Men’s Fertility and Fatherhood: 2014

P70-162

Issued June 2019

By Lindsay M. Monte and Brian Knop

Current Population Reports

INTRODUCTION

This report describes the fatherhood 

and fertility of men in the United 

States.1

In recent decades, there has been 

growing public and academic 

interest in fathers and fatherhood 

given the importance of fathers 

in children’s lives.2 However, due 

in part to the lack of data, less is 

known about men’s fertility than 

women’s, including information 

about when in their lives men 

become fathers or remain childless, 

how many children they have, and the demographic 

factors associated with these events.

The 2014 Survey of Income and Program 

Participation (SIPP) marked the first time the U.S. 

Census Bureau collected full fertility histories from 

1

 Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. For further information on the source of the data and 

accuracy of the estimates, including standard errors and confidence intervals, see <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp/

tech-documentation/source-accuracy-statements.html>. 2 See, for example: A.S. Meuwissen and S.M. Carlson, “Fathers 

matter: The role of father autonomy support and control in preschoolers’ executive function development,” Journal of experimental child psychology, 140, 2015, pp. 1–15, and F. F. Furstenberg 

and K. M. Harris, “When and why fathers matter: Impacts of father 

involvement on the children of adolescent mothers,” Young Unwed 

Fathers: Changing Roles and Emerging Policies, 2009, pp. 117–138, 

and N. Cabrera, Why do fathers matter for children’s development? Gender and couple relationships, 2016, pp. 161–168.

all adults, both men and women.3 In the report that 

follows, we use the 2014 SIPP to provide a snapshot 

of men’s fertility.4 This report provides information 

on fertility rates, total children ever born, completed 

fertility, and childlessness by selected demographic 

characteristics. We also present information on the 

timing and sequencing of men’s biological children, 

as well as both demographic and economic markers for men based on the age of their youngest child 

and their coresidence with children. Additionally, 

we include information on father involvement and 

child well-being by type of father/child relationship, 

whether biological, step, or adoptive.

3 The Census Bureau reviewed this data product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and approved 

the disclosure avoidance practices applied to this release. 

CBDRB-FY19-ROSS-B0057. 4 The 2014 SIPP Wave 1 data were collected between February 

and June of 2014. These estimates reflect men’s fertility and 

household composition at the time the survey was administered. 

Figure 1.

Share of Adult Men Who Are Fathers1, 2

Roughly 6 in 10

men are fathers

1 This estimate includes biological, step, and adoptive fathers.

2 Men at least 15 years old.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, 

Wave 1. 

.

Figure 1.

Number of Fathers1, 2

Roughly 6 in 10

men are fathers

Share of Men Age 15 and Older Who Are Fathers

1 This estimate includes biological, step, and adoptive fathers.

2 Men at least 15 years old.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, 

Wave 1. 

.
2 U.S. Census Bureau

HIGHLIGHTS

• About 60 percent of men 

aged 15 and over are fathers.

• Roughly 36 million men live 

with about 80 million children 

aged 0 to 17.

• Men who start having children at older ages (aged 35 

or older) have fewer children 

than men who had their first 

child before the age of 25.5

• Approximately 17 percent of 

men aged 40 to 50 have never 

been married and 24 percent 

are childless.6

• Nearly 90 percent of men 

whose youngest child is under 

age 6 are employed, compared to slightly more than 60 

percent for women.

• Childless men are less likely 

to be in management than are 

fathers, regardless of men’s 

children’s ages. Childless men 

are also less likely to be in 

STEM occupations than are 

fathers whose youngest child 

is under age 18. 

MEN’S FERTILITY AND 

FATHERHOOD

Fathers make up a large portion of 

the adult male population of the 

United States. Out of the 121.2 

million men in the United States 

aged 15 and over, about 6 in every 

10 (61.6 percent) are fathers (see 

5 All comparative statements have 

undergone statistical testing, and, unless 

otherwise noted, all comparisons are 

statistically significant at the 10 percent 

significance level. 6 The numbers for men are higher than 

the same numbers for women; among 

women aged 40 to 50, 14.1 percent have 

never married and 15.9 percent are childless 

(see Table 6 <www.census.gov/data

/tables/2016/demo/fertility/women

-fertility.html>).

Figure 1).7 As shown in Table 1, 

72.2 million men aged 15 and 

over have a biological child. Over 

one-third of men are married and 

have biological children with their 

spouse. There are also 2.9 million men (2.4 percent of all men) 

who are living with an unmarried 

partner (or “cohabiting”) and 

have children with that partner. 

Additionally, nearly 1 in 10 men 

have children with more than one 

person.8 

Policy makers are often particularly concerned with fathers of 

minor children (meaning children 

aged 0 to 17), as father presence and involvement is highly 

predictive of children’s sociability, self-control, and academic 

7 The numbers in this report come from 

version 1.1 of the 2014 Wave 1 SIPP data. 

They may vary slightly from the numbers 

released in version 1.0. For more details 

about the differences between version 1.0 

and 1.1, see the Release Notes on the SIPP 

Web site at <www2.census.gov/programs

-surveys/sipp/tech-documentation

/2014/2014-wave1-releasenotes.pdf>. 8 For more information about multiple 

partner fertility, see the following Census 

Bureau report: <www.census.gov/content

/dam/Census/library/publications/2017

/demo/p70br-146.pdf>.

performance.9, 10 Over 1 in 4 

men—34.3 million—have a biological child who is under the age of 

18 (see Table 1). Four out of five 

fathers of minor children live with 

at least some of those children 

(79.8 percent). Moreover, almost 

three-quarters (72.6 percent) live 

with all of their minor children 

(see Figure 2). Additionally, there 

are 1.8 million men who are single 

fathers to a minor child, meaning they live with a child under 18 

years old and are not living with a 

spouse or partner (see Table 1).

As men’s children grow up and 

have children of their own, being 

a grandfather becomes another 

important aspect of men’s fathering. There are 29.2 million 

grandfathers—24.1 percent of 

all men aged 15 and over. This is 

roughly the same as the percentage of all men who have minor 

children (28.3 percent). Although 

few men are simultaneously both 

grandfathers and fathers to minor 

children, these two populations 

9 E. Anthes, “Family Guy,” Scientific 

American Mind, May/June 2010. 10 K. D. Pruett, Fatherneed: Why father 

care is as essential as mother care for your 

child, Free Press, New York, 2000.

ABOUT THE SIPP

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a nationally-representative panel survey administered by the U.S. Census 

Bureau that collects information on the short-term dynamics of 

employment, income, household composition, and eligibility and 

participation in government assistance programs. It is a leading source of information on specific topics related to economic 

well-being, family dynamics, education, wealth and assets, health 

insurance, child care, and food security. Each SIPP panel follows 

individuals for several years, providing monthly data that measure 

changes in household and family composition and economic circumstances over time. For more information, please visit the SIPP 

Web site at <www.census.gov/sipp>.
U.S. Census Bureau 3

help to frame men’s experiences 

of fatherhood and fathering.11, 12

11 Only 2.6 percent of all men report both 

having a child under the age of 18 and being 

a grandparent. 12 Other Census Bureau publications 

have reported higher percentages of adults 

who are grandparents (see, for example, 

<www.census.gov/content/dam/Census

/library/publications/2017/demo/p70br-147

.pdf>). However, most Census Bureau publications only report the rate of grandparenthood for adults aged 30 and over who have 

children aged 15 and over. Here, we report 

the rate of grandparenthood for all men 

aged 15 and over, which is why our estimate 

of this proportion is lower than that presented elsewhere.

CUMULATIVE FERTILITY

Because the SIPP survey asks all 

adult respondents (aged 15 and 

over) about their fertility, we can 

examine the total number of children ever fathered by men, and 

how the number of children ever 

fathered varies among groups. 

Among all adult men, 40.5 percent 

have no biological children, 37.5 

percent have between one and 

two children, and 22.0 percent 

have three or more children (see 

Table 2). 

The prevalence of both large families and childlessness (defined as 

not having fathered any biological 

children) varies across age and 

marital status. Demonstrating how 

men age into fatherhood, childlessness is much more common 

among men in their late 20s compared to men in their 30s. About 

70 percent of all men aged 25 to 

29 have no children compared to 

45.6 percent of men aged 30 to 

34, and 28.4 percent of men aged 

35 to 39. 

However, among men aged 20 

and over, never-married men are 

more likely to be childless than 

are similarly-aged men who have 

ever been married. Among 30- to 

34-year-old men, 27.2 percent of 

ever-married men and 73.7 percent of never-married men have 

Figure 2.

Coresidence of Fathers and Their Minor Biological Children1

1

 Minor children indicates children under the age of 18.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, 

Wave 1.

Fathers of

minor children

Lives with all,

72.6%

79.8% of fathers of minor biological children 

live with all or some of them

Lives with some,

7.2%

Lives with none,

20.2%

Figure 2.

Where Does Dad Live?1

80.3% of fathers of minor biological children 

live with all or some of them

Coresidence of Fathers and Their Biological Children

Table 1. 

Selected Measures of Fatherhood

(Men aged 15 and over. Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total men Percent Margin of error1 (±)

    All men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121,245 100.0 0.0

Are fathers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74,663 61.6 0.4

Have biological children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72,151 59.5 0.4

Are married and have children with their spouse2. . . . . . . . . . 43,054 35.5 0.4

Are cohabiting and have children with their partner3. . . . . . . 2,869 2.4 0.2

Have children with more than one person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,498 8.7 0.3

Are grandfathers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,241 24.1 0.3

Have minor biological children4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,332 28.3 0.4

 Live with any of their minor biological children. . . . . . . . . . . 27,389 22.6 0.4

  Live with all of their minor biological children. . . . . . . . . . 24,920 20.6 0.3

Are single parents to minor children5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,814 1.5 0.1

1 This number, when added to or subtracted from the estimate, represents the 90 percent confidence interval around the estimate.

2 Indicates respondents who are currently married to an opposite sex spouse and have biological children with that spouse, regardless of 

the age of those children or whether the respondent lives with them. 3 Indicates respondents who are currently living with an opposite sex unmarried partner and have biological children with that partner, 

regardless of the age of those children or whether the respondent lives with them. 4 “Minor children” indicates children under the age of 18.

5 “Single parents” indicates respondents who are living with a minor child and are not living with a spouse or partner. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
4 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 2. 

