How many fatherless children are there in the United States?

U.S. Census Bureau data from 2011 revealed that about one-third of all children in the United States lived in homes without their biological fathers. The highest percentage was in the African-American population, where the data showed that 51 percent of children lived in a home without married parents.

The trend of fatherless homes has escalated since the 1960s. The percentage of children living in fatherless homes has more than doubled across all major ethnic groups since that point. One primary driver of this increase is an increase in babies born out of wedlock, meaning that the parents never lived together or were not in a formally committed relationship prior to the birth.