours a week.

    Policy

    Updated July 31, 2026
    Paid leave refers to compensated time off workers may need to take for various reasons, including health or caregiving purposes.
    Paid sick time laws guarantee workers time off for short-term illness, injury, medical treatment, or to care for the health of a loved one.
    Refundable child tax credits—or tax credits available as a refund even if you do not owe any state taxes—can cover critical expenses related to raising a family, reduce hardship, and help alleviate poverty among women and their families.

    State policy or data requests?

    Stakeholders and partners can get support from IWPR’s experts on state-specific data and policy landscape insights. Submit a hotline request to get started.

    Hotline statepal@iwpr.org