Men’s Number of Children Ever Fathered by Age and Marital Status

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic Total men None One Two Three Four 

 Five or 

more 

All marital classes

Aged 15 and over. . . . . . . . . . . . 121,245 40.5 14.5 23.0 12.6 5.4 4.0

 15 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95,008 47.4 14.9 20.7 10.3 4.1 2.5

 15 to 50 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74,009 54.0 14.4 17.9 8.5 3.3 1.9

 15 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61,742 60.0 14.0 15.1 6.9 2.6 1.4

 15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,621 98.4 1.3 0.3 Z Z Z

 20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,043 87.8 9.3 2.3 0.5 0.1 0.1

 25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,339 68.9 15.3 10.5 3.5 1.3 0.5

 30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,342 45.6 19.8 20.6 9.2 2.9 1.7

 35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,397 28.4 20.9 28.8 14.1 5.2 2.4

 40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 23.8 19.0 30.9 15.6 6.7 4.0

 45 to 49 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,171 24.3 16.1 32.0 16.6 6.7 4.3

 50 to 54 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,858 25.9 17.6 29.0 15.7 7.1 4.8

 55 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,237 22.0 15.9 32.6 17.6 7.2 4.7

 61 years and over. . . . . . . . . . 26,237 15.6 13.2 31.0 21.0 10.0 9.2

Men ever married

Aged 15 and over. . . . . . . . . . . . 79,972 17.2 18.2 33.0 18.3 7.8 5.7

 15 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,127 19.6 20.2 33.2 16.5 6.6 3.9

 15 to 50 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,556 21.1 21.5 32.6 15.5 6.0 3.3

 15 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,211 23.6 23.0 31.2 14.2 5.3 2.8

 15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 96.5 3.5 Z Z Z Z

 20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954 49.4 33.4 14.9 1.9 Z 0.5

 25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,736 42.9 25.4 21.3 6.9 2.6 0.8

 30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,243 27.2 24.3 29.5 12.6 4.1 2.3

 35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,064 16.5 23.2 34.7 17.0 5.8 2.9

 40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,102 13.9 19.6 36.4 17.9 7.7 4.5

 45 to 49 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,547 14.9 17.4 36.4 19.1 7.5 4.6

 50 to 54 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,373 17.2 19.1 32.8 17.7 8.1 5.1

 55 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,996 15.8 16.6 35.7 19.2 7.8 4.9

 61 years and over. . . . . . . . . . 24,846 11.7 13.7 32.5 22.1 10.5 9.6

Men never married

Aged 15 and over. . . . . . . . . . . . 41,272 85.7 7.5 3.6 1.7 0.7 0.7

 15 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,881 85.8 7.6 3.6 1.7 0.7 0.6

 15 to 50 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,453 86.2 7.5 3.5 1.6 0.7 0.5

 15 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,531 86.9 7.4 3.2 1.5 0.6 0.4

 15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,508 98.4 1.3 0.3 Z Z Z

 20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,090 91.5 7.0 1.1 0.4 0.1 0.1

 25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,603 83.6 9.5 4.4 1.6 0.5 0.4

 30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,099 73.7 13.1 7.1 4.0 1.2 0.9

 35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,333 64.5 14.1 11.2 5.5 3.6 1.1

 40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,898 65.8 16.4 7.6 6.0 2.3 1.8

 45 to 49 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,625 73.6 9.2 8.8 3.5 2.1 2.7

 50 to 54 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,485 80.4 8.3 5.1 2.8 0.7 2.8

 55 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,241 77.3 9.8 5.4 3.3 1.2 3.0

 61 years and over. . . . . . . . . . 1,391 83.5 5.7 5.2 2.0 1.1 2.4

Z Estimate rounds to zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
U.S. Census Bureau 5

no biological children.13 About 8 

percent of ever-married men have 

four children, and 5.7 percent 

have five or more children. Among 

never-married men, 0.7 percent 

have four children and 0.7 percent 

have five or more children.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF 

FATHERHOOD

Fathers and childless men differ 

somewhat in their demographic 

makeup—primarily in their marital 

13 These estimates reflect biological 

fatherhood only; as seen in Table 1, there 

are men who have never fathered any 

biological children who are fathers to nonbiological children.

status and educational attainment.14 Table 3 shows marital status, race, and educational attainment levels for all men, fathers, 

and childless men.

Most fathers—over 90 percent—

are either married at the time of 

the survey, or have previously 

been married (see Table 3). About 

73 percent of fathers are married, 12.9 percent of fathers are 

divorced, 3.2 percent are widowed, and 2.3 percent are separated. Of the 72.2 million fathers, 

14 Educational attainment refers to the 

highest level of education that someone 

has attained.

5.9 million (8.2 percent) have 

never been married. In contrast, 

a majority of childless men—over 

70 percent—have never been 

married. About 21 percent of 

childless men are married, 5.3 

percent are divorced, 1.1 percent 

are widowed, and 0.9 percent are 

separated.15

Educational differences between 

fathers and childless men can be 

seen most prominently at the lowest and highest educational levels. 

About 14 percent of fathers do 

15 The percent widowed and the percent 

separated are not statistically different 

from each other.

Table 3. 

Demographic Characteristics by Biological Fatherhood

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

All men Fathers Childless men1

 Total Percent Total Percent Total Percent 

    All men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121,245 100.0 72,151 100.0 49,094 100.0 

MARITAL STATUS

Ever married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,972 66.0 66,255 91.8 13,717 27.9 

 Married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63,095 52.0 52,948 73.4 10,147 20.7 

 Divorced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,926 9.8 9,317 12.9 2,609 5.3 

 Widowed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,870 2.4 2,341 3.2 529 1.1 

 Separated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,081 1.7 1,649 2.3 433 0.9 

Never married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,272 34.0 5,896 8.2 35,376 72.1 

RACE

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96,748 79.8 58,220 80.7 38,527 78.5 

 White alone, Non-Hispanic . . . . . . . . 78,791 65.0 47,655 66.0 31,136 63.4 

Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,201 11.7 8,251 11.4 5,950 12.1 

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,490 5.4 3,721 5.2 2,769 5.6 

All other races, race combinations. . . . 3,806 3.1 1,959 2.7 1,848 3.8 

HISPANIC ORIGIN

Hispanic (of any race). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,458 16.0 11,391 15.8 8,068 16.4 

Non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101,786 84.0 60,761 84.2 41,026 83.6 

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Not a high school graduate . . . . . . . . . . 20,778 17.1 10,148 14.1 10,630 21.7 

High school graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,064 28.9 22,359 31.0 12,706 25.9 

Some college, no degree . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,960 18.9 12,552 17.4 10,407 21.2 

Associate’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,979 7.4 5,573 7.7 3,406 6.9 

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,963 17.3 12,758 17.7 8,205 16.7 

Graduate or professional degree . . . . . 12,501 10.3 8,761 12.1 3,740 7.6 

1 Childless men are men who have never biologically fathered a child.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
6 U.S. Census Bureau

not have a high school diploma, 

compared to 21.7 percent of 

childless men. About 12 percent 

of fathers hold a graduate or 

professional degree, compared 

to 7.6 percent of childless men. 

That fathers as a group are more 

educated than childless men is 

partially a product of age. Many 

young adult men (such as adolescents still in high school) will likely 

eventually both reach a higher 

level of education than they have 

at the time of the survey and 

will also eventually transition to 

fatherhood.

Some differences by race and 

origin surface when looking at the 

age at which men become fathers 

(see Figure 3).16 For example, 

about 1 percent of White, Asian, 

and Hispanic men aged 15 to 19 

are fathers, compared with about 

3 percent of Black men of the 

16 Hispanic origin is measured independent of race, meaning that Hispanic men 

can be of any race.

same age.17, 18 Among men aged 

20 to 29, 21.2 percent of White 

men are fathers, as are 24.9 percent of Black men, 29.4 percent 

of Hispanic men, and 12.4 percent 

of Asian men. At least half of men 

aged 30 to 39 are fathers, including 63.3 percent of White men, 

62.5 percent of Black men, 72.1 

percent of Hispanic men, and 52.1 

percent of Asian men. Among 

men aged 40 to 49 years old, 75.1 

percent of White men are fathers, 

compared to 80.5 percent of Black 

men, 83.4 percent of Hispanic 

17 This report will refer to the Whitealone population as White, the Black-alone 

population as Black, the Asian-alone 

population as Asian, and the White-alone, 

non-Hispanic population as non-Hispanic 

White unless otherwise noted. Hispanic 

ethnicity is measure independent of race, 

and someone who is Hispanic can be of any 

race. The SIPP survey allows for selfidentification with any combination of five 

different race categories, as well as a variety of ethnic origins. Here, we present only 

the most populous racial categories. For 

more information, see <www.census.gov

/mso/www/training/pdf/race-ethnicity

-onepager.pdf>. 18 The estimates for Black and Asian men 

aged 15 to 19 are not significantly different 

from each other.

men, and 80.7 percent of Asian 

men in the same age cohort.19

FERTILITY TRAJECTORIES 

Although the majority of men are 

or will become fathers, the experience of fatherhood is not uniform. 

Age at entry into fatherhood, total 

fertility, and number of childbearing partners differentiate men’s 

fatherhood trajectories, and men’s 

fertility trajectories have implications for their own and their 

children’s well-being.20 

Only 8.2 percent of all fathers 

became fathers during adolescence, meaning before they 

turned 20 (see Table 4). Thirtyone percent of fathers were 20 to 

24 years old when their first child 

was born, and an additional 30.3 

19 The estimates for Black, Asian, and 

Hispanic men aged 40 to 49 are not significantly different from each other. 20 For a discussion, see J. Manlove, 

C. Logan, E. Ikramullah, and E. Holcombe, 

“Factors Associated with MultiplePartner Fertility Among Fathers,” Journal 

of Marriage and the Family, 2008, 70: 

536–548.

Figure 3.

Percentage of Men Who Are Fathers by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin1

1

 Race groups shown are race-alone categories, meaning that individuals who identify with multiple races are excluded. Race groups other 

than White, Black, and Asian are also excluded. Hispanic origin is measured independently of race.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1. 

.

Age 15–19 Age 20–29 Age 30–39 Age 40–49

80.5

62.5

24.9

3.1

80.7

52.1

12.4

1.1

83.4

72.1

29.4

1.4

75.1

63.3

21.2

1.2

White Black Asian Hispanic
U.S. Census Bureau 7

percent were 25 to 29 years old.21

About 20 percent of fathers were 

30 to 34 years old, 7.8 percent 

were 35 to 39 years old, and 3.3 

percent of fathers were at least 40 

years old when their first child was 

born.

Multiple partner fertility, or having 

children with more than one person, is often associated with early 

entry into parenthood.22 While the 

national average for age at first 

birth is 25 for men, more than half 

of all fathers with children with 

more than one partner had their 

first child before they turned 25.23

21 These two estimates are not significantly different from each other. 22 L. Monte, “Multiple Partner Fertility in 

the United States: A Demographic Portrait,” 

Demography, 2019, 56(1): 103–127. 23 G. M. Martinez, K. Daniels, and I. FeboVazquez, Fertility of men and women aged 

15–44 in the United States, National Survey 

of Family Growth, 2011–2015, National 

Health Statistics Reports, no 113, Hyattsville, 

MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 

2018.

