Issued April 2014

P20-572

Population Characteristics

Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2010

By Rose M. Kreider and Daphne A. Lofquist 

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

census.gov

INTRODUCTION

Children live in a variety of family configurations. The 

type of relationship between children and their coresident parents reflects the way the family was formed. 

A parent’s remarriage or repartnering may result in a 

child living with a stepparent. Other parents may build 

their families through adoption. Ninety-five percent of 

children under 18 live with one or two biological parents, but children may also live with adoptive parents 

or stepparents.1

This report provides a portrait of adopted children and 

stepchildren of the householder.2 Together, these children represent about 7 percent of the 64.8 million sons 

and daughters under age 18 in 2010. Since the circumstances that lead to children living with an adoptive 

parent or stepparent differ, the profiles of these groups 

may be distinct from each other, and from that of 

children living with a biological parent. In this report, 

we use several data sources to explore the particular 

characteristics of each group.

The first section of the report provides estimates of 

adopted children and stepchildren of the householder, 

and explains differences among the data sources. The 

second section of the report provides a profile of the 

groups and discusses differences in characteristics 

1 See Table C9 “Children by Presence and Type of Parent(s), Race, 

and Hispanic Origin: 2012,” accessible at <www.census.gov/hhes

/families/files/cps2012/tabC9-all.xls>. 2 Because it is the household address that is sampled, we do not 

capture relationships among people who do not live together in the 

same household. 

among stepchildren, adopted children, and biological 

children of the householder. The third section of the 

report provides a more focused look at relevant topics 

for stepchildren and adopted children. We highlight 

changes in the usage of the term “stepchild,” as well as 

two groups of special interest among adopted children: internationally adopted children and transracially 

adopted children. In the United States, these subgroups 

of adopted children have received considerable attention as their numbers have increased. These are also 

two of the groups we can distinguish in the data, while 

it is not possible to determine other subgroups of 

adopted children, which would also be of interest, such 

as those adopted by their stepparents, by other relatives, through the foster care system, or those adopted 

privately. 

DATA SOURCES

The following data sets are used in this report. 

Census 2010

The decennial census is used to count the resident population of the United States. It asks how each household member is related to the householder (someone 

whose name is on the lease or mortgage and is at least 

15 years old). The answer categories for the question 

are shown in Figure 1, except that “foster child” was 

not included in 2010. Children of the householder are 

included in the tables and figures in this report. If the 

child lived with two parents, decennial census data 

do not identify whether the second parent was the 
2 U.S. Census Bureau

child’s biological, step, or adoptive 

parent. Persons under 18 who are 

not children of the householder 

are not included in this report. In 

this report, people referred to as 

householders are always parents. 

Note that decennial data shown 

in this report include Puerto Rico, 

while the American Community 

Survey (ACS) does not. This report 

shows data from the decennial 

census about how many biological, 

adopted, and stepchildren of the 

householder there are, and where 

they live.

The type of relationship between parents and 

children is reported by respondents, and includes 

all variations of individuals they may view as their 

adopted child. Estimates of adopted children from 

decennial and American Community Survey (ACS) 

data do not capture all children who are living with 

a stepparent. This is because these surveys only ask 

for the relationship to the householder. The category 

includes various types of adoption, such as adoption of biologically related and unrelated children, 

adoption of stepchildren, adoption through private 

and public agencies, domestic and international 

adoptions, and independent and informal adoptions. Informal adoptions are more common among 

some cultural groups, as people differ widely in the 

way they view family relationships and the process 

of adoption. A qualitative study prepared for the 

U.S. Census Bureau found that informal adoption 

of biological grandchildren was common in Inupiaq 

communities in Alaska.1 Informal adoptions may also 

be more common among Hispanics and Blacks than 

1 Amy Craver. “Complex Inupiaq Eskimo Households and 

Relationships in Two Northwest Alaska Rural Communities,” Alaska 

Native Science Commission. University of Alaska, Anchorage, 2001. 

other race and ethnic groups.2 In Census 2000 data, 

a substantial proportion of foreign-born Latin

American children reported as adopted had not come 

into the United States on visas that would indicate 

that they had been legally adopted.3 Other studies have found that some parents who have legally 

adopted children related to them may not report 

the child as adopted.4 We cannot distinguish among 

children who were adopted by their stepparents, 

children adopted by their biological grandparents or 

other relatives, and children adopted by people to 

whom they were not biologically related.5

2 Maria Suarez Hamm. “Latino Adoption Issues,” Adoption Factbook III. National Council for Adoption. Washington, DC. 1999,

pp. 257–260. 

Priscilla A. Gibson, Justine Nelson-Christinedaughter, Harold 

D. Grotevant, and Hee-Kyung Kwon. “The Well-Being of African 

American Adolescents Within Formal and Informal Adoption Arrangements,” Adoption Quarterly, 2005, Vol 9:1. 3 Rose M. Kreider. “Foreign-born adopted children in the U.S., 

2000,” In: Thomas Atwood, Lee Allen, and Virginia Ravenel, eds. 

Adoption Factbook IV. Washington, DC: National Council for Adoption; 2007, pp. 133–153. 4 Laura F. Radel, Matthew D. Bramlett, and Annette Waters. “Legal 

and Informal Adoption by Relatives in the U.S.: Comparative Characteristics and Well-Being from a Nationally Representative Sample,”

Adoption Quarterly, 2010, Vol. 13: 268–291. 5 An estimate for 1992, derived from court records, found

that about 42 percent of all adoptions were by stepparents or by

a relative. Victor Flango and Carol Flango. “How Many Children

Were Adopted in 1992,” Child Welfare, 1995, Vol LXXIV, No. 5,

pp. 1018–1024.

Figure 1.

Reproduction of the Question on Relationship to 

Householder From the American Community Survey

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.

WHO IS INCLUDED IN “ADOPTED CHILDREN OF THE HOUSEHOLDER?”
U.S. Census Bureau 3

American Community Survey 

2009–2011

The American Community Survey (ACS) is the largest nationally 

representative survey in the United 

States. It replaced the long form 

of the decennial census. An earlier 

report, Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000, used Census 2000 

long-form data. For recent years, 

the ACS contains the characteristics 

of the child and the household in 

which they live, beyond what the 

decennial census captures. As in 

the decennial data, only children

of the householder who are under 

18 years are included in this report. 

While published ACS tables often 

show “own” children—never

married children of the householder 

who are under 18—we include

children of the householder regardless of marital status in order to 

replicate the universe used in the 

last report, and in 2010 Census 

data, which contain no marital 

status information. The ACS is in 

the field every month and produces 

annualized estimates for the calendar year. The ACS is a very large 

nationally representative sample, 

interviewing over 2.5 million 

household addresses annually. 

The data in this report are from 

internal U.S. Census Bureau ACS 

2009–2011 data files. The internal 

file is about 50 percent larger than 

the public use microdata file, so it 

allows more accurate estimates of 

relatively small groups like transracially adopted children, internationally adopted children, stepchildren, and their families. This report 

uses ACS data to show detailed 

demographic characteristics of 

these children and their families.

Estimates of the number of children 

who live with at least 1 stepparent 

or 1 adoptive parent vary across 

the data sets used in this report. 

For example, Census 2010 found 

1.5 million adopted children of 

the householder, compared with 

1.6 million in ACS 2009–2011, 

while CPS 2010 data estimated 1.3 

million. Estimates of children who 

live with at least 1 stepparent vary 

more widely across surveys, due to 

differences in data collection, which 

are described in detail elsewhere in 

this report. Census 2010 and ACS 

2009–2011, both of which collect 

only relationship to the householder, find 2.8 million stepchildren 

under 18 in Census 2010 and 2.4 

million in ACS 2009–2011, while 

CPS 2010, which collects the type 

of relationship to both coresident 

parents, estimates 4.6 million. 

Current Population Survey 

2012

The Current Population Survey 

(CPS), a large nationally representative survey, asks directly 

whether the child’s mother and 

WHO IS INCLUDED IN “STEPCHILDREN OF

THE HOUSEHOLDER?”

Traditionally, a stepchild was the biological child of an individual’s 

spouse who was not also the individual’s biological child. However, 

earlier data show that the usage of the term has shifted and adults 

who are not currently married, and in some cases have never been 

married, report living with stepchildren. Often, these adults have an 

unmarried partner in the household, who is presumably the child’s 

biological parent.1 Since the English language does not have a more 

precise word to describe this kind of relationship, some respondents 

may decide to report their partner’s child as their stepchild, even 

though they are not married to the child’s biological parent. 

It is important to keep in mind that, as is the case for adopted

children, estimates of stepchildren from decennial and American 

Community Survey data do not capture all children who are

living with a stepparent. This is because these surveys only ask for 

the relationship to the householder. If the child has a second parent

in the household, the type of relationship between that second

parent and the child will not be captured in the data. In addition, 

many children may have stepparents who live in other households. 

Since U.S. Census Bureau surveys sample addresses, and then determine who lives in the housing unit at that address, the data do not 

reflect relationships that cross household boundaries. 

Similarly, there is some potential overlap between children who are 

reported as adopted and those reported as stepchildren, since stepchildren may be adopted by their stepparents. As noted previously, 

respondents report the relationship between the householder and 

their child as they choose, so we do not know how often stepparents 

who have adopted their stepchildren might report the child as a stepchild rather than an adopted child. The demographics of stepchildren 

adopted by a stepparent have been found to be more similar to other 

stepchildren than to other adopted children.2

1 Rose M. Kreider. “Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000,” Census 2000 Special 

Reports, CENSR6-RV, 2003, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, available online at 

<www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-6.pdf>. 2 Matthew D. Bramlett. “When Stepparents Adopt: Demographic, Health and Health 

Care Characteristics of Adopted Children, Stepchildren, and Adopted Stepchildren,”

Adoption Quarterly, 2010, Vol. 13, pp. 248–267.
4 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 1.

Number of Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship and Age: 2010

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod

/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf)

Relationship

Total,

all ages

Under 18 years 18 years and over

Total Under 6 6 to 11 12 to 14 15 to 17 Total 18 to 24 25 and over

 Total children of

 householder . . 88,820,256 64,778,147 20,277,079 21,902,674 11,188,200 11,410,194 24,042,109 13,649,432 10,392,677

Adopted children . . . . . 2,072,312 1,527,020 350,546 569,017 304,252 303,205 545,292 325,272 220,020

Stepchildren . . . . . . . . . 4,165,886 2,784,531 283,568 977,547 717,651 805,765 1,381,355 889,359 491,996

Biological children . . . . 82,582,058 60,466,596 19,642,965 20,356,110 10,166,297 10,301,224 22,115,462 12,434,801 9,680,661

Percent of Age Group

Adopted children . . . . . 2.3 2.4 1.7 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.3 2.4 2.1

Stepchildren . . . . . . . . . 4.7 4.3 1.4 4.5 6.4 7.1 5.7 6.5 4.7

Biological children . . . . 93.0 93.3 96.9 92.9 90.9 90.3 92.0 91.1 93.1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census.

father are present, and asks the 

type of relationship they have 

with the child, whether biological, step, or adoptive. Because of 

these direct questions, it is possible to identify coresident parents 

for all children in the household, 

regardless of whether they are the 

child of the householder. In this 

report, as in our published CPS 

tables, we include children under 

18 who are never married and are 

not themselves a family reference 

person. This report uses CPS data 

to show detailed characteristics of 

stepfamilies.

HOW MANY ADOPTED 

CHILDREN AND 

STEPCHILDREN OF THE 

HOUSEHOLDER ARE THERE?

Census 2000 was the first decennial census to collect information 

on the type of relationship between 

the householder and their child, 

whether biological, step, or adoptive. The same answer categories 

were introduced to the ACS in 

2008. Beginning in 2007, the CPS 

asked respondents to identify both 

a coresident mother and father, as 

well as asking the type of relationship between the child and their 

parents. Most of the data used in 

this report come from the 2010 

Census or the American Community Survey. Estimates from the 

Current Population Survey are also 

included since the CPS contains 

additional detail not available in 

decennial or ACS data. See the 

Data Sources section for more 

information. 

In 2010, of the 64.8 million children under 18, 93 percent were the 

biological children of the householder, 4 percent were stepchildren, and 2 percent were adopted 

children (see Table 1). The number 

of adopted children under 18 in 

Census 2010 data (1.5 million) was 

higher than the estimates from 

the 2010 CPS (1.3 million). The 

CPS collects information about the 

relationship of all children under 18 

to coresident parents, regardless 

of whether they are the children 

of the householder. In the CPS, the 

respondent is asked to identify 

whether a mother and/or father of 

the child are present, and whether 

the parent is the biological, step, or 

adoptive parent of the child.3 This 

allows us to identify children who 

live with two unmarried parents, 

as well as providing estimates of 

children who live with a step or 

adoptive parent. Of the 1.3 million children under 18 living with 

at least one adoptive parent in the 

CPS in 2010, 90 percent were the 

adopted children of the householder.4 Using this as a guide, we 

can expect that the Census 2010 

estimate of adopted children under 

18 accounts for the vast majority of 

all children under 18 who are living 

with at least one adoptive parent. 

The relationship to householder 

question does not capture such a 

high proportion of stepchildren, 

however compared with CPS data, 

where we have a report of two 

coresidential parents, as well as the 

type of relationship between them 

3 The Survey of Income and Program 

Participation (SIPP) also collects information 

about whether the child’s mother and father 

live in the household, as well as whether the 

relationship is biological, step, or adoptive. 

