• 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 3-Year-Olds 4-Year-Olds
    Three and Four-Year-Olds Enrolled in Pre-School 17% 44%
    United States
    3-Year-Olds
    4-Year-Olds

    Sources:  American Community Survey, 2023; Child Care Aware, 2023; National Institute for Early Education Research, 2023.

    Single Householder

    Visualize data
    United States Single Female Headed Single Male Headed All Single Headed Households
    Single-Headed Households in Poverty (100% Threshold) 22.3% 11.0% 19.3%
    Single-Headed Households in Poverty (200% Threshold) 46.0% 28.4% 41.3%
    Single-Headed Households with Children in Poverty (100% Threshold) 33.5% 15.4% 29.9%
    Single-Headed Households with Children in Poverty (200% Threshold) 62.2% 36.2% 57.1%
    United States
    Single Female Headed
    Single Male Headed
    All Single Headed Households

    Data Source: American Community Survey, 2023.

    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

    Visualize data
    United States Women Men All
    Parents of Young Children in the Labor Force 71.3% 94.4% 81.9%
    Part-Time Status of Workers with Young Children 25.0% 6.3% 15.0%
    United States
    Women
    Men
    All

    Source: American Community Survey, 2023.

    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 25, 2025
    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