One in five men who have children 

with more than one woman were 

under 20 years old when their first 

child was born (about 2 million 

men). Another 5 million men with 

children with more than one partner were between 20 and 24 years 

old when their first child was born. 

The importance of the age at 

which men become fathers is 

reinforced when we examine the 

median number of children men 

have.24 Among all fathers, the 

median number of children ever 

fathered is 1.7. Men who became 

fathers before age 25 have 2 

children, on average, while men 

24 The median number is the number 

in the middle of the distribution. Unlike an 

average, which can be skewed by a very 

high or very low outlier, a median is a less 

permeable measure of the center of a 

range. For example, if five men report their 

number of children ever born as 0, 1, 2, 2, 

and 10, the median number of children is 2, 

while the average number of children is 5.

who became fathers after age 35 

generally have 1 child. 

Men’s fatherhood trajectories are 

also differentiated by the time 

between births for men who have 

more than one child. Among all 

men with at least two children, 

the median interval between 

births is 1.9 years (see Figure 

4). However, the median interval between births for men who 

became fathers before age 25 is 

2.3, compared to 1.3 years among 

men who became fathers after 

age 35. Men who become fathers 

later in life likely have a shorter 

fertility window within which to 

have additional children after the 

first birth. 

Far more variation among fatherhood trajectories is revealed when 

looking at intervals between the 

first and last birth. For example, childbearing with multiple 

Table 4. 

Fertility Patterns by Fatherhood Trajectories

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic All biological fathers Men who became 

fathers before age 25 

 Men who have 

children with more 

than one woman 

 Men who became 

fathers after age 

35 

 Total Percent Total Percent Total Percent Total Percent 

    ALL MEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72,151 100.0 28,245 100.0 10,498 100.0 6,226 100.0 

AGE AT FIRST BIRTH

Under 20 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,890 8.2 5,890 20.9 2,097 20.0 X X 

20 to 24 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,355 31.0 22,355 79.1 5,006 47.7 X X 

25 to 29 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,842 30.3 X X 2,332 22.2 X X 

30 to 34 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,057 19.5 X X 858 8.2 X X 

35 to 39 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,636 7.8 X X 158 1.5 3,855 61.9 

40 years and over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,371 3.3 X X 46 0.4 2,371 38.1 

AGE AT LAST OBSERVED BIRTH

Under 20 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,193 1.7 1,193 4.2 33 0.3 X X 

20 to 24 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,618 10.6 7,618 27.0 572 5.5 X X 

25 to 29 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,844 24.7 9,394 33.3 1,973 18.8 X X 

30 to 34 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,624 30.0 5,527 19.6 2,796 26.6 X X 

35 to 39 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,804 20.5 2,712 9.6 2,534 24.1 2,541 40.8 

40 years and over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,068 12.6 1,802 6.4 2,590 24.7 3,685 59.2 

FERTILITY CHARACTERISTICS

Median children ever fathered. . . . . 1.7 X 2.0 X 2.7 X 1.1 X

X Not applicable. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
8 U.S. Census Bureau

partners often means that parents’ childbearing is spread over 

a longer period of time to accommodate the time between the end 

of one childbearing relationship 

and the start of the next.25 The 

median years between first and 

last births is more than twice as 

large for fathers who have children with more than one woman 

compared to all fathers of at least 

two children: the interval is 4.6 

years among all fathers of two 

or more children and 10.1 years 

among men who have children 

with more than one partner. The 

median interval between first and 

last birth is 6.5 years among men 

who became fathers before age 

25, compared to 2.4 years among 

who became fathers after age 35.

25 M. Carlson, and F. Furstenberg, 

“The Prevalence and Correlates of 

Multipartnered Fertility Among Urban 

U.S. Parents,” Journal of Marriage and 

Family, 2006, 68: 718–732.

CORESIDENCE WITH 

CHILDREN BY MEN’S 

DEMOGRAPHIC 

CHARACTERISTICS

Coresidence with children is a key 

component of men’s fathering. 

About 36 million men live with 

about 80 million minor children 

(that is, children aged 0 to 17; see 

Figure 5). Of those, roughly 28 

million men live with 50.8 million biological or adopted minor 

children. About 4 million men live 

with 5.6 million stepchildren or 

other children of a spouse or partner for whom he is not reported 

as a stepfather.26 And about 13 

million men live with about 23 million other children aged 0 to 17, 

including grandchildren, nieces 

26 The SIPP automatically shows married 

men as stepfathers to their spouse’s minor 

children. However, whether cohabiting men 

are reported as stepfathers is at the discretion of the respondent. Please see text box, 

“Measurement of Fatherhood in the SIPP.”

Figure 4.

Fertility Intervals by Fatherhood Trajectories 

(Men With Two or More Children)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, 

Wave 1.

.

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 

Median interval

between births

Median interval between

first and last births

All fathers

Men who become fathers 

before age 25

Men who have children with 

more than one woman

Men who become fathers 

after age 35

1.9

2.3 6.5

3.0 10.1

1.3

Years

2.4

4.6

Figure 5.

Men Aged 15 and Over and the Minor Children With Whom 

They Live by Parental Relationship1

1 Men can appear in more than one father/child relationship (e.g., some men live with 

 both biological children and spouse/partner's children).

2 A minor refers to a child under 18 years old.

3 Spouse/partner's child refers to a man's spouse or partner's child who is not 

 his biological or adopted child.

4 Other minors refers to children under 18 who do not indicate either the man or 

 his spouse/partner as a parent (such as grandchildren and minor siblings).

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, 

Wave 1.

(Numbers in thousands)

3,978

27,873

35,611

79,693

5,608

13,272

23,249

50,836

Number of men Number of children

Men who live with

 other minor children4

Men who live with spouse/

partner's minor child3

Men who live with biological

 or adopted children

Men who live with

minor children2

Figure 5.

About 36 Million Men Live With at Least One Child 
U.S. Census Bureau 9

or nephews, minor siblings, foster 

children, and others.27 

Even within these groups, there 

is significant variation depending 

on the relationships between men 

and the children with whom they 

live. For example, about 82 percent 

of the men who live with minor 

children are reported as either a 

father or stepfather to at least one 

of those children (see Table 5). 

All men who live with their own 

biological or adopted children are 

shown as a father to those children 

in the SIPP, while about 81 percent 

of men who live with a partner’s 

minor child are identified as fathers 

to at least one child with whom 

they live.28, 29 Only about 15 percent of men who live with “other” 

children, meaning minor children 

for whom neither the man nor his 

partner have been identified as a 

parent, are also living with children who identify him as father.30

This means that men who live with 

nieces or nephews or grandchildren generally do so without their 

own or their partner’s minor children present.

The racial distribution of men who 

live with children does not vary 

much by the type of relationship 

27 Readers should note that these categories are not mutually exclusive; a man can 

live with his own biological child, a spouse’s 

or partner’s child, and an other child 

simultaneously. 28 Living with a partner’s child does not 

exclude the possibility that the man may also 

live with his biological or adopted child. 29 Please see text box, “Measurement 

of Fatherhood in the SIPP,” for a detailed 

description of how coresident fathers are 

identified and shown in the SIPP and discussed in this report. 30 Other children includes any child who 

does not indicate either the man or his 

spouse/partner as a parent. However, we 

exclude from this table men who live in their 

own parents’ home and for whom all “other” 

children are the man’s minor siblings.

or age of children with whom they 

live. About 80 percent of men who 

live with their own children and 

79 percent of men who live with 

their partner’s children are White 

(see Table 5). Black men, however, make up a larger percentage 

of men who live with a partner’s 

minor children (16.4 percent), 

relative to the percentage of men 

who live with their own minor 

children (9.9 percent). Notably, a 

higher percentage of men who live 

with other children are of Hispanic 

origin than is true of men who live 

with either their own or their partner’s children. In addition, a higher 

percentage of men who live with a 

partner’s children are native-born 

compared to men who live with 

either their own or other children.

Generally speaking, men who live 

with their own child have higher 

levels of education than do men 

who live with either a partner’s 

child or other children. Among 

men who live with a partner’s children, 39.6 percent are high school 

graduates without college education. In contrast, 26.0 percent of 

men who live with their own minor 

children have only a high school 

degree. Men with bachelor’s and 

graduate degrees constitute a 

higher percentage of the men who 

live with their own children than is 

true for men who live with either 

a partner’s child or other children; 

more than a third of men who live 

with biological or adopted children 

have at least a bachelor’s degree, 

compared to 14.6 percent of men 

who live with a partner’s children, 

MEASUREMENT OF FATHERHOOD IN THE SIPP

All respondents in the SIPP, regardless of age, are asked whether 

they live with a parent. If the respondent says “yes,” the respondent 

is then asked to identify their relationship—biological, step, or 

adoptive—to that parent. Respondents who identify one parent are 

then asked whether they also live with a second parent, and if so, to 

identify that relationship type.

In this report, we label men’s biological and adopted children as 

their “own children” while stepchildren and other partner’s children 

who do not identify him as father are labeled as “partner’s children.” 

Children who do not report either the man or his spouse/partner 

as parent are referred to as “other” children, and include grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and other related and unrelated children.

Due to data constraints, some other Census Bureau publications 

define “own children” as only the unmarried, minor children of 

the householder. Because the SIPP collects much more nuanced 

information about parent/child relationships than other surveys, we 

are able to show more detail about the relationships between both 

parents and their children. However, it is important to acknowledge 

that these definitions diverge from those used in most other Census 

Bureau publications.
10 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 5. Demographic Characteristics of Men Who Live With Minor Children (Children Aged 17 and Under)(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

Age and type of children

All minor children His children1,2 Spouse or partner’s children1,3 Other children1,4

Total 

men

Percent Percent Percent Percent

0–17 0–5 6–11 12–17 0–17 0–5 6–11 12–17 0–17 0–5 6–11 12–17 0–17 0–5 6–11 12–17

Men who live with minor children. . . . 35,611 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Men who are identified as father 

 or stepfather to children in  household. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,006 81.5 80.7 83.3 82.8 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 81.4 71.1 80.8 82.7 14.9 16.2 11.3 14.6

RACEWhite alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,834 78.2 76.8 78.7 77.5 79.7 78.2 79.9 80.1 78.8 73.0 80.2 79.0 70.3 70.8 72.0 65.8 White alone, Non-Hispanic . . . . . . . 20,039 56.3 51.4 54.2 56.0 59.2 55.8 57.0 60.0 58.9 57.7 59.1 59.0 37.9 33.4 37.4 37.0Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,083 11.5 11.6 11.0 12.8 9.9 10.3 9.9 10.2 16.4 21.2 15.3 16.0 17.2 16.0 13.8 21.0Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,363 6.6 7.3 6.5 5.7 7.1 7.8 7.2 6.5 1.0 1.2 1.1 0.9 6.0 6.3 6.7 5.5All other races, race combinations. . . 1,331 3.7 4.2 3.8 4.0 3.3 3.7 3.1 3.2 3.8 4.7 3.4 4.1 6.5 6.9 7.6 7.7