The 2009 estimate of adopted children was 

1.4 million. 4 The corresponding percentage for SIPP 

was 91 percent in 2009.
U.S. Census Bureau 5

and the child, decennial and ACS 

data likely only identify about half 

of the children under 18 who live 

with a stepparent. CPS 2010 data 

estimate that 55 percent of children 

under 18 who live with at least 

one stepparent are the stepchild of 

the householder.5 While CPS 2010 

yields an estimate of 4.6 million 

children under 18 who live with a 

stepparent, Census 2010 data show 

2.8 million who were a stepchild of 

the householder.6

The distribution of children in 

different age groups by type of 

5 The corresponding estimate from SIPP 

2008 Wave 2 data was 49 percent. 6 See Table C9 “Children by Presence and 

Type of Parent(s), Race, and Hispanic Origin: 

2010,” accessible at <www.census.gov

/hhes/families/files/cps2010/tabC9-all.xls>; 

and Daphne Lofquist, Terry Lugaila, Martin 

O’Connell, and Sarah Feliz. “Households 

and Families: 2010,” 2010 Census Brief, 

C2010BR-14, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, available online at <www.census

.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-14.pdf>.

relationship reveals marked differences associated with how 

the children joined their families. 

The age distribution of biological 

children of the householder up to 

age 18 is primarily a consequence 

of the number of babies born each 

year, which has been relatively 

consistent since the early 1980s.7

As a result, the proportions of 

biological children in each of the 

three 6-year age groups shown in 

Figure 2 vary from 24 percent to 

27 percent. A smaller percentage 

of both adopted (17 percent) and 

stepchildren (7 percent) were under 

6 years compared with biological 

children (24 percent). This difference reflects the time it takes to 

finalize the adoption process, as 

well as the decreasing number of 

7 After age 18, leaving home for school, 

jobs, military service, or to start a household 

strongly affects the number of children living with their parents, regardless of type of 

parent-child relationship.

infants in the United States available for adoption, and the fact that 

children who are adopted by their 

stepparents would likely be at least 

several years old, having come 

from a previous union.8 A higher 

percentage of stepchildren of the 

householder were 18 and over (33 

percent compared with 26 percent 

for adopted children and 27 percent for biological children). But the 

fact that a relatively low proportion 

of children living with a stepparent are represented, as

discussed above, may have an 

effect on the age distribution of 

this group. 

8 Jo Jones. “Who Adopts? Characteristics of Women and Men Who Have Adopted 

Children,” NCHS data brief, No 12. National 

Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. 

2009.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2010.

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, 

see www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf )

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Under 6 

 

18 and over

12 to 17 

6 to 11 

16.9

6.8

23.8

27.5

23.5

24.6

29.3

36.6

24.8

26.3

33.2 26.8

Figure 2.

Percent Distribution of Children of the Householder by Type of 

Relationship and Age: 2010
6 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 2.

Number and Percent of Householder’s Children by Type of Relationship for the

United States, Regions, and States, and for Puerto Rico: 2010—Con. 

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod

/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf)

Area

Total

children 

of householder

Children under 18 years 18 years and over 

Total under

18 years

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Adopted

children

StepchildrenBiological

Number children

Percent NumberPercent NumberPercent

 United States . . 88,820,256 64,778,147 1,527,020 2.4 2,784,531 4.3 60,466,596 93.3 545,292 1,381,355 22,115,462

Region

Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . 15,796,228 10,996,640 241,144 2.2 321,980 2.9 10,433,516 94.9 101,144 208,280 4,490,164

Midwest . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,221,176 14,457,188 365,679 2.5 621,762 4.3 13,469,747 93.2 116,103 278,914 4,368,971

South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,597,699 23,898,131 557,437 2.3 1,207,949 5.1 22,132,745 92.6 201,856 570,265 7,927,447

West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,205,153 15,426,188 362,760 2.4 632,840 4.1 14,430,588 93.5 126,189 323,896 5,328,880

State

Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . 1,345,625 964,604 24,565 2.5 55,729 5.8 884,310 91.7 9,130 26,446 345,445

Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211,837 165,810 7,027 4.2 8,064 4.9 150,719 90.9 2,050 2,797 41,180

Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,845,458 1,392,051 34,320 2.5 66,216 4.8 1,291,515 92.8 10,793 28,392 414,222

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . 805,163 614,172 17,138 2.8 40,866 6.7 556,168 90.6 5,127 14,644 171,220

California . . . . . . . . . . . 11,308,643 7,839,242 157,427 2.0 275,206 3.5 7,406,609 94.5 64,084 176,219 3,229,098

Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . 1,398,288 1,103,342 30,503 2.8 49,600 4.5 1,023,239 92.7 7,894 19,212 267,840

Connecticut . . . . . . . . . 1,031,514 742,162 17,130 2.3 21,115 2.8 703,917 94.8 5,893 13,517 269,942

Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . 249,045 176,188 3,762 2.1 7,750 4.4 164,676 93.5 1,569 4,655 66,633

District of Columbia . . . 121,429 80,575 2,269 2.8 1,490 1.8 76,816 95.3 1,024 1,230 38,600

Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,884,582 3,429,355 77,721 2.3 168,932 4.9 3,182,702 92.8 34,549 98,451 1,322,227

Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,879,619 2,141,127 52,605 2.5 104,516 4.9 1,984,006 92.7 17,120 50,075 671,297

Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362,370 230,892 6,931 3.0 8,703 3.8 215,258 93.2 3,294 5,363 122,821

Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478,910 390,873 10,094 2.6 21,051 5.4 359,728 92.0 2,480 6,275 79,282

Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,840,210 2,753,355 64,315 2.3 95,582 3.5 2,593,458 94.2 24,315 53,671 1,008,869

Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,877,746 1,425,310 37,603 2.6 76,618 5.4 1,311,089 92.0 11,712 32,360 408,364

Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828,460 669,076 19,207 2.9 31,606 4.7 618,263 92.4 4,454 10,030 144,900

Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820,552 658,222 18,845 2.9 34,911 5.3 604,466 91.8 4,907 11,088 146,335

Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . 1,192,971 889,181 23,363 2.6 51,155 5.8 814,663 91.6 6,570 21,423 275,797

Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . 1,325,420 936,962 19,450 2.1 52,736 5.6 864,776 92.3 8,033 23,729 356,696

Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326,802 249,352 7,498 3.0 12,059 4.8 229,795 92.2 2,121 5,092 70,237

Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . 1,659,071 1,170,334 27,146 2.3 40,700 3.5 1,102,488 94.2 11,741 28,073 448,923

Massachusetts . . . . . . . 1,823,575 1,290,794 29,636 2.3 29,871 2.3 1,231,287 95.4 12,225 21,219 499,337

Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . 2,892,845 2,095,753 57,072 2.7 88,536 4.2 1,950,145 93.1 19,435 46,093 731,564

Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . 1,507,367 1,186,710 29,669 2.5 39,957 3.4 1,117,084 94.1 8,530 16,145 295,982

Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . 880,481 620,956 14,228 2.3 36,220 5.8 570,508 91.9 5,877 16,392 237,256

Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,672,430 1,263,106 34,052 2.7 66,243 5.2 1,162,811 92.1 10,134 28,605 370,585

Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . 250,732 199,586 6,613 3.3 10,514 5.3 182,459 91.4 1,754 3,030 46,362

Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . 519,519 420,081 11,009 2.6 16,859 4.0 392,213 93.4 2,921 5,461 91,056

Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . 764,477 571,828 11,737 2.1 30,198 5.3 529,893 92.7 4,453 14,312 173,884

New Hampshire . . . . . . 353,164 263,119 6,282 2.4 10,912 4.1 245,925 93.5 2,062 5,628 82,355

New Jersey . . . . . . . . . 2,690,797 1,854,730 36,398 2.0 46,920 2.5 1,771,412 95.5 16,344 36,790 782,933

New Mexico . . . . . . . . . 594,731 436,675 10,611 2.4 23,406 5.4 402,658 92.2 3,876 8,702 145,478

New York . . . . . . . . . . . 5,610,628 3,785,466 75,634 2.0 97,908 2.6 3,611,924 95.4 37,913 67,924 1,719,325

North Carolina . . . . . . . 2,645,200 2,003,199 47,791 2.4 91,239 4.6 1,864,169 93.1 15,184 41,695 585,122

North Dakota . . . . . . . . 171,154 139,037 3,255 2.3 5,853 4.2 129,929 93.4 838 1,526 29,753

Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,287,475 2,436,267 56,874 2.3 110,437 4.5 2,268,956 93.1 19,708 52,453 779,047

Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . 1,046,183 808,840 24,849 3.1 53,646 6.6 730,345 90.3 7,177 18,469 211,697

Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,003,171 772,039 22,972 3.0 36,939 4.8 712,128 92.2 7,136 15,655 208,341

Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . 3,517,169 2,491,195 59,252 2.4 91,529 3.7 2,340,414 93.9 21,678 51,980 952,316

Rhode Island . . . . . . . . 289,094 201,195 5,148 2.6 6,731 3.3 189,316 94.1 1,801 4,219 81,879
U.S. Census Bureau 7

Table 2.

Number and Percent of Householder’s Children by Type of Relationship for the

United States, Regions, and States, and for Puerto Rico: 2010—Con. 

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod

/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf)

Area

Total

children 

of householder

Children under 18 years 18 years and over 

Total under

18 years

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Adopted

children

StepchildrenBiological

Number children

Percent NumberPercent NumberPercent

South Carolina . . . . . . . 1,273,940 918,013 23,041 2.5 44,456 4.8 850,516 92.6 9,159 21,720 325,048

South Dakota . . . . . . . . 220,520 179,645 5,032 2.8 7,615 4.2 166,998 93.0 1,135 2,111 37,629

Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . 1,751,644 1,285,208 35,366 2.8 70,600 5.5 1,179,242 91.8 11,954 33,077 421,405

Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,861,974 5,888,009 118,556 2.0 300,427 5.1 5,469,026 92.9 40,753 125,941 1,807,271

Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991,058 784,125 22,583 2.9 32,437 4.1 729,105 93.0 5,990 12,677 188,266

Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . 153,485 118,627 4,166 3.5 4,935 4.2 109,526 92.3 1,107 1,911 31,840

Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,205,094 1,635,360 36,058 2.2 66,849 4.1 1,532,453 93.7 13,446 35,397 520,891

Washington . . . . . . . . . 1,846,348 1,418,356 38,379 2.7 62,891 4.4 1,317,086 92.9 11,574 29,197 387,221

West Virginia . . . . . . . . 470,258 336,048 9,529 2.8 20,638 6.1 305,881 91.0 3,443 8,848 121,919

Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . 1,582,898 1,230,626 28,746 2.3 47,545 3.9 1,154,335 93.8 8,014 19,371 324,887

Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . 149,130 121,369 3,563 2.9 7,615 6.3 110,191 90.8 811 2,065 24,885

Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . 1,265,212 763,558 13,387 1.8 39,483 5.2 710,688 93.1 10,487 18,328 472,839

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census.

WHERE DO ADOPTED 

CHILDREN AND 

STEPCHILDREN LIVE?

The proportion of children under 

18 who were adopted hardly varied by region (see Table 2).9 The 

observed percent in the Midwest 

(2.5 percent) was higher than the 

other three regions (2.2 percent to 

2.4 percent), but these percentages 

are substantively quite comparable. 

By state, this percentage ranged 

from 2.0 percent in California, New 

Jersey, New York, and Texas to 4.2 

9 The Northeast region includes the states 

of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The 

Midwest region includes the states of Illinois, 

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, 

Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The 

South region includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, 

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, 

North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, 

Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and 

the District of Columbia, a state equivalent. 

The West region includes the states of Alaska, 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, 

Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, 

Washington, and Wyoming.

percent in Alaska. As previously 

noted, informal adoption has been 

found to be common among some 

Alaskan Native groups, which may 

have contributed to the higher percentage in Alaska.10

Figure 3a maps the percentage of 

children of the householder who 

are adopted in each U.S. county. 

The percentages vary from less 

than 1.9 to 17.8. The most important observation about geographic 

patterns in the percentage of 

children who were adopted is that 

adoption is a family-building process that takes place in all states 

in about the same proportions. As 

mentioned previously, counties in 

Alaska with the highest percentages of adopted children likely 

reflect Alaskan Native communities 

in which the meaning and practice 

of adoption may differ than in other 

communities. Census data include 

10 Amy Craver. “Complex Inupiaq Eskimo 

Households and Relationships in Two Northwest Alaska Rural Communities,” Alaska 

Native Science Commission, University of 

Alaska, Anchorage. 2001.

various types of adoption, each of 

which may have its own geographic 

pattern, which may also contribute 

to the lack of a distinct geographic 

pattern when all types of adoptions 

are considered.

Nationally, 4.3 percent of children 

of the householder under age 18, 

in 2010, were stepchildren. At the 

regional level, percentages of children of the householder under 18 

who were stepchildren varied more 

than the corresponding percentages of adopted children, ranging 

from 2.9 percent in the Northeast 

to 5.1 percent in the South. The 

West was lower at 4.1 percent and 

the Midwest was at the national 

average of 4.3 percent.

