What are �female-headed� households? Most studies consider them to be households in which there is no adult male, or households in which adult males rely on the female breadwinner for support, such as an adult child of a single mother. �Female-headed� does not mean that the woman earns more money (which is the case in only a quarter of households) or is responsible for the family finances. In fact, women and children in female-headed households are more likely to live in poverty than women and children in most other household situations, where there are more potential workers.

In the graph on this page, a female-headed household with children is a special type of female-headed household in which the household head lives with one or more related children. About 9 percent of American households can be categorized as female-headed households with children. As the graph shows, the percentage of households headed by women with children varies by race and ethnicity. In 1999, about 6 percent of non-Hispanic white and Asian households were headed by women with children. In contrast, women with kids accounted for 23 percent of all black households. The percentage of Hispanic households headed by women with kids falls in between these two estimates, at about 15 percent.