HISPANIC ORIGINHispanic (of any race). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,526 23.9 27.9 26.6 23.6 22.2 24.6 24.6 21.6 22.1 18.1 23.4 21.7 36.2 41.2 37.6 33.5Non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,085 76.1 72.1 73.4 76.4 77.8 75.4 75.4 78.4 77.9 81.9 76.6 78.3 63.8 58.8 62.4 66.5NATIVITYNative-born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,310 73.9 71.0 72.5 73.9 73.0 71.2 71.7 71.3 83.8 86.0 84.9 83.2 71.4 67.7 68.1 77.1Foreign-born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,300 26.1 29.0 27.5 26.1 27.0 28.8 28.3 28.7 16.2 14.0 15.1 16.8 28.6 32.3 31.9 22.9EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTNot a high school graduate . . . . . . . . . 5,998 16.8 18.0 18.3 19.3 13.0 12.8 13.8 15.6 16.2 21.0 18.7 13.6 35.8 37.3 40.5 38.6High school graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,029 28.2 28.5 27.0 28.5 26.0 26.2 24.6 25.8 39.6 40.1 40.4 39.5 34.3 35.5 31.2 32.6Some college, no degree . . . . . . . . . . . 6,098 17.1 17.4 18.2 16.0 17.5 18.2 17.7 15.7 22.0 21.6 25.4 20.3 15.8 14.4 16.0 15.5Associate’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,775 7.8 7.7 8.0 7.5 8.2 8.2 8.7 8.1 7.6 8.7 6.5 7.4 5.2 5.2 5.0 4.9Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,486 18.2 17.7 16.7 17.0 21.1 21.3 20.3 20.1 9.8 6.4 5.6 13.2 6.2 5.0 5.6 5.7Graduate or professional degree . . . . 4,225 11.9 10.8 11.8 11.8 14.2 13.2 14.9 14.8 4.8 2.2 3.5 6.0 2.8 2.4 1.7 2.7MARITAL STATUSEver married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,464 82.7 78.1 83.6 85.6 90.2 85.6 92.6 95.6 76.7 57.9 73.2 83.1 54.2 54.0 49.6 48.8 Married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,428 74.2 72.3 74.9 75.6 83.4 81.7 85.9 87.0 62.5 45.7 54.8 67.7 41.3 42.2 37.7 36.1 Divorced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,239 6.3 4.1 6.3 7.4 5.3 2.9 5.2 6.8 11.2 10.1 13.7 12.2 7.5 7.3 6.8 6.3 Widowed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 0.9 0.5 0.8 1.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.6 1.2 1.4 1.8 1.3 3.2 2.1 3.2 4.3 Separated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 1.4 1.2 1.5 1.4 1.2 0.9 1.3 1.1 1.9 0.7 2.9 1.9 2.2 2.4 1.8 2.1Never married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,147 17.3 21.9 16.4 14.4 9.8 14.4 7.4 4.4 23.3 42.1 26.8 16.9 45.8 46.0 50.4 51.2LABOR FORCE STATUSIn labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,246 87.7 88.0 88.2 86.7 93.2 93.1 94.3 93.1 90.2 87.1 89.8 90.5 64.8 69.5 60.0 58.5Employed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,545 83.0 83.0 83.5 81.7 89.3 88.9 90.5 89.1 84.2 77.3 83.1 85.7 56.7 61.8 52.6 49.5Unemployed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,701 4.8 5.0 4.7 5.0 3.9 4.2 3.8 4.0 6.0 9.8 6.7 4.8 8.0 7.8 7.4 9.1

Not in labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,364 12.3 12.0 11.8 13.3 6.8 6.9 5.7 6.9 9.8 12.9 10.2 9.5 35.2 30.5 40.0 41.5Number of men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,611 35,611 17,060 16,971 16,304 27,873 13,170 12,723 11,650 3,978 608 1,835 2,265 6,886 3,728 2,789 2,753 

1 “His,” “Spouse/Partner’s,” and “Other” children are not mutually exclusive categories; a man may be included in more than one of these categories depending on the children with whom he lives.2 “His” children include both biological children and adopted children.3 “Spouse/Partner’s” children include both children identified as the respondent’s stepchildren and any spouse/partner’s children who are not identified as his stepchildren.4 “Other” children are children who do not indicate either the respondent or his spouse/partner as a parent. Excluded from this calculation are men aged 15 and over who live in their parents’ home 

and for whom all “other” children are the man’s minor siblings, as well as men who are themselves minors and who are younger than all other minors with whom they live.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
U.S. Census Bureau 11

and 8.9 percent of men who live 

with other children.31

Marital status is also highly correlated with men’s living arrangements with children, and the 

results shown here suggest that 

the connection between marital 

status and men’s living arrangements is more complex depending 

on the age of, and relationship to, 

the child or children. For example, 

the majority of men who live with 

their own children are married 

at the time of the survey (83.4 

percent). 

Similarly, the majority of men who 

live with a partner’s child over age 

5 are married (54.8 percent if the 

partner’s children are aged 6 to 

11, and 67.7 percent if the partner’s children are aged 12 to 17). 

However, 42.1 percent of men who 

live with a partner’s child aged 

0 to 5 are never married. About 

half of men who live with an other 

child aged 12 to 17 are never married (51.2 percent). 

Men’s living arrangements with 

regard to children are also associated with different employment profiles. Men who live with 

their own or a partner’s children 

aged 0 to 17 are more likely to be 

employed than are men who live 

with similarly aged other children. 

Notably, roughly 35 percent of 

men who live with other children 

aged 0 to 17 are not in the labor 

force, likely a reflection of the 

number of grandfathers living with 

minor grandchildren.32 

31 These percentages are sums of the 

percent in each category with a bachelor’s 

degree and the percent with a graduate 

degree; these sums may differ slightly from 

the percents shown in the table due to 

rounding. 32 One-third of the men who live with 

other children report that they are living 

with a grandchild.

FATHER INVOLVEMENT AND 

CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING

Men’s fathering and fatherhood 

behaviors extend beyond simple 

coresidence with children. The 

SIPP includes several measures 

intended to capture various 

aspects of men’s parental involvement. Readers should note, however, that these measures are by 

no means inclusive of all fathering 

behaviors. 

We include in our analysis a series 

of traditional measures of parental 

involvement, including dinners 

with children aged 0 to 17 and 

outings with young children.33, 34

Although the SIPP includes an 

array of economic measures, we 

do not include financial measures 

such as rental or mortgage payments as those are more difficult 

to isolate as fathering behaviors.35

However, we do include assorted 

measures of children’s academic 

performance and extracurricular involvement for school-aged 

children (aged 6 to 17). We look at 

these measures in the interest of 

examining the role of the relationship between children and their 

fathers, stepfathers, or coresident 

father figures in explaining children’s well-being. Other research 

has found that children who live 

with a biological father are more 

likely to graduate from high 

school, have higher life satisfaction, and have healthier eating 

33A. J. Hammons and B. H. Fiese, “Is 

frequency of shared family meals related 

to the nutritional health of children and 

adolescents?,”Pediatrics, 2011. 34 J. Fagan, “Head Start fathers’ daily 

hassles and involvement with their children,” Journal of Family Issues, 21(3), 2000, 

329–346. 35 We also do not include child care 

measures, as those measures were designed 

to measure women’s availability for employment, and are discussed in other Census 

Bureau products (see L. Laughlin, “Who’s 

Minding the Kids? Childcare Arrangements: 

Spring 2011.” Current Population Reports, 

U.S. Census Bureau, 2013.)

habits compared to children 

who live with a stepfather or in a 

single-mother family. 36, 37, 38, 39

Table 6 looks at various measures 

of fathering for men and their own 

children (biological or adopted) 

aged 0 to 17, as well as for men’s 

and their partner’s biological and 

adopted children aged 0 to 17 

(both children who are identified 

as his stepchildren and those who 

are not). The sample is limited 

to men who live with at least 

one minor child for whom he or 

his spouse or partner has been 

identified as a parent. The first 

column of Table 6 includes all of 

these men. The second column 

includes only men who live with 

their own biological or adopted 

children, but not any stepchildren 

or other children for whom only 

their spouse or partner has been 

identified as a parent.40 The third 

column includes men who do not 

live with any of their own biological or adopted children, but do 

36 S. McLanahan, L. Tach, and D. 

Schneider, “The causal effects of father 

absence,” Annual review of sociology, 39, 

2013, 399–427. 37 T. Bjarnason, P. Bendtsen, A. 

M. Arnarsson, I. Borup, R. J. Iannotti, 

P. Löfstedt, and B. Niclasen, “Life satisfaction among children in different family 

structures: a comparative study of 36 western societies,” Children & Society, 2012, 

26(1), 51–62. 38 S.D. Stewart and C.L. Menning, “Family 

structure, nonresident father involvement, 

and adolescent eating patterns,” Journal of 

Adolescent Health, 2009, 45(2), 193–201. 39 Please see text box, “Measurement 

of Fatherhood in the SIPP.” The fact that 

the SIPP allows for the identification of 

two parents for children even when those 

parents are not married, and allows respondent’s to define parent/child relationships 