For children under 18, the state 

with the highest percentage of children of the householder who were 

stepchildren was Arkansas (6.7

percent), followed by Oklahoma 

(6.6 percent), Wyoming, and West 

Virginia (6.3 and 6.1 percent, 

respectively) (see Figure 3b). The 
8 U.S. Census Bureau Figure Percent of Children Who Are Adopted by County: 2010 3a. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Summary File 1. U.S. percent is 2.4 Note: No data exists for Kalawao County, HI for this population. 0 100 Miles 0 100 Miles 0 500 Miles Percent 3.7–7.3 7.4 or more 2.5–3.6 1.9–2.4 Less than 1.9 For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf. The term "county" refers to a county or statistically equivalent entity. Percent of Children Who Are Adopted by State: 2010 Percent2.5–3.2 3.3–4.2 2.0–2.4 U.S. percent is 2.4 (Includes only the householder’s children who are under 18 years of age)
U.S. Census Bureau

9

Percent of Children Who Are Stepchildren 

by County: 2010

Figure 3b.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Summary File 1.

U.S. percent is 4.3

Note: No data exists for Kalawao County, HI 

for this population. 0 100 Miles

0 100 Miles

0 500 Miles

Percent

6.5–7.4

7.5 or more

5.0–6.4

2.0–4.9

Less than 2.0

For information on confidentiality protection, 

nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf.

The term "county" refers to a county or 

statistically equivalent entity.

 Percent of Children Who Are Stepchildren  by State: 2010

Percent

3.7–4.9

5.0–6.7

1.8–3.6

U.S. percent is 4.3

(Includes only the householder’s children who are under 18 years of age)
10 U.S. Census Bureau

District of Columbia had the lowest percentage of children of the 

householder under 18 who were 

stepchildren—1.8 percent. The 

states with relatively low percentages were Massachusetts (2.3 

percent), New Jersey (2.5 percent), New York (2.6 percent), and 

Connecticut (2.8 percent). The 

differences in these state percentages are affected by the likelihood that parents remarry after 

divorce, whether the child lives 

with the father or the mother after 

a divorce, and the gender of the 

householder in remarried-couple 

families. Since most children continue to live with their 

mothers rather than their fathers,

remarried-couple households with 

the husband as the householder 

will tend to identify more

householder-stepchild relationships 

than remarried couples with the 

wife as the householder.

PROFILE OF CHILDREN OF 

THE HOUSEHOLDER

Demographic Patterns

Since adopted children and stepchildren enter their families in 

different ways than biological 

children, their demographic characteristics may also vary, reflecting these paths. Tables 3a and 

3b provide a profile of selected 

characteristics of children of the 

householder. The data in these 

tables comes from the ACS, so 

the totals here are slightly different from the totals using 2010 

Census data that are presented in 

Table 1. As illustrated in Figure 2, 

the age distributions of the three 

groups of children differ. Table 

3a provides estimates by type for 

each year of age for children under 

18. The American Community 

Survey collected the current age 

of the adopted child and not the 

age at adoption, which precludes 

estimates of how the incidence of 

adoption has changed over time.

In comparison, the relative lack of 

substantive variation in the number 

of biological children at each age 

reflects roughly equal numbers of 

annual births during the preceding 

two decades. The relative increases 

by age shown for adopted children and stepchildren reflect the 

length of the adoption process for 

adopted children and the intervals 

between parental marriage, childbearing, divorce, and remarriage 

for stepchildren. The number of 

stepchildren was larger at each 

single year of age through the age 

of 16, (for example, there were 

more stepchildren aged 6 than 

aged 5).11 In addition to different 

age patterns, the sex ratio (i.e., the 

number of males per 100 females) 

shows variations among adopted, 

biological, and stepchildren. The 

sex ratio has a value of 100 when 

there are equal numbers of boys 

and girls; a value above 100 indicates more boys than girls and a 

value below 100 indicates more 

girls than boys. 

For children under 18, the sex ratio 

was highest for biological children 

(105), followed by stepchildren 

(103) and adopted children (87). 

The sex ratio for biological children reflects the fact that there 

are more male births than female 

births. While there are relatively 

few teens who marry, girls tend 

to leave home earlier than boys, 

reflecting in part the earlier average 

age at first marriage for women 

than for men. More girls than boys 

are adopted, for several reasons. 

First, women in general express a 

11 Age 15 years is not significantly different from age 14 years and age 17 years is not 

significantly different from age 16 years.

preference for adopting girls,12 and 

single women more frequently have 

adopted girls than boys.13

Figure 4 displays the sex ratio of 

biological, adopted, and stepchildren of the householder by age. 

Age is shown in single years up to 

age 17. For all ages under 18, there 

were more adopted girls than boys 

at each year of age.14 The sex ratio 

for biological children was fairly 

constant for children under 18 

years.

Race, Hispanic Origin, and 

Nativity 

In 2009–2011, White alone, nonHispanic children made up the 

majority of step and biological 

children of householders under 

18—about 56 percent of biological 

children and 61 percent of stepchildren (see Table 3b).15 Just under 

half (49 percent) of adopted children were White, non-Hispanic.16

12 Anjani Chandra, Joyce Abma, Penelope 

Maza, and Christine Bachrach. “Adoption, 

Adoption Seeking, and Relinquishment for 

Adoption in the United States.” Vital and 

Health Statistics, No. 306, National Center

for Health Statistics. Hyattsville, MD, 1999. 13 Victor Groze. “Adoption and single parents: a review.” Child Welfare, 1991. Vol. 70, 

No. 3, pp. 321–332. 14 Ages 0, 1, and 16 are not significantly 

different between females and males. 15 The American Community Survey allows 

respondents to choose more than one race. 

With the exception of the Two or More Races 

group, all race groups discussed in this report 

refer to people who indicated only one racial 

identity among the six major categories: 

White, Black or African American, American 

Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native 

Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Some 

other race. For further information on each 

of the six major race groups and the Two or 

More Races population, see reports from the 

Census 2010 Brief series (C2010BR-02/01), 

available on the Census 2010 Web site at 

<www.census.gov/prod

/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf>. The use 

of the single-race population in this report 

does not imply that it is the preferred method 

of presenting or analyzing data. The Census 

Bureau uses a variety of approaches. 16 This report will refer to the White-alone 

population as White, the Black-alone population as Black, the Asian-alone population 

as Asian, and the White-alone-non-Hispanic 

population as White, non-Hispanic. Because 

Hispanics may be any race, data in this report 

for Hispanics overlap with data for racial 

groups.
U.S. Census Bureau 11

Table 3a.

Selected Characteristics of the Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship 

and Sex of Child: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census

.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,556,706 724,707 831,999 2,358,467 1,198,421 1,160,046 61,579,360 31,577,709 30,001,651

Age

Under 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,777 15,533 17,244 10,185 5,269 4,916 3,058,822 1,560,127 1,498,695

1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,256 21,664 23,592 17,161 9,444 7,717 3,244,726 1,656,700 1,588,026

2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,055 27,699 31,356 28,306 14,513 13,793 3,421,392 1,749,849 1,671,543

3 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69,631 30,413 39,218 45,204 24,299 20,905 3,459,926 1,774,493 1,685,433

4 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81,460 37,539 43,921 62,399 32,374 30,025 3,471,959 1,780,670 1,691,289

5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81,659 38,153 43,506 75,869 38,632 37,237 3,423,225 1,747,467 1,675,758

6 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89,753 40,664 49,089 96,032 47,518 48,514 3,420,113 1,752,740 1,667,373

7 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91,404 42,363 49,041 110,404 54,872 55,532 3,420,105 1,746,343 1,673,762

8 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93,707 43,319 50,388 129,375 63,800 65,575 3,437,982 1,758,425 1,679,557

9 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96,115 43,864 52,251 149,471 76,402 73,069 3,457,326 1,767,986 1,689,340

10 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,808 46,284 54,524 164,442 83,886 80,556 3,495,136 1,799,246 1,695,890

11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101,275 46,223 55,052 173,964 87,975 85,989 3,451,450 1,779,671 1,671,779

12 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108,375 50,776 57,599 190,642 96,312 94,330 3,459,042 1,781,884 1,677,158

13 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,698 48,737 53,961 207,581 107,970 99,611 3,428,709 1,767,239 1,661,470

14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,278 47,869 54,409 219,478 111,522 107,956 3,467,337 1,774,040 1,693,297

15 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101,243 48,002 53,241 223,073 113,632 109,441 3,497,285 1,793,775 1,703,510

16 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,175 49,130 51,045 230,566 114,855 115,711 3,505,836 1,805,459 1,700,377

17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99,037 46,475 52,562 224,315 115,146 109,169 3,458,989 1,781,595 1,677,394

Race and Hispanic Origin

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934,203 452,993 481,210 1,744,313 883,981 860,332 42,969,766 22,086,151 20,883,615

Black or African American alone . . 251,002 122,345 128,657 293,695 149,451 144,244 8,183,291 4,152,656 4,030,635

American Indian and Alaska Native

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28,246 13,903 14,343 25,004 12,882 12,122 515,679 263,503 252,176

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154,894 43,664 111,230 41,399 21,460 19,939 2,755,546 1,423,493 1,332,053

Native Hawaiian and Other

Pacific Islander alone . . . . . . . . . . 5,545 2,665 2,880 3,944 2,120 1,824 104,356 53,789 50,567

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . 81,929 39,555 42,374 134,725 70,329 64,396 3,864,379 1,968,892 1,895,487

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,887 49,582 51,305 115,387 58,198 57,189 3,186,343 1,629,225 1,557,118

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . 293,081 141,994 151,087 495,374 251,542 243,832 13,824,704 7,065,217 6,759,487

White alone, not Hispanic or

Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762,092 370,621 391,471 1,428,575 724,942 703,633 34,170,553 17,585,371 16,585,182

Nativity and English Ability

Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,293,846 623,048 670,798 2,239,008 1,137,329 1,101,679 59,579,178 30,538,467 29,040,711

Foreign born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262,860 101,659 161,201 119,459 61,092 58,367 2,000,182 1,039,242 960,940

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221,871 84,303 137,568 115,362 58,661 56,701 1,837,863 956,587 881,276

 Speaks non-English language

 at home1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,894 19,711 26,183 99,241 50,913 48,328 1,621,041 843,789 777,252

 Speaks English very well . . . . . 29,198 10,909 18,289 61,829 31,382 30,447 1,094,498 561,492 533,006

Disability Status1

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,268,527 591,859 676,668 2,195,212 1,112,522 1,082,690 44,922,535 23,055,870 21,866,665

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . 147,547 84,878 62,669 132,766 85,373 47,393 2,086,085 1,333,055 753,030

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,757 6,790 5,967 13,908 7,344 6,564 268,301 150,215 118,086

 Vision disability.............. 14,950 7,348 7,602 18,684 9,752 8,932 314,963 165,058 149,905

 Cognitive disability2 . . . . . . . . . . 126,284 75,578 50,706 104,949 71,260 33,689 1,539,047 1,050,583 488,464

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . 15,132 7,268 7,864 12,106 6,420 5,686 272,834 149,293 123,541

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . 23,386 13,178 10,208 15,965 9,514 6,451 387,857 238,297 149,560

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . 15,649 8,739 6,910 12,317 7,613 4,704 175,528 106,777 68,751

Multiple disabilities3 . . . . . . . . . . . 37,985 21,771 16,214 29,348 17,977 11,371 540,915 339,115 201,800

In poverty4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219,692 104,625 115,067 382,962 197,030 185,932 12,967,752 6,594,520 6,373,232

1

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 2

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 3

 This includes children with any combination of two or more of the disabilities listed above. 4

 Household poverty level.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
12 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 3b.

