Household composition and poverty among female-headed households with children: Differences by race and residence

We examine race and residential variation in the prevalence of female-headed households with children and how household composition is associated with several key economic well-being outcomes using data from the 2000 5% Public Use Microdata Sample of the U.S. Census. Special attention is paid to cohabiting female-headed households with children and those that are headed by a single grandmother caring for at least one grandchild, because these are becoming more common living arrangements among female-headed households with children. We find that in 2000: (1) cohabiting and grandmother female-headed households with children comprised over one-fourth of all female-headed households with children, (2) household poverty is highest for female-headed households with children that do not have other adult household earners, (3) earned income from other household members lifts many cohabiting and grandparental female-headed households out of poverty, as does retirement and Social Security income for grandmother headed households, and (4) poverty is highest among racial/ethnic minorities and for female-headed households with children in nonmetro compared to central cities and suburban areas.