that are outside of biological/adoptive 

relationships or stepfamilies formed by 

marriage, means that these measures are 

much more nuanced than those found using 

most other datasets. For example, many 

of the children identified as living with an 

unmarried parent and stepfather in the SIPP 

would likely be considered a single-parent 

family in much of the literature. 40 This includes men living in families in 

which their spouse or partner is the other 

parent of their children as well as men living 

with children of a prior relationship, either 

with or without a spouse or partner present. 
12 U.S. Census Bureau Table 6. Father Involvement and the Well-Being of Minor Children (Children Aged 17 and Under) (Numbers in thousands) Characteristic Age of child and type of relationship with coresident children Men who live with their own or spouse/partner’s children Men who live with only their own biological or adopted children3 Men who live with only spouse/partner’s children4 Men who live with their biological/adopted children and spouse/partner’s children 0–171 0–52 6–112 12–172 0–171 0–52 6–112 12–172 0–171 0–52 6–112 12–172 0–171 0–52 6–112 12–172 ALL MEN Number of men. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29,720 13,523 14,275 13,614 25,742 11,787 11,872 11,229 1,847 312 776 1,114 2,131 1,424 1,627 1,271 Percent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION (PERCENT) Men living with a spouse or partner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93.8 96.9 94.0 92.9 93.0 96.5 92.9 91.5 99.8 100.0 99.4 100.0 99.1 99.8 98.9 99.0  At least one child shared with spouse or partner. . 84.6 92.4 85.4 80.6 90.7 94.9 91.4 88.8 X X X X 84.0 92.3 82.7 78.7 Lives with biological child(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . 92.1 97.0 92.9 89.9 98.1 99.2 98.0 97.8 X X X X 99.5 99.5 99.8 99.2 Lives with adopted child(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . . 2.5 1.7 3.0 3.2 2.8 1.8 3.4 3.6 X X X X 1.6 1.7 1.6 2.6 Lives with stepchild(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 9.2 12.0 13.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 Z 59.9 43.8 54.7 64.9 79.1 76.5 78.2 82.9 Lives with foster child(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 Z 0.6 0.4 Z Z Z Z Lives with sibling(s) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.5 0.1 Z 0.3 0.5 0.1 Z Z Z Z Z 0.5 0.7 0.2 Z Lives with niece(s)/nephew(s) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . 0.8 0.8 1.1 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.1 0.7 0.6 0.5 1.1 0.1 0.8 0.8 1.0 0.7 Lives with grandchild(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 0.2 0.7 1.7 1.0 0.2 0.8 1.9 1.1 Z 1.5 0.9 0.1 Z 0.1 0.1 Lives with other relative child(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . 1.1 1.4 0.7 0.7 0.9 1.4 0.6 0.5 2.8 2.2 1.3 3.7 1.6 1.7 1.4 0.7 Lives with nonrelative child(ren) aged 0 to 17. . . . . . . 4.5 4.6 5.2 4.7 0.7 0.9 0.4 0.5 38.1 55.3 44.9 32.1 21.4 24.0 22.0 17.5 FATHER INVOLVEMENT (PERCENT) Father/stepfather dinner with children 0 to 17 Eats dinner with children 5 to 7 nights/week. . . . . . . 74.0 77.7 74.8 70.9 75.3 78.4 76.3 72.2 56.5 63.0 55.7 54.7 74.4 75.2 73.1 73.6 Eats dinner with children 3 to 4 nights/week. . . . . . . 13.6 10.8 13.7 16.2 13.7 10.7 14.0 16.7 13.6 12.2 10.6 15.3 12.3 11.1 13.7 12.7 Eats dinner with children 1 to 2 nights/week. . . . . . . 7.8 6.7 8.1 8.5 7.4 6.6 7.6 8.1 11.2 6.0 12.9 12.0 8.6 7.7 9.4 9.2 Never eats dinner with children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 2.9 3.4 4.4 2.6 2.1 2.2 3.0 18.8 18.8 20.9 18.0 4.7 6.0 3.9 4.5 No data available5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.9 1.9 X X 1.0 2.2 X X Z Z X X Z Z X X Father/stepfather outings with children under age 6 3 or more outings/week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 42.9 X X X 43.2 X X X 43.5 X X X 39.7 X X 1 to 2 outings/week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 47.3 X X X 47.8 X X X 37.2 X X X 45.5 X X No outings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 7.2 X X X 6.4 X X X 19.4 X X X 11.8 X X No data available6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 2.6 X X X 2.6 X X X Z X X X 3.0 X X CHILDREN’S SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT (PERCENT) Any child (aged 6 to 17) ever repeated a grade. . . . . X X 8.3 11.3 X X 7.0 10.3 X X 13.5 15.5 X X 15.7 16.5 Any child (aged 6 to 17) ever expelled from school. X X 5.1 9.1 X X 4.1 7.5 X X 6.2 14.2 X X 12.3 18.1 Any child (aged 6 to 17) ever in gifted classes. . . . . . X X 27.6 39.1 X X 27.9 40.1 X X 20.3 32.3 X X 28.6 35.9 Any child (aged 6 to 17) participates in sports. . . . . . X X 52.4 58.4 X X 53.4 59.6 X X 47.2 49.5 X X 48.1 55.8 Any child (aged 6 to 17) takes lessons outside of school. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X 42.2 40.1 X X 44.2 41.7 X X 37.7 36.2 X X 29.7 29.1 Any child (aged 6 to 17) participates in school clubs X X 34.5 36.9 X X 34.4 37.4 X X 37.0 35.4 X X 33.7 33.3 X Not applicable. Z Estimate rounds to zero. 1 The men included in this column reflect the total number of fathers of children aged 0 to 17 in this category. 2 Some men have children of varying ages and may be represented in more than one of these columns indicating child age. 3 “Own” children include both biological children and adopted children. 4 “Spouse/partner” children include both children identified as the respondent’s stepchildren and children who are not formally identified as his stepchildren.

5 Men for whom a newborn is the only child in the home at the time of interview are not included in these father involvement questions due to data restrictions.6 Men for whom a newborn is the only child under age 6 in the home at the time of interview are not included in these father involvement questions due to data restrictions.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
U.S. Census Bureau 13

live with children of their spouse 

or partner; some of these men are 

identified as stepfathers to these 

children, while some are not (see 

“Measurement of Fatherhood 

in the SIPP”). The final column 

includes men who live in blended 

families with both their own children as well as children of their 

spouse or partner. 

There are several predominant 

family types that appear in these 

data. For example, more than 90 

percent of the men shown in Table 

6 live with biological children 

and 9.5 percent live with stepchildren. However, men’s families 

are not homogenous. About 1 

percent of men living with their 

own or spouse/partner’s children 

also live with grandchildren, and 

about another 1 percent also live 

with other related children under 

age 18, including minor siblings, 

nieces or nephews, and other 

relatives. Additionally, 4.5 percent 

live with children to whom they 

are not related.41 These statistics 

highlight the diversity of family 

living arrangements in the United 

States.

The majority of men who live 

with only their own children live 

with biological children, although 

about 3 percent of men live with 

adopted children. Most of the 

men shown in these groups are 

either married or partnered and 

most of the time their partner 

is also identified as the child’s 

biological or adoptive parent; 

between 88.8 and 94.9 percent of 

the fathers living only with their 

own children share at least one of 

41 The SIPP captures a wide variety of 

relationship categories, including parents, 

children, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins, 

nieces/nephews, in-laws, grandparents and 

grandchildren, and other relatives. Anyone 

not included in these relative categories, 

such as roommates and other nonrelatives, 

are shown to be “nonrelatives.”

those children with their spouse or 

partner.

Almost all of the men living with 

only a spouse or partner’s children 

are also living with a spouse or 

partner.42 In the majority (59.9 percent) of these households featuring partners’ children but not the 

man’s own children, the children 

aged 0 to 17 indicate the man in 

question as a stepfather. However, 

for 38.1 percent of men living with 

a spouse or partner’s children, 

those children are indicated as a 

“nonrelative” to him.

Other research has found that 

parents eating dinner with their 

children is associated with a range 

of benefits for children, including expanded vocabulary, fewer 

behavior problems, and lower 

42 Only 0.2 percent of men are living 

with a stepchild without a spouse or partner 

present.

likelihood of substance abuse 

among teenagers. 43, 44, 45 About 

three-quarters of men who live 

with only their own children and 

no stepchildren or other children 

of their partner eat dinner with 

their children between five and 

seven nights per week, regardless 

of the age of the children. Men 

who live with only their spouse 

or partner’s children (some, but 

not all, of whom are identified as 

stepfather to those children; see 

Table 5) are significantly less likely 

to eat dinner with those children 

43 C. E. Snow and D. E. Beals, “Mealtime 

talk that supports literacy development,” 

New Directions for Child and Adolescent 

Development, 2006, 51–66. 44 S. L. Hofferth and J. F. Sandberg, 

“How American Children Spend Their 

Time,” Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001, 

63: 295–308. 45 National Center for Addiction and 

Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 

The Importance of Family Dinners IV, 2007. 

Report downloaded September 25, 2018, 

from <www.casacolumbia.org/download

/file/fid/963>.

NOTE ABOUT MEASUREMENT OF FATHER INVOLVEMENT

If a child identifies only one person in the household as a parent, 

but that parent is married, then the SIPP editing process assigns 

the parent’s spouse as stepparent to the child. However, unmarried parent partners are not automatically assigned as stepparents. 

Instead, unmarried partners are only indicated as stepparents when 

the respondent identifies them as such. This has implications for the 

father involvement questions. When a father has been indicated, the 

father involvement questions use that father’s or stepfather’s name, 

asking, “How often does <name of father or stepfather> eat dinner 

with <names of children>?” When a coresident partner has not been 

indicated as a child’s father, the same questions will use a generic 

phrase (“their father or stepfather”), asking, “How often does their 

father or stepfather eat dinner with <names of children>?” 

Columns 2, 4, and 5 of Table 8 include some unmarried men not 

specifically indicated as stepfathers to their partner’s children. 

These are a minority of the cases included, and parallel versions of 

this analysis with these men excluded show similar patterns to those 

shown here. However, it is important to acknowledge the possibility that in some of these cases, the mother’s responses about her 

children’s contact with “their father or stepfather” did not reference 

the men who are the focus of this analysis.
14 U.S. Census Bureau

between five and seven nights 

per week, regardless of the age of 

those children (see Table 6).46 In 

fact, between 18 and 21 percent 

of such fathers are reported to 

never eat dinner with their spouse 

or partner’s children, depending on child age, although it is 

important to acknowledge that 

we cannot be sure that these 

responses are in reference to the 

father in the household in all cases 

(see “Note About Measurement of 

Father Involvement”).

The final series of estimates in 

Table 6 are those for men living in 

blended families, meaning households containing both a man’s own 

biological or adopted children 

as well as a partner’s or spouse’s 

children who are not shared with 

the man in question. Among such 

men, 84 percent have at least one 

child in common with their spouse 

or partner. Additionally, these men 

are more likely to be indicated as 

stepfathers than is true for the 

group who live with only a spouse 

or partner’s children (79.1 percent 

versus 59.9 percent). 

About three-quarters of men living in blended family households 

eat dinner with the minor children 

in the household between five and 

seven nights per week, regardless 

of child age. 

Outings with children are also 

associated with positive child 

development and are seen 

as an indicator of parental 

46 Parental engagement questions in 

SIPP measure how many days a week the 

parent engages in the activity with any 

of his or her minor children. Therefore, in 

households with more than one child, we 

are unable to pinpoint whether the parent ate dinner with all or just some of the 

children.

involvement.47 The SIPP asks parents of children aged 0 to 5 about 

how often each week each parent 

(or stepparent) takes those children on outings, such as trips to a 

park, a library, a store, or a family 

gathering. Although the number 

of fathers living with children aged 

0 to 5 varies widely (roughly 12 

million fathers live with their own 

biological or adopted children 

aged 0 to 5, while only about 

300,000 men live with a spouse 

or partner’s children aged 0 to 5, 

and roughly 1.4 million men live 

in blended families featuring a 

child aged 0 to 5), the prevalence 

of outings is very consistent over 

the different family types. Around 

40 percent of men in all family 

types take young children on outings at least three times a week.48

However, men living with only a 

spouse or partner’s children are 

more likely to report no outings 

than are men living with only their 

own children.