Percent Distribution of Selected Characteristics of Householder’s Children Under 18 by 

Type of Relationship and Sex of Child: 2009–2011

(In percent. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census

.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Age

Under 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 2.1 2.1 0.4 0.4 0.4 5.0 4.9 5.0

1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9 3.0 2.8 0.7 0.8 0.7 5.3 5.2 5.3

2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8 3.8 3.8 1.2 1.2 1.2 5.6 5.5 5.6

3 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 4.2 4.7 1.9 2.0 1.8 5.6 5.6 5.6

4 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 5.2 5.3 2.6 2.7 2.6 5.6 5.6 5.6

5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 5.3 5.2 3.2 3.2 3.2 5.6 5.5 5.6

6 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8 5.6 5.9 4.1 4.0 4.2 5.6 5.6 5.6

7 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9 5.8 5.9 4.7 4.6 4.8 5.6 5.5 5.6

8 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0 6.0 6.1 5.5 5.3 5.7 5.6 5.6 5.6

9 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 6.1 6.3 6.3 6.4 6.3 5.6 5.6 5.6

10 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 6.4 6.6 7.0 7.0 6.9 5.7 5.7 5.7

11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 6.4 6.6 7.4 7.3 7.4 5.6 5.6 5.6

12 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.0 7.0 6.9 8.1 8.0 8.1 5.6 5.6 5.6

13 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 6.7 6.5 8.8 9.0 8.6 5.6 5.6 5.5

14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 6.6 6.5 9.3 9.3 9.3 5.6 5.6 5.6

15 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 6.6 6.4 9.5 9.5 9.4 5.7 5.7 5.7

16 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 6.8 6.1 9.8 9.6 10.0 5.7 5.7 5.7

17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 6.4 6.3 9.5 9.6 9.4 5.6 5.6 5.6

Race and Hispanic Origin

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.0 62.5 57.8 74.0 73.8 74.2 69.8 69.9 69.6

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . . 16.1 16.9 15.5 12.5 12.5 12.4 13.3 13.2 13.4

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . . 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.0 6.0 13.4 1.8 1.8 1.7 4.5 4.5 4.4

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 5.5 5.1 5.7 5.9 5.6 6.3 6.2 6.3

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 6.8 6.2 4.9 4.9 4.9 5.2 5.2 5.2

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . 18.8 19.6 18.2 21.0 21.0 21.0 22.5 22.4 22.5

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . 49.0 51.1 47.1 60.6 60.5 60.7 55.5 55.7 55.3

Nativity and English Ability

Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.1 86.0 80.6 94.9 94.9 95.0 96.8 96.7 96.8

Foreign born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.9 14.0 19.4 5.1 5.1 5.0 3.2 3.3 3.2

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

 Speaks non-English language at home1 . . 20.7 23.4 19.0 86.0 86.8 85.2 88.2 88.2 88.2

 Speaks English very well . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.6 55.3 69.9 62.3 61.6 63.0 67.5 66.5 68.6

Disability Status1

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6 14.3 9.3 6.0 7.7 4.4 4.6 5.8 3.4

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.5

 Vision disability...................... 1.2 1.2 1.1 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7

 Cognitive disability2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.0 12.8 7.5 4.8 6.4 3.1 3.4 4.6 2.2

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 1.2 1.2 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8 2.2 1.5 0.7 0.9 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.7

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 1.5 1.0 0.6 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.3

Multiple disabilities3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.0 3.7 2.4 1.3 1.6 1.1 1.2 1.5 0.9

In poverty4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1 14.4 13.8 16.2 16.4 16.0 21.1 20.9 21.2

1

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 2

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 3

 This includes children with any combination of 2 or more of the disabilities listed above. 4

 Household poverty level.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 13

A higher percentage of adopted 

children under 18 were Black (16 

percent) than the percentage of 

stepchildren and biological children 

(13 percent each).17,18 This higher 

percentage may be due in part 

to the fact that the percentage of 

children in the foster care system 

who are Black is higher than the 

percentage of children in the overall population who are Black, and 

may also reflect a higher number 

of informal adoptions in African 

17 Hereafter, this report uses the term 

Black to refer to people who are Black or 

African American, the term Pacific Islander to 

refer to people who are Native Hawaiian and 

Other Pacific Islander, and the term Hispanic 

to refer to people who are Hispanic or Latino. 18 Due to rounding stepchildren and 

biological children both equal 13 percent. All 

three child groups are statistically different.

American communities.19 Although 

the percentage of children under 

18 who were American Indian and 

Alaska Native is small, a higher 

percentage of adopted children 

were American Indian and Alaska 

Native (2 percent) than the percentage of biological (1 percent) or 

stepchildren (1 percent), which may 

be related to informal adoptions in 

American Indian and Alaska Native 

communities.20

The percentage of adopted children 

under 18 who were Asian (10 percent) is higher than the percentage 

19 Priscilla A. Gibson, Justine NelsonChristinedaughter, Harold D. Grotevant, and 

Hee-Kyung Kwon. “The Well-Being of African 

American Adolescents Within Formal and 

Informal Adoption Arrangements,” Adoption 

Quarterly, 2005, Vol 9:1. 20 The percentage of children under the 

age of 18 who report American Indian or 

Alaska Native is 0.87 percent. Found in calculations not shown here.

of biological children (5 percent) 

and stepchildren (2 percent) who 

were Asian. This is due largely 

to the fact that around half (51 

percent) of all foreign-born adopted 

children were born in Asia. A lower 

percentage of adopted children 

than stepchildren or biological children under 18 were Hispanic (19 

percent compared with 21 percent 

and 23 percent, respectively).

Tables 3a and 3b also show the 

number and percentage of children of the householder who were 

foreign born and the number who 

spoke English “very well” among 

those 5 to 17 years who spoke 

a language other than English at 

home. About 5 percent of stepchildren and 3 percent of biological 

children under 18 in 2009–2011 

were foreign born. The corresponding percentage was higher for 

Figure 4.

Sex Ratio for Children of the Householder by Age of Child: 2009–2011

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, 

see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Age

Adopted children

Stepchildren

Biological children

Males per 100 females

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

70

80

90

100

110

120

130
14 U.S. Census Bureau

adopted children—14 percent for 

boys and 19 percent for girls. The 

higher percentage for girls was 

heavily influenced by the number 

of foreign-born adopted children 

who were Asian, because the 

majority of adopted Asian children 

were girls. 

While most foreign-born biological 

children and stepchildren between 

the ages of 5 and 17 (88 percent 

and 86 percent, respectively) spoke 

a language other than English at 

home, this was not the case for 

foreign-born adopted children. 

Nineteen percent of foreign-born 

adopted girls and 23 percent of 

foreign-born adopted boys between 

the ages of 5 and 17 spoke a language other than English at home. 

Many of the foreign-born adopted 

children were likely adopted at a 

young age, before they could speak 

any language fluently, and since 

their parents often speak only English, they do so as well.21 ACS data 

also include foreign-born adopted 

children who may have come to the 

U.S. with their foreign-born biological parent, whose spouse adopted 

the child. These children would be 

more likely to already speak a language other than English fluently. 

Of those who spoke a language 

other than English, the proportion 

who spoke English “very well” was 

over half for all children, ranging 

from 62 percent of stepchildren to 

68 percent of biological children.

Disability and Poverty Status 

The 2009–2011 American Community Survey provided basic information about physical and mental 

limitations that children may have. 

For each person aged 5 and over, 

information was collected on 

21 See Glennen 2002 for a review of 

literature about internationally adopted 

children and language development and use. 

Sharon Glennen. “Language development 

and delay in internationally adopted, infants 

and toddlers: A review,” American Journal of 

Speech-Language Pathology, 2002, Vol.11:3, 

pp. 333–339.

hearing or vision difficulties; conditions which limited basic activities; 

difficulty in learning, remembering, 

or concentrating; and difficulty in 

getting dressed, bathing, or getting 

around inside the house. Respondents answered these questions as 

they perceived the capabilities of 

the child, regardless of whether the 

condition fit any medical or legal 

definitions of a disability.

Table 3b indicates that a higher 

proportion of adopted children 

under 18 than of biological children and stepchildren under 18 

had at least one disability.22 This 

was true for both boys (14 percent 

for adopted children, compared 

with 8 percent for stepchildren and 

6 percent for biological children) 

and girls (9 percent for adopted 

children, compared with 4 percent 

of stepchildren and 3 percent for 

biological children). This finding is 

supported by prior research, which 

also showed that adopted children 

were more likely than other children to have special health care 

needs.23

The most commonly reported 

disability was difficulty learning, 

remembering, or concentrating, which is categorized in the 

table under the term “cognitive 

disability.” 

22 The word “disability” as used in this 

report refers to people who answered “yes” 

to American Community Survey questions 

17a-b, 18a-c, and 19. Question 17a reads: Is 

this person deaf or does he/she have serious 

difficulty hearing? 17b. Is this person blind 

or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing 

even when wearing glasses? 18a. Because 

of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty 

concentrating, remembering, or making 

decisions. 18b. Does this person have serious 

difficulty walking or climbing stairs? 18c. 

Does this person have difficulty dressing or 

bathing? 19. Because of a physical, mental, or 

emotional condition, does this person have 

difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting 

a doctor’s office or shopping? 23 Sharon Vandivere, Karin Malm, and 

Laura Radel. Adoption USA: A Chartbook 

Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2009.

The percentage of children under 

18 who had multiple disabilities 

(more than one of the categories 

listed) ranged from 0.9 percent for 

biological daughters to 3.7 percent 

for adopted sons. Although the 

categories available for analysis do 

not have exact medical definitions, 

it appears that adoptive families 

are more likely than others to face 

the challenge of dealing with disabilities among their children. However, research also suggests that 

adopted children are more likely to 

have consistent health insurance 

coverage than biological children 

and are more likely to be taken to 

preventative health care visits.24 In 

addition, adopted children tended 

to live in families that were better off economically than those of 

biological children. Table 3b shows 

that about 14 percent of adopted 

children of the householder were in 

poverty, compared with 16 percent 

for stepchildren. Biological children 

under 18 recorded the highest 

proportion living in poverty (21 

percent).

PROFILE OF THE 

HOUSEHOLDERS OF 

ADOPTED CHILDREN AND 

STEPCHILDREN

Race and Hispanic Origin of 

the Householder

While the previous sections of this 

report have examined the characteristics of adopted children 

and stepchildren, the following 

sections present estimates of the 

numbers of such children by the 

characteristics of the householder. 

Table 4 shows that there was less 

variation in the race and origin of 

the householder across the three 

groups of children, than in the race 

and origin of the children themselves. The percentage of children 

24 Matthew D. Bramlett, Laura F. Radel, and 

Stephen J. Blumberg. “The Health and WellBeing of Adopted Children,” Pediatrics, 2007, 

Supplement I, Vol. 119 (Feb), pp. S54–S60. 
U.S. Census Bureau 15

Table 4.

Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship, Age, and Selected 

Characteristics of the Householder: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of householder

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Number Percent Number Number Percent Number Number Percent Number

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,556,706 100.0 595,346 2,358,467 100.0 1,254,674 61,579,360 100.0 24,577,382

Race and Hispanic Origin of

Householder

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,220,377 78.4 451,035 1,817,273 77.1 948,884 44,340,844 72.0 16,933,885

Black or African American alone . . . . . . 196,123 12.6 91,596 301,089 12.8 186,433 8,293,975 13.5 4,164,025

American Indian and Alaska Native

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,666 1.1 7,003 24,711 1.0 12,346 551,348 0.9 254,384

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,943 2.4 17,382 35,633 1.5 27,222 3,014,595 4.9 1,295,686

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific

Islander alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,251 0.2 1,680 4,506 0.2 1,733 125,866 0.2 51,004

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55,628 3.6 17,785 126,171 5.3 56,111 4,001,037 6.5 1,449,122

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,718 1.7 8,865 49,084 2.1 21,945 1,251,695 2.0 429,276

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . 187,114 12.0 64,186 402,742 17.1 193,412 12,652,153 20.5 4,648,636

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . 1,098,278 70.6 408,359 1,563,902 66.3 824,178 36,298,341 58.9 13,967,884

Child and Householder Race/Origin

Difference

Different race1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373,751 24.0 88,329 297,023 12.6 129,981 4,393,064 7.1 1,129,069

Different Hispanic origin2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 157,275 10.1 43,027 226,060 9.6 97,574 2,051,485 3.3 482,082

Living Arrangement of 

the Householder

Married couple households . . . . . . . . . . 1,136,207 73.0 370,686 1,873,706 79.4 1,062,126 42,440,501 68.9 14,087,611

Male householder—no spouse

 present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101,535 6.5 58,989 361,371 15.3 139,577 3,848,761 6.3 1,946,421

With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . 35,829 2.3 5,568 291,999 12.4 57,219 1,601,687 2.6 186,934

No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . 65,706 4.2 53,421 69,372 2.9 82,358 2,247,074 3.6 1,759,487

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . 12,381 0.8 6,463 23,872 1.0 20,688 312,034 0.5 220,014

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,324 2.1 39,628 19,018 0.8 47,276 1,136,460 1.8 1,269,925

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,503 0.5 3,526 6,619 0.3 7,950 315,685 0.5 164,746

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,498 0.9 3,804 19,863 0.8 6,444 482,895 0.8 104,802

Female householder—no spouse

 present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318,964 20.5 165,671 123,390 5.2 52,971 15,290,098 24.8 8,543,350

With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . 44,100 2.8 8,726 86,581 3.7 17,334 2,502,039 4.1 435,267

No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . 274,864 17.7 156,945 36,809 1.6 35,637 12,788,059 20.8 8,108,083

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . 16,677 1.1 7,446 11,030 0.5 5,576 890,400 1.4 366,859

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121,175 7.8 115,967 8,685 0.4 21,563 4,590,771 7.5 5,731,052

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,234 2.3 11,586 6,205 0.3 5,102 2,062,411 3.3 834,665

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,778 6.5 21,946 10,889 0.5 3,396 5,244,477 8.5 1,175,507

Average age of householder

(in years) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.8 X 58.9 38.5 X 51.4 38.4 X 55.5

Average Age Difference (in years)

Between householder and child . . . . . . 35.2 X 32.2 27.1 X 26.2 29.8 X 28.1

Between spouse3 of householder

and child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.7 X 31.1 25.1 X 24.5 30.3 X 27.9

Between partner4 of householder

and child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.1 X 25.5 24.0 X 23.4 26.5 X 23.5

X Not applicable. 1

 Child and householder do not report the same group, where race groups are: White alone, Black alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian 

alone, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone. Some Other Race alone, or either the child or householder reports multiple race groups. 2

 Child is Hispanic and householder is not Hispanic, or vice versa. 3

 For households containing a spouse of householder. 4

 For households containing an unmarried partner of the householder.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
16 U.S. Census Bureau

under 18 who lived with a White, 

non-Hispanic householder was 

higher for adopted children (71 

percent) than for both stepchildren 

(66 percent) and biological children (59 percent). The range in the 

percentages of children under 18 

who lived with a Black householder 

was relatively small—13 percent of 

adopted children and stepchildren, 

compared with 14 percent of biological children.25

Table 4 also shows the percentage 

of children under 18 who differed 

in race or Hispanic origin from the 

householder. Adopted children had 

the highest percentages who were 

of different races from the householder—24 percent for those under 

18, and 15 percent for those 18 

and over. About 13 percent of stepchildren under 18 and 10 percent 

of those 18 and over were of different races than the householder, 

compared with 7 percent of biological children under 18 years and

5 percent of these 18 and over.26

About the same percentage of 

adopted children and stepchildren 

under 18 years were Hispanic while 

the householder was not, or vice 

versa (10 percent).27 The corresponding percentage for biological 

children was lower, at 3 percent. 