Children’s school engagement is 

often used as an indicator of how 

well the child is doing. Children 

who have repeated a grade or 

have experienced an expulsion are more likely to drop out 

of high school and less likely to 

47 See, for example, discussion in L. H. 

Lippman, K.A. Moore, and H. McIntosh, 

“Positive indicators of child well-being: 

A conceptual framework, measures, and 

methodological issues,” Applied Research 

in Quality of Life, 2011, 6(4): 425–449. 48 The percentage of men living with 

only their own biological or adopted children who take their children aged 0–5 on 

outings at least three times per week (43.5 

percent) is statistically different from 40 

percent. However, the estimates for men living with only a spouse or partner’s children, 

as well as men living in blended families, are 

not significantly different from 40 percent.

enroll in college.49, 50 In contrast, 

children who take gifted classes 

experience positive academic 

outcomes that extend to their 

college outcomes.51 And other 

research indicates that children 

who participate in extracurricular 

activities have higher grades and 

self-esteem.52, 53

Among men living with older 

children (children aged 12 to 17), 

men who live with their own biological or adopted children only 

are less likely to report that the 

child had ever repeated a grade, 

and this is true in comparison to 

both blended families and families 

with only the spouse or partner’s 

children. Roughly 15.5 percent 

of such men living with only their 

spouse or partner’s children and 

16.5 percent for men living in 

blended families report grade 

repetition, as compared to 10.3 

percent for men living with only 

their own biological or adopted 

49 T. Fabelo, M. D. Thompson, M. Plotkin, 

D. Carmichael, M. P. Marchbanks, and E. A. 

Booth, Breaking schools’ rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates 

to students’ success and juvenile justice 

involvement, New York: Council of State 

Governments Justice Center, 2011. 50 S. R. Jimerson, “On the failure of 

failure: Examining the association between 

early grade retention and education and 

employment outcomes during late adolescence,” Journal of School Psychology, 1999, 

37(3), 243–272. 51 A. Booij, F. Haan, and E. Plug, 

Enriching students pays off: Evidence from 

an individualized gifted and talented program in secondary education, Institute for 

the Study of Labor (IZA) Discussion Paper 

No. 9757, 2016. 52 N. Darling, “Participation in extracurricular activities and adolescent adjustment: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings,” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 

2005, 34(5), 493–505. . 53 J. A. Fredricks and J. S. Eccles, 

“Participation in extracurricular activities in 

the middle school years: Are there developmental benefits for African American 

and European American youth?,” Journal 

of Youth and Adolescence, 2008, 37(9), 

1029–1043. .
U.S. Census Bureau 15

children; see Table 6.54 Reports of 

grade repetition among children 

aged 6 to 11 are more prevalent 

for men living in blended families 

than for men who live with only 

their own children. For children 

aged 6 to 11, the percentage of 

children who are or have been 

in a gifted class is higher among 

men living with biological or 

adopted children, either alone or 

in blended families, compared to 

men living only with a partner’s 

children. Among children aged 12 

to 17, men living with their own 

children are more likely than men 

living with a spouse or partner’s 

children to report that that child is 

or has been in gifted classes.

Participation in sports and lessons 

outside of school varies significantly across family types. Men 

living with only their own biological or adopted children aged 

6–11 are more likely to report 

that those children participate 

in sports than are men living in 

blended families (53.4 percent 

versus 48.1 percent). Men living 

with only their own children are 

also more likely than men living in 

blended families to report participation in lessons outside of school 

for each age group. Interestingly, 

however, men who live with only 

a spouse or partner’s children are 

more likely to report that the child 

participates in lessons outside 

of school than are men living in 

blended families for children aged 

6 to 11.

54 The estimates for men living with a 

spouse or partner’s child and men living in 

blended families are not statistically different from each other. Also not significant is 

the difference in estimates between men 

living with any children aged 12 to 17 (11.3 

percent) and men living with only their own 

children aged 12 to 17 (10.3 percent).

EMPLOYMENT AND 

OCCUPATION OF FATHERS BY 

AGE OF CHILD

Other research has found that age 

of children and overall fertility are 

two of the strongest predictors 

of women’s labor force participation.55 However, less attention 

has been paid to the intersection of men’s fertility and their 

employment. In Figure 6, we show 

employment levels for women 

and men aged 30 to 50 by age of 

55 See, for example: S. Bauernschuster 

and M. Schlotter, “Public child care and 

mothers’ labor supply—Evidence from 

two quasi-experiments,” Journal of Public 

Economics, 2016, 123: 1–16; D. Del Boca, 

“Child Care Arrangements and Labor 

Supply,” IDB Working Paper Series, No. 

IDB-WP-569, Inter-American Development 

Bank (IDB), Washington, DC, 2015: 

Downloaded September 15, 2018, from 

<www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419 

/115499/1/IDB-WP-569.pdf>; and J. Gornick 

and M. Meyers, Families that work: Policies 

for reconciling parenthood and employment, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 

2003.

youngest child.56 We use this age 

range because it is the life stage 

with the highest likelihood of work 

for adults (postschool and preretirement) and because it is the age 

during which adults are most likely 

to have minor children.57

Fathers aged 30 to 50 are more 

likely to be employed than mothers aged 30 to 50, regardless 

of the age of their youngest 

child, but there is no difference 

in employment between childless men and women aged 30 to 

50. This likely reflects the different responsibilities that mothers and fathers often choose 

with regard to childcare. For 

56 Note that we are not differentiating 

part-time versus full-time work, but simply 

indicating whether they are working or not. 57 See, for example, Bureau of Labor 

Statistics Table 3: Employment status of 

the civilian noninstitutional population 

by age, sex, and race. Table downloaded 

September 20, 2018, from <www.bls.gov

/cps/cpsaat03.pdf>. 

Figure 6.

Percent Employed for Men and Women Aged 30 to 50 

by Age of Youngest Child

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 

2014 Panel, Wave 1.

81.0

71.6 70.5

80.9 80.6

88.8 89.1

63.6

Men Women

Youngest child Childless

at least 

18 years old

Youngest child

 6–17 years old

Youngest child

under 6 years old

Figure 6.

Fathers Are More Likely to be Employed Than Mothers, 

Regardless of Age of Youngest Child

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 

2014 Panel, Wave 1. 

.

Percent of employment by age of children and parent sex, 

adults 30 to 50 years old

81.0

70.5 71.6

80.9 80.6

88.8 89.1

63.6

Men Women

Youngest child Childless

at least 18 years old

Youngest child

 6–17 years old

Youngest child

under 6 years old
16 U.S. Census Bureau

example, the employment gap is 

most pronounced among fathers 

and mothers of young children: 

nearly 90 percent of men whose 

youngest child is under age 6 are 

employed, compared to slightly 

more than 60 percent for women. 

From birth to kindergarten, young 

children require around-the-clock 

care, leading many new mothers 

to exit the labor force.58 Women’s 

employment then rises when their 

58 Leaving the workforce after a birth 

appears to be most common among two 

groups of women: those whose earnings 

are so low they do not have the childcare 

resources to work and those whose family 

resources allow them to forgo personal 

earnings. For a more detailed discussion, see: J. Cheeseman and B Downs, 

“Opting-Out: An Exploration of Labor Force 

Participation of New Mothers,” Census 

Working Paper, 2009, <www.census.gov

/library/working-papers/2009/demo/day

-01.html>.

youngest child is school age, while 

the percentage of men employed 

is not different between fathers 

whose youngest child is under age 

6 and men whose youngest child 

is aged 6 to 11.

Among parents of adult children 

(that is, children 18 years old and 

over), the gender gap in employment narrows, mostly because 

employment among fathers of 

adult children is lower relative to 

fathers with minor children. About 

81 percent of fathers of adult children are employed, compared to 

about 71 percent of mothers with 

adult children.

Table 7 provides additional details 

about labor force participation 

among all adult men and fathers, 

depending on the age of their 

youngest child. In this table, we 

use all working-aged men—that 

is, men aged 16 to 64.59 We distinguish between men who are 

unemployed—those who are not 

working but are actively looking for work—and men who are 

not in the labor force—those who 

are neither working nor seeking employment. Unemployment 

is highest among childless men 

(6.7 percent) and lowest among 

fathers whose youngest child is 

18 years and over (3.3 percent). 

About 30 percent of childless 

men are not in the labor force, 

59 See the “not in labor force” column 

in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Table 3: 

Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age, sex, and race. 

Table downloaded September 20, 2018, 

from <www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.pdf>.

Table 7. 

Employment and Occupation of Men Aged 16 to 64 by Age of Youngest Child1

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

 All men aged 

16–64 

 All fathers of 

biological 

children2

 Fathers 

whose 

youngest 

child is under 

age 63 

 Fathers 

whose 

youngest 

child is age 

6–173 

 Fathers 

whose 

youngest 

child is 18 or 

older3 

 Childless 

men4 

 Total 

 Percent Total  Percent Total  Percent Total  Percent Total  Percent Total  Percent 

  All men aged 16–64 . . . . . . . . 99,616 100.0 55,331 100.0 16,169 100.0 18,407 100.0 20,755 100.0 44,285 100.0

LABOR FORCE STATUS

In labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78,624 78.9 47,507 85.9 14,823 91.7 16,854 91.6 15,829 76.3 31,117 70.3

 Employed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73,332 73.6 45,195 81.7 13,967 86.4 16,088 87.4 15,141 72.9 28,137 63.5

  Management occupations. . . . 8,712 8.7 6,167 11.1 1,710 10.6 2,429 13.2 2,027 9.8 2,546 5.7

  Nonmanagement professional 

  occupations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,267 17.3 10,136 18.3 3,243 20.1 3,494 19.0 3,399 16.4 7,130 16.1

   STEM occupations. . . . . . . . . 8,689 8.7 5,354 9.7 1,772 11.0 1,896 10.3 1,687 8.1 3,335 7.5

  Service & sales occupations. . 21,568 21.7 11,411 20.6 3,868 23.9 3,961 21.5 3,582 17.3 10,157 22.9

  Production, transportation, & 

  moving occupations. . . . . . . . 12,833 12.9 8,519 15.4 2,270 14.0 2,964 16.1 3,285 15.8 4,315 9.7

  Natural resources, 

  construction, & maintenance 

  occupations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,012 12.1 8,397 15.2 2,575 15.9 3,092 16.8 2,729 13.1 3,615 8.2

  Military occupations. . . . . . . . . 661 0.7 458 0.8 273 1.7 127 0.7 59 0.3 203 0.5

  Other occupations5. . . . . . . . . . 279 0.3 108 0.2 28 0.2 20 0.1 60 0.3 171 0.4

 Unemployed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,292 5.3 2,312 4.2 857 5.3 766 4.2 689 3.3 2,980 6.7

Not in labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,992 21.1 7,824 14.1 1,346 8.3 1,553 8.4 4,926 23.7 13,168 29.7

1 For respondents with more than one job, occupation is coded for the primary job as determined by the respondent.

2 This column includes all biological fathers regardless of whether his children live with him.

3 These groupings differentiate fathers based on the ages of their biological children only, and uses those children’s ages regardless of 

whether those children live with the father.