Second and later marriages are 

more likely to involve spouses of 

25 Adopted children and stepchildren are 

not statistically different from each other. 26 Children may differ in race from the 

householder under this classification method 

if their parent is multiracial and the child is 

reported as being one race. Also, if the child 

has one parent who is White and one parent 

who is Black, the child may be reported as 

White and Black, in which case they would be 

included in the “Two or more races” category, and thus differ from the householder. 

Additionally, all those in the “Two or more 

races” category are automatically included in 

the “child is different race than householder” 

category. 27 Due to rounding, adopted children and 

stepchildren both equal 10 percent. These 

two groups are statistically different from 

each other.

different races or ethnicity;28 so 

it is not surprising that a higher 

percentage of stepchildren than 

biological children were of a different race or ethnicity than their 

householder parent. In addition, 

cohabiting couples are more likely 

to differ in race and/or ethnicity, so 

those who report their unmarried 

partner’s biological children as their 

stepchildren would also be more 

likely to be in interracial families.29

Living Arrangements and

Age of the Householder

Since the type of relationship 

between parent and child partly 

depends on the way the family was 

formed, the living arrangements 

of biological, step, and adopted 

children differ. Table 4 shows 

that the percentage of adopted 

children under 18 who lived with 

two married parents (73 percent) 

was higher than the percentage of 

biological children (69 percent) but 

lower than the percentage of stepchildren (79 percent). This contrast 

is expected because most stepchildren gain a stepparent when 

one of their biological parents 

remarries. 

Data in Table 4 present the current living arrangements of the 

householder and whether they 

were living with a spouse, were 

formerly married, were never married, or were living with an unmarried partner when the survey was 

taken. The marital status and living 

arrangements of parents at the 

time of the survey may differ from 

when they adopted their children. 

About 7 percent of adopted children and biological children under 

28 Stanley O. Gaines and James H. Liu. 

“Multicultural/multiracial relationships.”

In C. Hendrick and S. Hendrick (Eds.), Close 

relationships: A sourcebook, Thousand Oaks, 

CA: SAGE Publications, 2000, pp. 97–108. 29 Daphne Lofquist, Terry Lugaila, Martin 

O’Connell, and Sarah Feliz. “Households 

and Families: 2010,” 2010 Census Brief, 

C2010BR-14, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, available online at <www.census

.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-14.pdf>.

18 lived with a male householder 

who had no spouse present, compared with 15 percent of stepchildren.30 Eighty-one percent of 

these stepchildren also lived with 

their stepfather’s unmarried partner, significantly higher than the 35 

percent of children living with their 

adoptive father with no spouse 

present, or the 42 percent of 

children living with their biological 

father with no spouse present. This 

may reflect the usage of “step” to 

describe the relationship between 

an adult and their unmarried partner’s biological child. 

The percentage of children under 

18 who lived with a female householder who had no spouse present 

varied from 5 percent for stepchildren, to 21 percent for adopted 

children, to 25 percent for biological children. A higher percentage 

of stepchildren who lived with 

a householder without a spouse 

present, also lived with their parent’s unmarried partner, than did 

adopted or biological children. 

While 70 percent of children living with their stepmother with no 

spouse present also lived with their 

stepmother’s unmarried partner, 

just 14 percent of children living 

with their adoptive mother, and 16 

percent of children living with their 

biological mother, also lived with 

their mother’s unmarried partner. 

This same pattern held for children 

living with a male householder who 

had no spouse present, with 81 

percent of stepchildren, 42 percent of biological children, and 35 

percent of adopted children living 

with their father and his unmarried partner. Seven percent of the 

adopted children and 9 percent of 

the biological children under 18 

lived with a never married mother 

who was not living with a partner, 

compared with about 1 percent of 

30 Due to rounding, adopted and biological 

children both equal 7 percent. These two 

groups are statistically different from each 

other.
U.S. Census Bureau 17

each group, who lived with a never 

married father who did not live 

with a partner.31

The householders of biological 

children and stepchildren under 

18 were, on average, 39 years old, 

while householders of adopted children were about 7 years older (45 

years).32 This age difference is not 

surprising since the adoption process often takes time, and people 

who adopted in order to build their 

families tend to be older, especially if they adopted children after 

trying to have biological children. 

Adoptive parents who are also the 

biological grandparents of the child 

would tend to be older as well. 

Previous research has found that 

adoptive mothers also tend to be 

older.33 Not surprisingly, adopted 

children under 18, on average, 

had a larger age difference with 

their parent than did biological and 

stepchildren.

When comparing these estimates 

with those from Census 2000 (in 

Table 6 of the previous report), it 

is interesting to note that while 

householder parents of stepchildren were older than in 2000 

(38.5 years, compared with 37.7 

years), these parents were closer in 

age to their stepchildren on average, with a gap of 27.1 years in 

2010 compared with 28.1 years 

in 2000.34 Several factors may 

affect this gap. In the past, step 

relationships were created through 

31 Stepchildren, adopted, and biological 

children living with a never married father 

who was not living with a partner were not 

statistically different from each other. 32 Stepchildren and biological children’s 

average age of householder are statistically 

different. 33 Jo Jones, “Who Adopts? Characteristics of Women and Men Who Have Adopted 

Children,” NCHS Data Brief No. 12, National 

Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. 

2009. 34 Rose M. Kreider, “Adopted Children and 

Stepchildren: 2000,” Census 2000 Special 

Reports, CENSR-6RV, U.S. Census Bureau, 

Washington, DC, available online at 

<www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs

/censr-6.pdf>.

marriage, and those who marry 

have become an increasingly selective group, tending toward those 

who have more education, and 

who are also less likely to divorce. 

More recently, the usage of the 

term “step” to include relationships 

that do not involve marriage would 

tend to include more couples with 

lower educational attainment, who 

may be less likely to marry, but 

more likely to have their children 

at younger ages.35 In addition, the 

group of children who live with 

a stepparent and are represented 

in these data may have shifted 

since Census 2000. In Census 

2000 data, 71 percent of households with a child under 18 had 

a male householder, while in ACS 

2009–2011 data, 51 percent had a 

male householder. Stepchildren are 

more likely to live with a stepfather 

than a stepmother, so this large 

decrease in whether the husband 

was reported as the householder 

may affect the characteristics of 

the group of stepchildren who are 

shown in the data. 

Household Income and 

Educational Attainment of

the Householder

Adoptive mothers have been found 

to be more educated and to have 

higher incomes than biological 

mothers.36 American Community 

Survey data support these findings 

and show that, for children under 

18, adopted children of the householder lived in households that had 

higher median incomes than those 

of either stepchildren or biological 

children (see Table 5). 

Almost 49 percent of adopted children under 18 lived in households 

35 Gary R. Lee and Krista K. Payne, “Changing Marriage Patterns Since 1970: What’s 

Going on, and Why?” Journal of Comparative 

Family Studies, 2010, Vol. 41:4:537–555. 36 Jo Jones, “Who Adopts? Characteristics of Women and Men Who Have Adopted 

Children,” NCHS Data Brief No. 12, National 

Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. 

2009.

with incomes of $75,000 or more, 

compared with 41 percent of 

stepchildren and 40 percent of 

biological children. Fifteen percent of adopted children under 18 

lived in households with incomes 

of $150,000 or more, higher than 

either stepchildren (9 percent) or 

biological children (11 percent). 

Comparing median household 

income for these groups is another 

way to consider their relative 

affluence. While the median household income for adopted children 

under 18 ($73,000) was higher 

than that of both biological children ($60,000) and stepchildren 

($65,000), among children of the 

householder who were 18 years 

old and over, stepchildren had 

the highest household incomes, 

at about $84,000, compared with 

$76,000 for adopted children and 

$70,000 for biological children. The 

households, with children under 

18, in which adopted children and 

stepchildren of the householder 

live are a little larger, on average 

(4.8 and 5.1 people, respectively), 

than households in which biological children live (4.6 people). So the 

higher income of households with 

adopted children or stepchildren 

is spread across more people. It is 

also important to note that these 

households overlap, since families may include any combination 

of biological, step, and adopted 

children.

Adopted children also lived with 

householders who were more 

educated than the householders 

of either stepchildren or biological 

children (see Figure 5). Twenty-two 

percent of adopted children under 

18 lived with a householder with a 

bachelor’s degree, compared with 

19 percent of biological children 

and 14 percent of stepchildren. 

While 17 percent of adopted children under 18 lived with a householder with at least a graduate or 

professional school degree, just
18 U.S. Census Bureau

12 percent of biological children 

and 6 percent of stepchildren did. 

Labor Force and 

Homeownership 

The labor force participation rates 

of the householder of adopted and 

biological children under 18 were 

roughly comparable—83 percent 

of adopted children and 85 percent of biological children lived 

with a householder who was in 

the labor force. A higher percentage of stepchildren lived with a 

householder who was in the labor 

force—91 percent. Among children 

whose householders were in the 

labor force, a lower percentage of 

adopted children (5 percent) lived 

with householders who were unemployed than stepchildren

(8 percent) or biological children

(7 percent).

One commonly accepted indicator of socioeconomic well-being is 

whether a family owns its home. 

While 76 percent of adopted children under 18 years old lived with 

parents who owned their homes, 

the corresponding percentage for 

both biological and stepchildren 

Table 5.

Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship and Socioeconomic 

Characteristics of the Householder: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristics of the householder

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Number Percent Number Number Percent Number Number Percent Number

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,556,706 100.0 595,346 2,358,467 100.0 1,254,674 61,579,360 100.0 24,577,382

Household Income (in 2011 dollars)

$0 or less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,635 0.7 2,366 7,629 0.3 2,279 709,728 1.2 109,639

$1– $9,999........................ 50,504 3.2 11,619 53,699 2.3 12,547 3,396,838 5.5 618,077

$10,000–$14,999................... 42,823 2.8 12,511 57,797 2.5 14,850 2,620,410 4.3 638,187

$15,000–$24,999................... 104,774 6.7 35,157 169,637 7.2 47,316 5,824,217 9.5 1,753,926

$25,000–$34,999................... 115,884 7.4 42,573 212,875 9.0 71,160 5,799,732 9.4 2,038,812

$35,000–$49,999................... 175,963 11.3 73,827 341,952 14.5 133,901 7,754,933 12.6 3,150,104

$50,000–$74,999................... 295,069 19.0 114,301 539,510 22.9 257,970 11,029,989 17.9 4,867,029

$75,000–$99,999................... 238,839 15.3 94,401 388,942 16.5 229,481 8,229,929 13.4 3,781,325

$100,000–$149,999................. 281,650 18.1 118,087 381,833 16.2 293,112 9,137,128 14.8 4,471,365

$150,000–$199,999................. 114,506 7.4 46,690 117,695 5.0 112,724 3,475,555 5.6 1,768,439

$200,000 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126,059 8.1 43,814 86,898 3.7 79,334 3,600,901 5.8 1,380,479

Median household income . . . . . . . . . . . $73,378 X $76,240 $64,974 X $84,076 $59,905 X $70,030

Average household size . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.81 X 4.52 5.07 X 4.86 4.64 X 4.52

Educational Attainment of

the Householder

Less than high school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145,117 9.3 80,342 280,006 11.9 173,724 8,563,805 13.9 4,827,700

High school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309,421 19.9 147,239 712,839 30.2 383,469 14,000,959 22.7 7,221,300

Some college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492,876 31.7 178,221 894,491 37.9 432,632 19,860,142 32.3 7,378,413

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338,892 21.8 102,005 326,814 13.9 171,984 11,949,147 19.4 3,250,098

Graduate or professional school

degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270,400 17.4 87,539 144,317 6.1 92,865 7,205,307 11.7 1,899,871

Labor Force Participation of

the Householder

In labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,285,983 82.6 381,705 2,142,982 90.9 1,018,780 52,428,714 85.1 17,291,918

Employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,201,546 77.2 357,282 1,959,426 83.1 941,318 48,174,874 78.2 15,994,882

Unemployed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84,313 5.4 24,423 183,381 7.8 77,462 4,251,320 6.9 1,297,036

Not in labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270,723 17.4 213,641 215,485 9.1 235,894 9,150,646 14.9 7,285,464

Tenure

Owns home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,184,249 76.1 491,146 1,445,259 61.3 984,434 38,105,522 61.9 18,427,201

Rents home1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372,457 23.9 104,200 913,208 38.7 270,240 23,473,838 38.1 6,150,181

X Not applicable. 1

 Includes those who occupy without cash payment.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 19

under 18 was 62 percent and

61 percent, respectively. 

The next section of the report 

highlights particular topics that 

are of interest within the larger 

groups of stepchildren and adopted 

children. Among stepchildren, 

we use CPS data to highlight the 

use of the term “step” to describe 

relationships among parents and 

children that did not involve marriage between the stepparent and 

the child’s biological parent. We 

also explore how often biological 

parents who live with an unmarried 

partner report their partner as the 

stepparent of their child. Among 

adopted children, we highlight two 

groups that have received a lot of 

attention in the research community, as well as in the media, and 

that we can estimate with these 

data—internationally adopted 

children and transracially adopted 

children. 

STEPCHILDREN: 

INCREASING USE

OF THE TERM

Traditionally, the word “stepchild” 

was used to mean a child who 

came to be related to a person 

through marriage to the child’s parent. However, as marriage, remarriage, and cohabitation patterns 

have changed, the words “stepchild” and “stepfamily” are now 

being used to include some families that are formed by cohabitation 

rather than marriage. For example, 

unmarried people may identify the 

biological child of their current 

partner as their stepchild, and who 

may have been either previously 

married or never married.37 The 

living arrangements of householders who reported a stepchild 

living with them indicate usage of 

this more recent definition.

Using ACS data, Table 6 shows 

the distribution of households 

with stepchildren under 18 by 

the sex, marital status, and living 

arrangement of the householder. 

Households are shown separately 

for male and female householders, 

since the distribution across the 

various types of living arrangements differs by the sex of the 

stepparent. Ninety-seven percent of 

stepfathers had a partner (83 percent had a spouse and 14 percent 

had an unmarried partner). A lower 

proportion of stepmothers (94 

percent) had a partner—76 percent 

37 Rose M. Kreider. “Adopted Children and 

Stepchildren: 2000,” Census 2000 Special 

Reports, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC. 

2003.

Figure 5.

Percent of Children of the Householder Under 18 by Educational Attainment 

of the Householder: 2009–2011

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, 

see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Graduate or 

professional 

school degree

 

High school 

graduate

Some college

Bachelor's degree

17.4

6.1 11.7

21.8

13.9

19.4

31.7

37.9

32.3

19.9

30.2 22.7

9.3 11.9 13.9 Less than 

high school
20 U.S. Census Bureau

had a spouse and 18 percent had 

an unmarried partner. However, 

18 percent of stepmothers had 

an unmarried partner, higher than 

the rate for stepfathers. Together, 

255,000 stepparents who reported 

unmarried partners identified children under 18 in their households 

as stepchildren.38 These children 

were likely the biological children 

of their current partner rather than 

the biological children of their exspouse. In fact, 61 percent of the 

stepfathers and 57 percent of the 

38 In addition to the cases in which 

respondents reported household members as 

stepchildren of the householder, although the 

householder was unmarried, some of these 

family situations were created when either 

the stepparent’s marital status or the child’s 

relationship to the householder was imputed. 

However, this affects only a small proportion 

of the cases. Just 3 percent of stepchildren 

under 18 who had a never married householder received an imputed value for their 

relationship to the householder. Three percent 

of the never married householders with a 

stepchild, and 8 percent of the remaining 

unmarried householders, had an imputed 

value for their marital status. So the vast 

majority of households with unmarried stepparents were reported as such. 

stepmothers who had an unmarried 

partner had never been married. 

Lower proportions of stepparents 

who did not live with a partner 

were never married: 42 percent 

for stepfathers and 41 percent of 

stepmothers.39 These data reflect 

the changing usage of the terms 

“stepchild” and “stepfamily,” since 

they show that some householders 

considered themselves stepparents 

even though they were not married to the biological parent of the 

child in their household. Indeed, 58 

percent of the currently unmarried 

stepfathers and 53 percent of the 

currently unmarried stepmothers 

had never been married. This represents an increase from 2000, when 

51 percent of currently unmarried 

stepfathers and 41 percent of currently unmarried stepmothers had 

never been married. Research comparing well-being for stepchildren 

39 Stepfathers and stepmothers were not 

statistically different.

living with married or cohabiting 

parents found little difference.40

Table 7 takes a more detailed 

look at children who lived with at 

least one stepparent. Unlike ACS, 

CPS data include the identification of two coresident parents, 

as well as the type of relationship between the child and those 

parents, whether biological, step, 

or adoptive. This allows us a look 

at how often respondents report 

the cohabiting partner of a biological or adoptive parent as a stepparent. Of the 5.6 million children 

under 18 who lived with a parent 

who was cohabiting, 46 percent 

lived with two biological or adoptive parents. Another 46 percent 

lived with one biological or adoptive parent who was cohabiting, 

and just 6 percent lived with one 

biological or adoptive parent and 

40 Megan M. Sweeney. “Stepfather Families 

and the Emotional Well-Being of Adolescents,” 

Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2007, 

Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 33–49.

Table 6.

Households With Stepchildren Under 18 by Householder’s Living Arrangements: 

2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Living arrangements and marital status 

of the householder

Stepfather Stepmother

Number 

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1 Number 

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1

 Total households with

 stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,354,977 11,209 100.0 X 339,369 5,106 100.0 X 

Married2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,126,660 10,324 83.2 0.3 258,619 4,716 76.2 0.7 

Not married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228,317 5,080 16.9 0.3 80,750 2,589 23.8 0.7 

Has unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . 193,822 4,590 14.3 0.3 60,764 2,443 17.9 0.7 

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118,309 3,604 8.7 0.2 34,866 1,847 10.3 0.5 

 Ever married3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75,513 2,259 5.6 0.2 25,898 1,525 7.6 0.5 

No partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,495 1,925 2.5 0.1 19,986 1,425 5.9 0.4 

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,377 1,234 1.1 0.1 8,106 1,005 2.4 0.3 

 Ever married3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,118 1,472 1.5 0.1 11,880 1,056 3.5 0.3 

X Not applicable. 1

 This number, when added to or subtracted from the estimate, represents the 90 percent confidence interval around the estimate. 2

 Includes married spouse present and married spouse absent. 3

 Includes separated, widowed, and divorced.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 21

their cohabiting partner, who was 

reported as the child’s stepparent.41

To put it another way, 11 percent 

41 The percentage of children living with 

two biological or adoptive parents does not 

differ statistically from the percentage who 

lived with one biological or adoptive parent 

who was cohabiting. 

of children living with one biological or adoptive parent who was 

cohabiting (but not with the child’s 

other biological or adoptive parent) 

lived with their parent’s cohabiting 

partner who was identified as the 

child’s stepparent. 

Of the estimated 4.3 million children who lived with at least one 

stepparent, 88 percent lived with 

married parents, 64 percent with 

their biological mother and stepfather, and 19 percent with their 

biological father and stepmother. 

Table 7.

Selected Characteristics of Children Living in a Stepfamily:1 2012

(For more information about ASEC, including the source and accuracy statement, see the technical documentation accessible at 

www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar12.pdf)

Characteristics

Children 

living in 

a stepfamily,

total

Lives with

married parents

Lives with

unmarried parent(s)

Total2

Biological mother 

and stepfather,

total

Biological father 

and stepmother,

total

Total4

Lives with two 

unmarried

parents,3

total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

 Total (numbers in thousands) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,287 3,785 2,756 100.0 834 100.0 501 381 100.0 

Age of Child

Less than 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 350 248 9.0 78 9.4 113 95 25.0 

6 to 11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,435 1,234 927 33.6 242 29.0 201 159 41.8 

12 to 17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,389 2,201 1,581 57.4 514 61.7 188 126 33.1 

Presence of Siblings5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

At least 1 sibling present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,679 3,240 2,335 84.7 720 86.4 439 318 83.6 

Stepsibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,475 2,189 1,504 54.6 563 67.5 287 232 61.0 

Race of Child

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,283 2,962 2,162 78.4 632 75.8 321 263 69.1 

White alone, non-Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,519 2,310 1,631 59.2 541 64.9 209 172 45.2 

Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 482 354 12.8 111 13.3 129 92 24.2 

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 84 58 2.1 24 2.9 11 5 1.3 

All remaining single races and all race combinations . 298 258 183 6.6 66 7.9 41 20 5.3 

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864 723 591 21.4 102 12.2 141 113 29.7 

Median household income in 2011 dollars6 . . . . . . 67,966 70,216 67,893 X 78,701 X 53,292 63,380 X

Parents’ Labor Force Participation

One parent present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 X X X X X 120 X X

Mother and father in labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,696 2,417 1,719 62.4 588 70.5 279 279 73.3 

Father in labor force, mother not in labor force . . . . . . 1,056 990 742 26.9 183 22.0 66 66 17.3 

Mother in labor force, father not in labor force . . . . . . . 239 222 169 6.1 37 4.4 17 17 4.5 

Father not in labor force, mother not in labor force . . . 175 156 125 4.5 26 3.1 19 19 5.0 

Tenure

Owns home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,492 2,279 1,617 58.7 543 65.1 214 158 41.5 

Rents home7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,794 1,506 1,139 41.3 291 34.9 288 223 58.6 

X Not applicable. 1

 This table includes children who live with at least 1 stepparent. 2

 Includes 179,000 children who live with 2 stepparents and 17,000 children who live with 1 adoptive and 1 stepparent. 3

 Includes 348,000 children living with 1 biological or adoptive parent and 1 stepparent, and 33,000 living with 2 stepparents. 4

 Includes 63,000 children who live with 1 stepparent who is cohabiting, and 57,000 children who live with 1 stepparent who is not cohabiting. 5

 Includes siblings of any age. 6

 Median is based on the weighted distribution of children, rather than households. 7

 Includes those who occupy without cash payment.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2012.
22 U.S. Census Bureau

Twelve percent of children who 

lived with at least one stepparent 

lived with unmarried parents, 76 

percent of whom lived with two 

unmarried parents. 

Stepchildren living with unmarried 

parents were younger than those 

living with married parents. While 

25 percent of those living with two 

unmarried parents were under age 

6, this was true for just 9 percent 

of stepchildren living with two married parents. Most children living in 

a stepfamily have siblings present 

(85 percent). Children living with 

their married biological father and 

stepmother are more likely to have 

a stepsibling present (68 percent) 

than those living with their married 

biological mother and stepfather 

(55 percent) but not statistically 

different from those living with two 

unmarried parents (61 percent). 

While 13 percent of stepchildren 

living with married parents are 

Black, 24 percent of those living with two unmarried parents 

are Black. Hispanic stepchildren 

living in stepfamilies were also 

overrepresented in cohabiting 

two-parent families, where 30 

percent were Hispanic, compared 

with 12 percent who lived with 

their married biological father and 

stepmother, and 21 percent of 

those who lived with their married 

biological mother and stepfather. 

Perhaps reflecting a younger age 

of the parents, a larger percentage of stepchildren living with two 

unmarried parents had both their 

mother and father in the labor 

force (73 percent), compared with 

62 percent for children living with 

their married biological mother and 

stepfather. Stepchildren living with 

two unmarried parents were less 

likely to live in an owned home, 42 

percent, compared with 59 percent 

for those who lived with married 

parents. 

INTERNATIONALLY 

ADOPTED CHILDREN

Based on estimates from the 

National Survey of Adoptive Parents (NSAP), about 25 percent of 

adopted children were adopted 

internationally.42 While data that 

would allow us to compare this 

estimate to the mid-20th century 

are not available, this is likely 

a substantial increase since the 

numbers of native-born babies in 

the United States who are adoptable has decreased during this 

period, while the number of children adopted internationally has 

increased.

The adoption of children born 

abroad began mainly after World 

War II when orphaned European 

children were adopted by U.S. 

parents.43 In the 1950s, after the 

Korean War, international adoption 

became more prevalent, resulting 

in a long-term stream of Korean 

children adopted by U.S. parents. 

In the late 1970s, adoption within 

the United States increased, including the adoption of special needs 

children, which was often defined 

as children who were older or 

multiracial.44 In the next decades, 

as the availability of adoptable 

42 The sample of adoptive parents for the 

NSAP did not include those who adopt a stepchild however, so the percentage of adopted 

children who were adopted internationally is 

lower in census surveys, which represent all 

those who report an adopted child.

S. Vandiver, K. Malm, and L. Radel. Adoption 

USA: A Chartbook Based on the 2007 National 

Survey of Adoptive Parents. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Planning and Evaluation. 2009. 43 H. Alstein and R.J. Simon. Intercountry 

adoption: a multinational perspective. New 

York: Praeger. 1991. 44 Kathleen Brumble and Charlene M. 

Kampfe. “The History of Adoption in the 

United States: a Focus on the Unique Group 

of Intercountry Transracial Special Needs 

Children,” Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 

2011, Vol 24:2, pp. 157–162.

infants in the United States. fell, 

parents began increasingly to look 

overseas.45 In the 1990s, Eastern 

Europe and China expanded as 

sending countries. The increased 

availability of children for adoption 

from Eastern Europe was furthered 

by the fall of communism in the 

U.S.S.R., while the one-child policy 

in China led in part to large numbers of Chinese girls being available for international adoption.46

Globally, the United States adopts 

the largest number of children from 

abroad, although when considering 

the number of adopted children in 

proportion to the country’s population, some other countries adopt at 

a higher rate.47

The high point for international 

adoptions occurred in 2004, with 

an estimated global total of 45,000 

45 Jo Jones, “Who Adopts? Characteristics of Women and Men Who Have Adopted 

Children,” NCHS Data Brief No. 12, National 

Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. 

2009. 46 Kathleen Brumble and Charlene M. 