4 Childless men are men who have never biologically fathered a child.

5 This group includes both those who work without pay in family businesses, and those who have worked for eight or more different 

employers during the reference year and for whom we cannot determine a primary occupation.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
U.S. Census Bureau 17

compared to 23.7 percent of 

fathers whose youngest child is 

at least 18 years old, and 8.4 and 

8.3 percent, respectively, for men 

whose youngest child is aged 6–17 

and men whose youngest child is 

under age 6.60, 61

There are relatively few substantive occupational differences for 

men depending on their children’s 

age, although there are occupational differences between fathers 

and childless men. For example, 

about 11 percent of fathers of 

young children are employed in 

management occupations, as 

are about 10 percent of fathers 

of adult children.62 Meanwhile, 

fathers of school age children 

are more likely to be in management occupations (13.2 percent). 

However, these differences likely 

reflect men’s ages and professional trajectories rather than an 

effect of children’s ages. That is, 

young men are the least likely to 

be in management because men 

usually progress into management 

positions over time rather than 

starting in management, and they 

are also most likely to have young 

children, but these trends are 

both related only to the man’s age 

and not to each other.63 Similarly, 

fathers of adult children are likely 

older, and therefore the fact that 

there are fewer older men in management is more likely a reflection of the higher percentage of 

60 Given the standard labor force age 

range of 16 to 64, it is likely that at least 

some of these childless men not in the labor 

force are young men still in school who 

have not yet aged into either employment 

or fatherhood. 61 The estimates for fathers whose 

youngest child is aged 6–17 (8.4 percent) 

and fathers whose youngest child is under 

age 6 (8.3 percent) are not statistically 

different. 62 These two estimates are not statistically different from each other. 63 P. M. Blau and O.D. Duncan, The 

American Occupational Structure, John 

Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1967.

older men who are retired (shown 

here among those not in the labor 

force). 

In contrast, childless men are less 

likely to be in management than 

are fathers, regardless of men’s 

children’s ages. Childless men are 

also less likely to be in STEM occupations than are fathers whose 

youngest child is under age 18.64 

COMPLETED FERTILITY

Completed fertility reflects the 

number of children that men 

have after their last child is born. 

Although men’s fertility is not 

time-limited in the same way as 

women’s fertility, recent data 

suggest that relatively few men 

have children after 40.65 Even as 

parental age at birth has been 

rising, the gap between maternal 

and paternal age has decreased, 

suggesting that men’s completed 

fertility can be examined in much 

the same way as women’s.66 Given 

this information, we present completed fertility for men aged 40 

to 50, and for subgroups of men 

aged 40 to 44 (paralleling standards for women’s estimates), and 

aged 45 to 50.67

64 STEM refers to Science, Technology, 

Engineering, and Mathematic academic 

disciplines. According to the Census Bureau 

occupation code list, there are 63 specific 

STEM occupations, 35 STEM-related occupations, and 437 non-STEM occupations 

(excluding military-specific occupations). 65 Y. S. Khandwala, C. A. Zhang, Y. Lu, 

and M. L. Eisenberg, “The age of fathers in 

the USA is rising: an analysis of 168,867,480 

births from 1972 to 2015,” Human 

Reproduction, 32(10), 2017, pp. 2110–2116. 

66 ibid. 67 Please note that estimates of fertility 

are available for men aged 15 and over; 

these data are not age restricted in the 

same way as women’s fertility estimates 

are in the June Fertility Supplement of 

the CPS (which is the primary source for 

the Census Bureau’s fertility estimates for 

women). However, we have elected to present estimates for parallel groups of men to 

maintain comparability, and also because 

including larger age brackets would risk 

confounding cohort change with contemporaneous fertility measures.

Among the 22.3 million men aged 

40 to 50, 17.2 percent had never 

been married and 24.0 percent 

were childless (see Table 8). There 

were 1,800 children ever born per 

1,000 men between the ages of 40 

and 50. The percentage childless 

was similar for men aged 40 to 

44 and men aged 45 to 50. These 

similarities reinforce the findings 

of others that few men are entering fatherhood after the age of 40.

There are some notable racial 

differences in men’s completed 

fertility. About 1 in 4 White men 

aged 40 to 50 are childless, compared to about 1 in 5 Black men. 

Additionally, 18.9 percent of Asian 

men and 30.8 percent of men of 

all other races are childless. The 

share of men aged 40 to 50 who 

have never married is highest 

among Black men (31.4 percent) 

and lowest among Asian men 

(9.2 percent). About 16 percent 

of White men in this age group 

have never married. There were 

1,749 children ever born per 1,000 

White men aged 40 to 50, compared to 2,105 children ever born 

per 1,000 Black men, and 1,778 

children ever born per 1,000 Asian 

men.68 

Childlessness in this post-fertility 

age group is higher among nonHispanic men (25.4 percent) 

than Hispanic men (17.0 percent). Native-born men are more 

likely to have never married nor 

fathered a child than foreign-born 

men. 

Educational attainment is associated with completed fertility in 

some unique ways. Men with a 

bachelor’s degree, for example, 

68 Readers interested in comparisons 

to women’s fertility should refer to the 

Fertility of Women in the United States 

Table package here: <www.census.gov

/topics/health/fertility/data/tables.html>.
18 U.S. Census Bureau

are more likely to be childless than 

are either men with less than a 

high school diploma or men with 

a graduate degree. The relationship between education and 

marriage, however, is more linear. 

For example, men with the lowest education (less than a high 

school degree) have the highest rates of being never married 

at 24.6 percent, while men with 

the most education (graduate or 

professional degrees) have the 

lowest at 8.2 percent.

Employed men in their 40s are 

much more likely than unemployed men and men not in the 

labor force to have ever married 

or fathered a child. Only 21.9 

percent of employed men aged 40 

to 50 are childless, compared to 

31.5 percent of unemployed men 

and 38.0 percent of men not in the 

labor force.69 And only 14.4 percent of employed men in their 40s 

have never been married, compared to 34.2 percent of unemployed men and 32.9 percent of 

men not in the labor force.70

69 The estimates of childlessness for 

unemployed men versus men not in the 

labor force are not statistically different 

from each other. 70 The percentage of unemployed men 

aged 40–50 who have never married is not 

significantly different from the percentage 

of men aged 40–50 not in the labor force 

who have never married.

Table 8. 

Completed Fertility for Men Aged 40 to 50 by Selected Characteristics

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

 Men 40–50 Men 40–44 Men 45–50 

Total 

Percent 

never 

married 

Percent 

childless 

Children 

ever 

born 

per 

1,000 

men Total 

Percent 

never 

married 

Percent 

childless 

Children 

ever 

born 

per 

1,000 

men Total 

Percent 

never 

married 

Percent 

childless 

Children 

ever 

born 

per 

1,000 

men 

    All men . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,267 17.2 24.0 1,800 10,000 19.0 23.8 1,766 12,268 15.7 24.1 1,828

RACE

White alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,615 15.5 24.8 1,749 7,821 17.1 24.5 1,720 9,794 14.3 25.0 1,771

 White alone, Non-Hispanic. . 14,105 15.3 26.8 1,627 6,030 16.8 27.6 1,560 8,076 14.1 26.2 1,677

Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,621 31.4 19.5 2,105 1,179 35.4 20.4 1,980 1,442 28.1 18.6 2,207

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,383 9.2 18.9 1,778 732 10.3 18.3 1,840 650 8.0 19.7 1,711

All other races, race 

combinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 20.7 30.8 2,008 268 25.1 31.8 1,947 382 17.6 30.0 2,045

HISPANIC ORIGIN

Hispanic (of any race). . . . . . . . 3,829 16.3 17.0 2,248 1,916 18.1 15.3 2,244 1,913 14.5 18.7 2,252

Non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,439 17.3 25.4 1,707 8,083 19.2 25.8 1,653 10,355 15.9 25.1 1,749

NATIVITY

Native-born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,214 18.8 26.5 1,702 7,546 20.4 26.1 1,669 9,669 17.5 26.8 1,727

Foreign-born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,053 11.6 15.5 2,133 2,454 14.5 16.7 2,062 2,599 8.9 14.4 2,201

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Not a high school graduate . . . 2,810 24.6 21.0 2,224 1,215 26.3 18.7 2,259 1,595 23.3 22.7 2,197

High school graduate. . . . . . . . 6,729 19.5 23.7 1,824 2,882 23.2 25.3 1,803 3,847 16.7 22.4 1,839

Some college, no degree . . . . . 3,563 16.1 26.9 1,682 1,672 17.9 24.3 1,666 1,891 14.5 29.2 1,696

Associate’s degree . . . . . . . . . . 2,010 15.9 25.3 1,624 906 14.8 22.9 1,635 1,104 16.8 27.3 1,615

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . 4,480 15.7 26.2 1,619 2,022 19.6 27.4 1,516 2,458 12.5 25.3 1,704

Graduate or professional 

degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,675 8.2 19.2 1,888 1,303 6.2 19.5 1,829 1,373 10.2 19.0 1,943

LABOR FORCE STATUS

In labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,053 15.4 22.4 1,835 9,153 17.1 22.5 1,795 10,900 14.0 22.3 1,868

 Employed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,019 14.4 21.9 1,839 8,690 15.9 21.9 1,796 10,328 13.1 22.0 1,875

 Unemployed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,035 34.2 31.5 1,752 463 38.2 35.1 1,774 572 31.0 28.6 1,734

Not in labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . 2,214 32.9 38.0 1,486 847 39.6 37.3 1,448 1,368 28.7 38.5 1,509

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.
U.S. Census Bureau 19

CONCLUSION

Although much work on fertility 

has focused on women, the 2014 

SIPP collects full fertility histories 

for both men and women, allowing us to add important information about fertility from the 

perspective of fathers. We also 

use the depth and breadth of the 

SIPP data to explore more than 

just biological fatherhood. In this 

report, we show the diversity of 

men’s fatherhood experiences, 

and examine the relationships 

between men and their partners’ 

children, and how those relationships are predictive of other information about men’s lives. These 

data add much needed depth and 

complexity to the overall discussion of fertility and parenthood in 

the United States.

APPENDIX 

RELIABILITY OF MEN’S FERTILITY 

DATA

The reporting of men’s fertility 

information is a topic of some 

interest to social scientists. Some 

researchers believe that men are 

less reliable reporters of their 

own fertility than are women.71

However, the evidence suggests that such misreporting is 

most prevalent for nonmarital or 

adolescent births.72 Nonetheless, 

questions regarding the accuracy and completeness of men’s 

fertility reporting are important to 

address.

The challenge that data organizations face is that data are rarely 

faulty at random. For example, 

research shows that young unmarried men are more likely to answer 

71 See, for example, M. Rendall, L. Clarke, 

H. E. Peters, N. Ranjit, and G. Verropoulou, 

Incomplete reporting of men’s fertility in 

the United States and Britain: A research 

note, Demography, 1999, 36(1): 135–144. 72 ibid.

“don’t know” when asked for 

their children’s birth years than 

are older, married men.73 These 

patterns of missing responses 

affect the overall data quality 

(as the men who report “don’t 

know” likely have different fertility patterns than the men who do 

answer), as well as the process 

and accuracy of the means by 

which missing data are filled in.

To assess the reliability of men’s 

fertility reporting in the SIPP, we 

examine the differential reporting 

of fertility information by men’s 

demographic characteristics. For 

the fertility history questions, we 

grouped men by whether they 

provided answers to all fertility 

content for which they were in 

universe (“fully reported”), provided partial information but had 

some content for which imputation was necessary (“incompletely reported”), or did not 

answer the fertility questions at 

all, and so needed to have their 

full fertility history imputed (“fully 

imputed”).74

Appendix Table A shows that the 

vast majority of men reported 

their fertility completely (88 

percent of all men, percentage 

not shown in Appendix Table 

A). Additionally, 65.6 percent of 

the men who gave a complete 

accounting of their fertility gave 

73 ibid.

74 In an effort to provide estimates that 

are nationally representative, the Census 

Bureau has imputation policies in place 

to deal with missing data in all surveys. 

Imputation is the process by which data are 

filled in or completed when a respondent 

is unable to finish a survey, for example. 

Where possible, we fill in missing data using 

logic. However, sometimes missing data are 

filled in using mathematical algorithms. The 

SIPP data includes flags to identify answers 

that are imputed.

those responses themselves.75 The 

age profile for such men roughly 

parallels the age profile for all 

men, as does their marital status, 

with more than half being currently married and roughly onethird being never married.

About 11 percent of all men 

gave incomplete information in 

response to the fertility questions 

in the SIPP, meaning that they 

answered some but not all of the 

questions (percentage not shown 

in Appendix Table A). A higher 

percentage of such men are 55 

years and over than is true for the 

men who reported their fertility 

completely. Men with incomplete 

fertility data are less likely to 

be White, and more likely to be 

Black, than are men who report 

completely. They are also less 

likely to live alone, and more likely 

to have children by more than one 

woman than are those who report 

their fertility completely. It may 

be that they have more complex 

fertility histories and are less likely 

to live with all their children, which 

may affect the ease with which a 

complete history can be provided.

The approximately 0.5 percent 

of all men who did not provide 

any fertility information are the 

smallest group, but they are 

distinct from the other groups in 

substantive ways (percentage not 

shown in Appendix Table A). For 

example, very few nonreporters 

are young, which is likely due to 

the ease with which childlessness (most prevalent among the 

young) can be reported. Instead, 

nonreporters appear to largely be 

45 years old or over, and previously (but not currently) married.

75 If a respondent is not available to be 

interviewed, we will collect data from an 

informed second party (such as a spouse 

or parent). These second party reports are 

known as “proxy” reports.
20 U.S. Census Bureau

SOURCE OF THE DATA

The population represented (the 

population universe) in the 2014 

Survey of Income and Program 

Participation (SIPP) is the civilian 

noninstitutionalized population 

living in the United States. Each 

SIPP panel follows individuals for 

several years, providing monthly 

data that measures changes in 

household and family composition 

and economic circumstances over 

time. The data in this report were 

collected from the first wave of 

the 2014 SIPP Panel. 

Although the main focus of the 

SIPP is information on labor force 

participation, jobs, income, and 

participation in federal assistance 

programs, information on other 

topics related to the well-being 

of individuals and families is also 

collected.

ACCURACY OF THE DATA

Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling 

error. All comparisons presented 

in this report have taken sampling error into account and are 

significant at the 90 percent 

confidence level unless otherwise 

noted. This means the 90 percent 

confidence interval for the difference between the estimates being 

compared does not include zero. 

Nonsampling errors in surveys 

may be attributed to a variety of 

sources, such as how the survey 

was designed, how respondents 

interpret questions, how able 

and willing respondents are to 

provide correct answers, and 

how accurately the answers are 

coded and classified. To minimize 

these errors, the Census Bureau 

employs quality control procedures throughout the production 

process, including the overall 

design of surveys, wording of 

questions, review of the work of 

interviewers and coders, and the 

statistical review of reports. 

Some estimates in this report have 

response rates below 70 percent. 

To see the nonresponse bias study 

for the 2014 SIPP, please visit 

<www.census.gov/programs

-surveys/sipp/tech

-documentation/nonresponse

-reports/2014nonresponse

-reports.html>. 

For further information on the 

source of the data and accuracy of 

the estimates including standard 

errors and confidence intervals, 

go to <www.census.gov

/programs -surveys/sipp

/tech-documentation/source

-accuracy-statements/source

-accuracy-statements-2014 

.html> (2014 Panel Source and 

Accuracy Statements) or contact 

Mahdi S. Sundukchi of the U.S. 

Census Bureau’s Demographic 

Statistical Methods Division at 

<mahdi.s.sundukchi@census.gov>. 

Additional information on the SIPP 

can be found at the following Web 

sites: <www.census.gov/sipp/>

 (main SIPP Web site) and 

<www.census.gov/content/dam

/Census/programs-surveys/sipp

/methodology/2014-SIPP-Panel 

-Users-Guide.pdf> (SIPP User’s 

Guide).

MORE INFORMATION

Detailed and historical tables 

showing fertility indicators for 

women aged 15 to 50, as well as 

a number of other research briefs 

showing fertility information for 

men and women, can be found on 

the Internet at <www.census.gov 

/topics/health/fertility.html>.

CONTACTS

For additional information on 

these topics, contact:

Lindsay M. Monte 

<lindsay.m.monte@census.gov>

Brian Knop 

<brian.michael.knop@census.gov>

Fertility and Family Statistics 

Branch

(301) 763-2416

USER COMMENTS

The Census Bureau welcomes the 

comments and advice of users of 

its data and reports. If you have 

any suggestions or comments, 

please e-mail <www.ask.census

.gov>.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Lindsay M. Monte and Brian Knop, 

“Men’s Fertility & Fatherhood: 

2014,” Current Population 

Reports, P70-162, U.S. Census 

Bureau, Washington, DC, 2019. 
U.S. Census Bureau 21

Appendix Table A.

Demographic Characteristics by Completeness of Men’s Reporting of Fertility

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

Men whose fertility is 

completely reported1

Men whose fertility is 

incompletely reported2

Men whose fertility is 

completely imputed3

 Percent 

Margin of 

error4 (±) Percent 

Margin of 

error4 (±) Percent 

Margin of 

error4 (±)

ALL MEN

Self-reported interview5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.6 1.0 48.9 3.0 41.5 14.3 

Proxy reported interview6. . . . . . . . . . . . 34.4 1.0 16.0 2.2 6.7 6.5 

No interview given7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X 35.1 3.1 51.9 14.6 

AGE AT INTERVIEW

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.0 0.2 7.0 1.3 1.2 2.6 

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.9 0.3 10.9 1.9 0.5 1.0 

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 0.2 7.8 1.5 4.0 5.0 

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7 0.3 7.1 1.7 7.7 6.8 

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.9 0.2 6.4 1.5 7.0 7.2 

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 0.3 7.3 1.6 8.8 7.3 

45 to 49 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 0.2 7.3 1.6 10.9 8.7 

50 to 54 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.8 0.2 9.8 1.5 15.0 9.1 

55 to 60 years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8 0.3 12.0 1.9 18.5 11.0 

61 years and over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2 0.3 24.6 2.4 26.4 10.0 

MARITAL STATUS AT INTERVIEW

Ever married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.8 0.8 66.6 3.3 80.9 10.9 

 Married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.2 0.8 51.6 3.0 34.2 12.0 

 Divorced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 0.3 2.3 0.7 6.6 5.8 

 Widowed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6 0.6 10.5 1.8 33.1 12.5 

 Separated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 0.3 2.3 0.9 7.1 8.0 

Never married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.2 0.8 33.4 3.3 19.1 10.9 

RACE

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.2 0.3 76.5 2.4 74.8 12.3 

Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 0.3 15.4 2.2 20.7 10.3 

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 0.4 5.1 1.4 2.7 4.2 

All other races, race combinations. . . . . 3.2 0.3 2.9 1.2 1.8 2.7 

HISPANIC ORIGIN

Hispanic (of any race). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.8 0.3 17.6 2.6 24.5 11.1 

Non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.2 0.3 82.4 2.6 75.5 11.1 

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AT 

INTERVIEW

Not a high school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . 17.0 0.6 18.0 2.4 17.6 10.0 

High school graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.3 0.9 33.1 2.8 46.0 13.2 

Some college, no degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 0.5 7.0 2.1 4.3 4.5 

Associate’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3 0.9 17.7 2.1 7.8 7.4 

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.5 0.7 15.7 2.1 15.3 9.3 

Graduate or professional degree . . . . . . 10.5 0.6 8.5 1.8 9.0 9.1 

HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION AT 

INTERVIEW

Lives with spouse or partner8. . . . . . . . . 58.3 0.8 59.5 2.8 41.9 13.4 

Lives with child of any age8. . . . . . . . . . . 32.9 0.8 29.6 2.3 X X 

Lives alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.4 0.7 6.5 1.3 5.7 7.4 

Lives in household below 150 percent 

of FPL9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.6 0.8 17.8 2.2 16.2 9.7 

OTHER

Has children with more than one 

woman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.0 0.5 21.2 2.1 18.8 10.1 

Was employed in December 2013. . . . . 64.7 0.8 61.1 2.3 61.6 11.9 

Ever in the armed forces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.5 0.7 17.0 2.3 17.4 10.3 

X Not applicable.

1 This category includes men for whom all fertility information was recorded at the time of interview. 

2 This category includes men for whom some fertility information was recorded at the time of interview, but for whom some content required imputation. 

3 This category includes men for whom no fertility information was recorded at the time of interview, and for whom fertility was completely imputed 

or allocated. 4 This number, when added to or subtracted from the estimate, represents the 90 percent confidence interval around the estimate.

5 Self-reported means that the man reported his own fertility data to the field representative during the interview.

6 Proxy reported means that this man’s fertility data were reported to the field representative by a knowledgable proxy, but not the man himself.

7 No interview means that the man or his proxy declined to complete an interview for him, but that someone in the household did complete an interview which allows responses for the man to be imputed or allocated. 8 Living with a spouse or partner and living with a child are not mutually exclusive categories.

9 FPL refers to the Federal Poverty Line, or the income threshold below which that household, given household size, is considered to be in poverty.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2014 Panel, Wave 1.