Kampfe. “The History of Adoption in the 

United States: a Focus on the Unique Group 

of Intercountry Transracial Special Needs 

Children,” Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 

2011, Vol 24:2, pp. 157–162. 47 Peter Selman. “Global Trends in Intercountry Adoption: 2001–2010,” Adoption 

Advocate, No. 44 (Feb), National Council for 

Adoption, Alexandria VA. 2012.

INTERNATIONALLY 

ADOPTED CHILDREN

Internationally adopted

children are defined in 

this report as foreign-born 

adopted children of the 

householder when the householder and their spouse (if 

present) are U.S. citizens by 

birth. This excludes foreignborn children who come to 

the United States with their 

biological parent who marries 

a U.S. native who then adopts 

the child. 
U.S. Census Bureau 23

international adoptions, nearly 

23,000 of which were completed 

by parents in the United States. 

Annual totals decreased after that, 

so that by 2009, fewer international adoptions occurred than in 

1998—nearly 30,000 globally in 

2009, compared with about 32,000 

in 1998.48 By the late 2000s, 

further changes in the policies of 

particular countries and the implementation of the Hague Convention 

and Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) 

had the overall effect of reducing international adoptions to the 

United States.49 The IAA took effect 

in 2008 and required that adoption agencies be accredited. As the 

largest sending country since 1995, 

China’s move in the mid 2000s 

48 Peter Selman. “The Rise and Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st Century: Global 

Trends from 2001 to 2010,” in Intercountry 

Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, 

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi, 

eds. 2012, University of Southampton, UK. 49 Jo Daugherty Bailey. “Expectations of the 

Consequences of New International Adoption 

Policy in the U.S.,” Journal of Sociology and

Social Welfare, 2009, Vol. XXXVI, No. 2,

pp. 169–184.

to restrict the eligibility criteria 

for international adoptive parents 

had a significant impact on the 

decline in all international adoptions. These restrictions went along 

with changes that had already 

been made to encourage adoption 

within China.50 In January of 2008, 

the United States halted adoptions from Guatemala, another of 

the main sending countries, while 

problems with the Guatemalan system were addressed.51 The overall 

decrease in international adoption 

was reflected in the number of 

immigrant visas issued to orphans 

coming to the United States for 

adoption, which decreased from 

about 18,000 in 2000 to 11,000 

50 Monica Dowling and Gill Brown. “Globalization and international adoption from 

China,” Child and Family Social Work, 2009, 

Vol. 14, pp. 352–361. 51 For a more detailed discussion of the 

reasons numbers of international adoptions 

fell in the 21st century, see Selman 2012. 

Peter Selman. “The Rise and Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st Century: Global 

Trends from 2001 to 2010,” in Intercountry 

Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, 

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi, 

eds., University of Southampton, UK. 2012.

in 2010.52 The global total in 2010 

was about 29,000.53

Taking advantage of the large sample size of the ACS 2009–2011 data 

file, Table 8 provides a detailed 

examination of the place of birth 

of internationally adopted children, 

while Figure 6 graphs the percent 

distribution by the current age of 

the child. Changes in the distribution by age of the child may reflect 

change over time in the most common birth countries for those under 

18. Since most adults 18 and over 

do not live with their parents, shifts 

52 Totals are from the U.S. State Department Web site at <http://adoption.state.gov

/about_us/statistics.php>. For more information about the recent decrease in international 

adoptions, see Peter Selman. “The Rise and 

Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st 

Century: Global Trends from 2001 to 2010,” 

in Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices, 

and Outcomes, Judith L. Gibbons and Karen 

Smith Rotabi, eds. University of Southampton, 

UK. 2012. 53 Peter Selman. “The Rise and Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st Century: Global 

Trends from 2001 to 2010,” in Intercountry 

Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, 

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi, 

eds., University of Southampton, UK. 2012.

Table 8.

Internationally Adopted Children Under 18 by Place of Birth and Age: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Nativity and place of birth

Total 

adopted 

children of 

householder

Under 18 years 18 years and over

Total Under 6 6 to 11 12 to 14 15 to 17 Total 18 to 24

25 and 

over

 Total1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244,869 203,656 46,569 89,284 40,850 26,953 41,213 28,457 12,756

Europe2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,608 53,089 6,066 24,146 13,856 9,021 7,519 6,299 1,220

Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,915 38,782 5,336 17,906 9,800 5,740 3,133 3,055 78

Asia2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123,853 103,986 22,977 48,452 20,868 11,689 19,867 12,906 6,961

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,696 59,327 14,337 28,894 11,776 4,320 369 369 0

Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,623 23,574 4,380 9,940 4,807 4,447 14,049 8,857 5,192

Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,133 9,747 4,612 3,469 999 667 386 262 124

Latin America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49,095 36,328 12,885 12,921 5,039 5,483 12,767 8,763 4,004

Central America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33,084 27,623 11,813 10,445 3,234 2,131 5,461 3,265 2,196

 Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,340 25,659 11,738 9,893 2,658 1,370 1,681 1,344 337

 Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,779 1,195 57 388 348 402 1,584 408 1,176

South America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,886 6,320 600 1,389 1,438 2,893 6,566 4,937 1,629

Northern America . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 227 20 113 49 45 532 114 418

1

 Includes 421 children born in Oceania, which are not shown separately. 2

 Includes areas not shown separately.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
24 U.S. Census Bureau

in the distribution for that age 

group are less closely connected 

to the total distribution by birth 

country for these adoptees. 

In 2009–2011, 13 percent of 

adopted children under 18 were 

internationally adopted. About half 

(51 percent) of the internationally 

adopted children were born in Asia, 

about one-fifth (20 percent) in Latin 

America, and about one-quarter 

(25 percent) in Europe (Figure 6). 

Fifty-seven percent of the children 

from Asia were born in China, and 

an additional 23 percent were born 

in Korea. In contrast, for adopted 

children 18 and over who were 

born in Asia and lived with their 

parents, 71 percent were born 

in Korea. Although only a small 

proportion of adults live with their 

parents, these data reflect the 

dominance of Korea as a source 

country for adopted children prior 

to the 1990s.54 In 2009–2011, the 

majority (73 percent) of internationally adopted children under 18 

from Europe were adopted from 

Russia. The majority (71 percent) of those adopted from Latin 

America were born in Guatemala, 

for children under 18. China was 

the largest single-country source 

of internationally adopted children, 

comprising about 60,000 children 

or about 30 percent (29 percent) of 

all internationally adopted children 

under 18.

54 Peter Selman. “The Rise and Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st Century: Global 

Trends from 2001 to 2010,” in Intercountry 

Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes,

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi, 

eds., University of Southampton, UK. 2012.

Characteristics of 

Internationally Adopted 

Children

A variety of factors combine to 

make internationally adopted 

children a subgroup of adopted 

children who share particular characteristics and challenges. Internationally adopted children receive 

special attention as a group, in part 

because these adoptions are often 

transracial, and so more visible to 

the public eye. Another reason for 

the high profile of international 

adoptions is the intercountry 

dynamics involved. Sending countries often establish restrictions on 

who may adopt, and many create a 

standardized process by which the 

adoptions take place. At times, the 

press have focused international 

Figure 6.

Percent Distribution of Internationally Adopted Children of the Householder 

by Age of Child and Place of Birth: 2009–2011

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, 

see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Under 6 6 to 11 12 to 17 18 and over

Other (Africa and 

Northern America)

 

Europe

Asia

Latin America

9.9 4.0 2.6 2.2

27.7

14.5 15.5

31.1

49.3

54.4

48.1

48.4

13.0

27.1 33.8

18.3
U.S. Census Bureau 25

scrutiny on the treatment of 

orphaned children in particular 

countries, resulting in heightened 

awareness of these children among 

potential adoptive parents in the 

United States. Questions among 

adoptive parents about how to best 

connect their children with their 

birth culture bring these parents 

together to form communities like 

Families with Children from China. 

In this section, we focus on the 

characteristics of internationally 

adopted children in order to highlight the particular profile of this 

subgroup. 

Table 9 shows selected characteristics of adopted children, comparing 

internationally with U.S.-native 

born adopted children. A lower percentage of internationally adopted 

children were White, non-Hispanic 

(28 percent), Black (6 percent), or 

of Two or More Races (3 percent) 

compared with 54 percent, 18 percent, and 7 percent, respectively, 

for U.S.-born adopted children. A 

Table 9.

Selected Characteristics of Internationally Adopted Children Under 18 years: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child

Internationally adopted U.S.-native adopted

Number

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1 Number

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203,656 5,876 100.0 X 1,293,846 13,721 100.0 X

Age of Child

0 to 5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46,569 2,142 22.9 0.8 312,782 6,362 24.2 0.4

6 to 11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89,284 3,303 43.8 0.9 464,153 7,235 35.9 0.4

12 to 17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,803 2,557 33.3 0.9 516,911 7,514 40.0 0.4

Race and Hispanic Origin

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69,253 2,686 34.0 1.1 842,770 11,714 65.1 0.6

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,114 1,410 5.9 0.6 233,608 6,640 18.1 0.5

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . . . . . . . . . 4,339 618 2.1 0.3 23,316 1,489 1.8 0.1

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97,606 3,742 47.9 1.3 35,991 1,948 2.8 0.2

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone . . . . 971 271 0.5 0.1 4,184 745 0.3 0.1

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,785 1,371 6.8 0.6 60,119 2,806 4.6 0.2

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,588 676 2.7 0.3 93,858 3,807 7.3 0.3

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33,157 2,168 16.3 0.9 237,297 6,134 18.3 0.4

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56,423 2,464 27.7 1.0 696,737 9,626 53.9 0.5

Child and Householder Race/Origin Difference

Different race2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158,121 5,349 64.6 1.0 284,507 7,207 15.7 0.4

Different Hispanic origin3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,478 2,604 18.2 0.8 148,461 5,215 8.2 0.3

English Ability

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157,087 4,933 100.0 X 981,064 11,072 100.0 X

Speaks non-English language at home4 . . . . . . . . . . 9,443 886 6.0 0.6 103,079 4,320 10.5 0.4

 Speaks English “very well” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,172 679 65.4 4.3 85,109 4,065 82.6 1.4

Disability Status

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157,087 4,933 100.0 X 981,064 11,072 100.0 X

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,307 1,032 7.8 0.6 127,309 4,428 13.0 0.4

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,163 428 1.4 0.3 9,321 890 1.0 0.1

 Vision disability............................. 1,217 300 0.8 0.2 12,750 1,120 1.3 0.1

 Cognitive disability5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,578 868 5.5 0.5 111,782 4,163 11.4 0.4

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,235 282 0.8 0.2 12,823 1,276 1.3 0.1

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,986 372 1.3 0.2 19,465 1,509 2.0 0.2

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,261 260 0.8 0.2 14,202 1,036 1.4 0.1

Multiple disabilities6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,820 417 1.8 0.3 33,014 1,818 3.4 0.2

1

 This figure, when added to, and subtracted from the percent, provides the 90 percent confidence interval. 2

 Child and householder do not report the same group, where race groups are: White alone, Black alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian 

alone, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone, Some Other Race alone, or either the child or householder reports multiple race groups. 3

 Child is Hispanic and householder is not Hispanic, or vice versa. 4

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 5

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 6

 This includes children with any combination of two or more of the disabilities listed above.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
26 U.S. Census Bureau

higher percentage of internationally 

adopted children were Asian—48 

percent compared with 3 percent 

of native-born adopted children. 

Sixteen percent of internationally 

adopted children were of Hispanic 

or Latino origin, compared with 18 

percent of U.S. native-born adopted 

children.

While we might expect that some of 

the internationally adopted children 

might retain their birth language if 

they were adopted at older ages, 

a lower percentage of internationally adopted children aged 5 and 

older speak a language other than 

English at home (6 percent) than 

native-born adopted children (10 

percent). Of the small percentage 

who do speak a language other 

than English, a lower percentage of 

the internationally adopted children speak English “very well” (59 

percent) than native-born adopted 

children (77 percent). These findings are based on the definition of 

“internationally adopted” children 

that excludes families where the 

foreign-born child comes to the 

United States with their biological 

parent, who then marries, and the 

new spouse adopts the child. 

While previous research using data 

from Census 2000 showed that 

internationally adopted children 

and native-born adopted children 

had comparable disability rates 

overall, ACS 2009–2011 data show 

a different pattern.55 A lower percentage of internationally adopted 

children aged 5 to 17 had at least 

one disability (8 percent) than 

native-born adopted children (13 

55 Rose M. Kreider and Philip Cohen. 

“Disability Among Internationally Adopted 

Children in the United States,” Pediatrics, 

2009, Vol. 124 No. 5, pp. 1311–1318.

percent).56 A higher percentage of 

internationally adopted children 

than native-born adopted children 

had a hearing disability. Of those 

aged 5 to 17, lower percentages 

of internationally than native-born 

adopted children had the other 

types of disabilities. A lower percentage of internationally adopted 

56 The lower rates of disability of internationally adopted children compared with U.S.- 

native adopted children in ACS 2009–2011 

data, although they had similar rates in 

Census 2000 data, may be due to compositional differences in the populations since 

disability rates differ based on birth country. 

The data are also not directly comparable 

since there were also changes in the way the 

disability questions were asked. For discussion and evaluation of the disability items on 

Census Bureau surveys and in ACS 2008, see 

Matthew W. Brault, Sharon Stern, and David 

Raglin. “Evaluation Report Covering Disability,” 2006 American Community Survey Content Test Report, 2007, U.S. Census Bureau, 

available online at <www.census.gov

/acs/www/Downloads/library/2007/2007

_Brault_01.pdf>; and Matthew W. Brault, 

“Review of changes to the measurement of 

disability in the 2008 American Community 

Survey,” U.S. Census Bureau, 2009, available 

online at <www.census.gov/people

/disability/files/2008ACS_disability.pdf>.

children (2 percent) than U.S. native 

adopted children aged 5 to 17

(3 percent) had multiple disabilities.

TRANSRACIALLY ADOPTED 

CHILDREN

Transracial adoption results in 

perhaps the most visible group of 

adoptive families. Based on the 

2007 National Survey of Adoptive 

Parents, 40 percent of adopted children (not including those adopted 

by their stepparents) were involved 

in a transracial, transethnic, or 

transcultural adoption.57 A lot of 

research has focused on this group. 

While in the past transracial adoption has at times faced opposition 

57 Sharon Vandivere, Karin Malm, and 

Laura Radel. Adoption USA: A Chartbook 

Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents, U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2009. Keep 

in mind that this estimate does not include 

parents who adopt their stepchildren.

TRANSRACIALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN

In this report, children of the householder are considered transracially 

adopted if the householder parent and their adopted child are of different race or origin groups, where the groups are:

White alone, non-Hispanic

Black alone, non-Hispanic

Asian or Pacific Islander alone, non-Hispanic

American Indian and Alaska Native alone, non-Hispanic

Some other race alone, non-Hispanic

White/Black

White/Asian

White/Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander

White/American Indian and Alaska Native

White/Some Other Race

Hispanic

OR either parent or child is some other multiracial combination.
U.S. Census Bureau 27

and restrictions,58 the Multiethnic 

Placement Act of 1994 sought 

to reduce such barriers. Debate 

continues over whether or how 

much race or culture should be a 

factor when children are matched 

with adoptive parents. An assessment after the passing of the 1994 

Multiethnic Placement Act found 

that transracial adoptions through 

the public foster care system went 

from 11 percent of adoptions in 

1995 to 15 percent in 2004.59 However, this increase has not eliminated the overrepresentation of 

African American children in foster 

care.60

International adoption has resulted 

in increases in interracial families.61 

Baden et al. estimated that 80 to 85 

percent of international adoptions 

were transracial, and that about

40 percent of all adoptions by

U.S. parents were transracial.62

In 2009–2011, there were 438,000 

transracially adopted children 

under the age of 18, or 28 percent of all adopted children under 

18. Table 10 profiles selected 

58 The Indian Child Welfare Act (PL 95-608) 

was passed in 1978 to govern the placement 

of American Indian children, since a relatively 

high number were placed outside of reservations. 59 Mary Eschelbach Hansen and Rita J. 

Simon. “Transracial Placement in Adoptions 

with Public Agency Involvement: What Can 

We Learn from the AFCARS Data?” Adoption 

Quarterly, 2004, Vol. 8:2, pp. 45–55. 60 See McRoy and Griffin, 2012, and 

Jacobson et al., 2012, for more details about 

the history of transracial adoption within the 

United States. Ruth McRoy and Amy Griffin. 

“Transracial Adoption Policies and Practices,” 

Adoption and Fostering, 2012, Vol. 36, Nos. 

3&4, pp. 38–49. Also Laura Argys and Brian 

Duncan. “Economic Incentives and Foster Care 

Adoption,” Demography, 2013, Vol 50, No. 3, 

pp. 933–954.

Cardell K. Jacobson, Leila Nielsen, and 

Andrea Hardeman. “Family Trends and

Transracial Adoption in the United States,” 

Adoption Quarterly, 2012, Vol. 15, pp. 73–87. 61 Hiromi Ishizawa, Catherine T. Kenney, 

Kazuyo Kubo, and Gillian Stevens. “Constructing Interracial Families Through Intercountry 

Adoption,” Social Science Quarterly, 2006, 

Vol. 87, No. 5., pp. 1207–1224. 62 Amanda L. Baden, Lisa M. Treweeke, and 

Muninder K. Ahluwalia. “Reclaiming Culture: 

Reculturation of Transracial and International 

Adoptees,” Journal of Counseling and Development, 2012, Vol. 90, pp. 387–399. 

demographic characteristics of 

transracially adopted children 

under 18 compared with their other 

adopted counterparts. Transracially adopted children tended 

to be younger than other adopted 

children. Eighteen percent of 

transracially adopted children were 

between the ages of 3 and 5, while 

this was true for 14 percent of 

other adopted children. Twenty-one 

percent of other adopted children 

were aged 15 to 17, compared with 

15 percent of transracially adopted 

children. This likely reflects the 

fact that many of the transracially 

adopted children are internationally adopted, and may have been 

adopted at a younger age than 

their U.S. native-born counterparts, 

who would also be more likely to 

be of the same race as their parent. 

The race distributions of the two 

groups were markedly different. 

The majority (78 percent) of adoptive householders in the United 

States are White (see Table 4), and 

65 percent of same-race adopted 

children are White. For the transracially adopted children, 28 percent 

were Asian or Pacific Islander, 15 

percent were Black, 10 percent 

were White/Black, and 1 percent 

were Some other race.63 On federal 

surveys, race is a separate question 

from whether or not the respondent is Hispanic. For transracially 

adopted children, 30 percent were 

reported as Hispanic, while 14 

percent of other adopted children 

were reported as Hispanic. Thirtysix percent of transracially adopted 

children differed from their parent 

in terms of whether or not they 

were Hispanic. 

Overall, 37 percent of the transracially adopted children were foreign born, compared with 9 percent 

of their other adopted counterparts. Ten percent of transracially 

63 Black transracially and other adopted 

children are not statistically different.

and other adopted children had at 

least one disability.64 For transracially and other adopted children, 

the only categories of disability 

that differed statistically between 

these two groups were hearing and

cognitive disabilities.

Characteristics of the households 

in which the children live and 

characteristics of their adoptive 

parents are shown in Table 11. A 

higher percentage of transracially 

adopted children lived with married 

parents—77 percent compared with 

71 percent of their other adopted 

counterparts. The next largest 

group of children lived with their 

mother who did not have a spouse 

present—18 percent of the transracially adopted children and 

22 percent of the other adopted 

children.

Transracially adopted children lived 

in households with relatively higher 

income than their same-race counterparts. While 44 percent of them 

lived in households with at least 

$100,000 in income, this was true 

for 30 percent of other adopted 

children. Household

size was a little larger for

transracially adopted children,

at 4.9 people, compared with

4.8 for other adopted children. 

Household poverty rates for the 

two groups showed the same

contrast, with 8 percent of

transracially adopted children 

living in a household in poverty, 

compared with 17 percent of other 

adopted children.

A higher percentage of transracially 

adopted children than same-race 

adopted children lived with parents 

who had advanced educational 

levels. Fifty-four percent of transracially adopted children lived with 

a parent who had at least a Bachelor’s degree, compared with 33 

64 The percentage of transracially and 

other adopted children with at least one disability are not statistically different.
28 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 10.

Characteristics of Transracially Adopted Children Under 18: 2009–2011 

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child

Transracially adopted children Other adopted children

Number

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1 Number

Margin of 

error1 Percent

Margin of 

error1

 Total children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437,665 10,804 100.0 X 1,119,041 13,264 100.0 X

Age of Child

0–2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,580 2,077 8.1 0.4 101,508 3,415 9.1 0.3

3–5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,280 3,207 18.1 0.6 153,470 4,759 13.7 0.4

6–8 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85,315 3,293 19.5 0.6 189,549 4,192 16.9 0.3

9–11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86,811 3,746 19.8 0.6 211,387 4,981 18.9 0.4

12–14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83,819 2,937 19.2 0.6 229,532 5,143 20.5 0.3

15–17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66,860 2,501 15.3 0.5 233,595 4,602 20.9 0.4

Race and Hispanic Origin of Child

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,613 2,277 7.0 0.5 731,479 10,271 65.4 0.6

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,125 3,500 15.3 0.7 175,010 6,027 15.6 0.5

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . . . . . 9,881 1,054 2.3 0.2 9,701 1,033 0.9 0.1

Asian or Pacific Islander alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123,946 4,189 28.3 1.3 34,004 1,762 3.0 0.2

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,095 591 0.9 0.1 1,490 620 0.1 0.1

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,384 3,266 16.1 0.6 5,897 722 0.5 0.1

White-Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,649 2,331 9.5 0.4 983 388 0.1 0.0

White-American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . 6,727 970 1.5 0.2 2,255 380 0.2 0.0

White-Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,085 1,059 2.3 0.2 824 286 0.1 0.0

White-Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander . . . . . 1,410 422 0.3 0.1 120 118 0.0 0.0

White-Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 208 0.2 0.0 13 20 0.0 0.0

Other multiple races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,733 1,102 2.2 0.2 1,702 444 0.2 0.0

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131,621 5,206 30.1 0.8 161,460 5,944 14.4 0.5

Child Hispanic, householder non-Hispanic, or 

child non-Hispanic, householder Hispanic . . . . . 157,275 5,775 35.9 0.9 X X X X

Foreign born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159,829 5,300 36.5 0.8 103,031 3,941 9.2 0.3

Disability Status

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350,425 8,836 80.1 0.6 918,102 11,509 82.0 0.4

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,333 2,300 9.7 0.5 110,418 3,872 9.9 0.3

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,399 712 1.2 0.2 10,605 1,124 0.9 0.1

 Vision disability.......................... 5,202 694 1.2 0.2 12,548 1,031 1.1 0.1

 Cognitive disability2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33,821 1,978 7.7 0.4 92,463 3,387 8.3 0.3

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,383 546 1.0 0.1 10,749 1,084 1.0 0.1

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,463 692 1.5 0.2 16,923 1,344 1.5 0.1

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,352 576 1.0 0.1 11,297 871 1.0 0.1

Multiple disabilities3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,186 932 2.6 0.2 27,642 1,533 2.5 0.1

X Not applicable. 1

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 2

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 3

 This includes children aged 5 to 17 with any combination of two or more of any of the disabilities.

Note: Due to rounding, some margin of errors round to zero, even though they are not actually zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 29

Table 11.

Characteristics of the Adoptive Parent of Adopted Children Under 18: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic

Transracially adopted children Other adopted children

Number

Margin 

of error1 Percent

Margin 

of error1 Number

Margin 

of error1 Percent

Margin 

of error1

 Total children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437,665 10,836 100.0 X 1,846,418 13,304 100.0 X

Living Arrangement of the Adoptive Parent

Married couple households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338,851 8,986 77.4 0.8 797,356 11,329 71.3 0.6

Male adoptive parent—no spouse present . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,582 1,951 4.9 0.4 79,953 3,585 7.1 0.3

 With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,961 1,036 1.8 0.2 27,868 2,005 2.5 0.2

 No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,621 1,513 3.1 0.3 52,085 2,945 4.7 0.3

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,881 677 0.4 0.2 10,500 1,567 0.9 0.1

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,713 948 1.8 0.2 24,611 1,914 2.2 0.2

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,553 475 0.4 0.1 5,950 1,134 0.5 0.1

 Never married.................................. 2,474 604 0.6 0.1 11,024 1,243 1.0 0.1

Female adoptive parent—no spouse present . . . . . . . . . . . 77,232 3,346 17.6 0.7 241,732 6,756 21.6 0.5

 With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,305 1,501 2.8 0.3 31,795 2,203 2.8 0.2

 No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64,927 3,017 14.8 0.6 209,937 6,625 18.8 0.5

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,659 548 0.6 0.1 14,018 1,619 1.3 0.1

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,657 1,708 7.0 0.4 90,518 3,758 8.1 0.3

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,684 858 1.5 0.2 29,550 2,242 2.6 0.2

 Never married.................................. 24,927 1,845 5.7 0.4 75,851 3,675 6.8 0.3

Household Income (in 2011 dollars)

$0 or less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,459 419 0.3 0.1 9,176 1,539 0.8 0.1

$1–$14,999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,739 2,033 3.1 0.4 79,588 3,947 7.1 0.3

$15,000–$24,999.................................. 15,998 1,616 3.7 0.4 88,776 3,856 7.9 0.3

$25,000–$34,999.................................. 22,993 1,687 5.3 0.4 92,891 4,720 8.3 0.4

$35,000–$49,999.................................. 37,633 2,345 8.6 0.5 138,330 4,912 12.4 0.4

$50,000–$74,999.................................. 80,939 4,366 18.5 0.8 214,130 5,153 19.1 0.5

$75,000–$99,999.................................. 72,937 2,938 16.7 0.6 165,902 4,463 14.8 0.4

$100,000–$149,999................................ 99,196 3,869 22.7 0.7 182,454 5,518 16.3 0.4

$150,000–$199,999................................ 41,487 2,251 9.5 0.5 73,019 2,839 6.5 0.2

$200,000 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,284 2,658 11.7 0.6 74,775 3,284 6.7 0.3

Median household income in 2011 dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . $90,189 1,456 X X $67,053 684 X X

Average household size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.92 0.05 X X 4.77 0.03 X X

In poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,212 2,775 8.0 0.6 184,480 6,541 16.5 0.5

Educational Attainment of the Adoptive Parent

Less than high school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,012 1,548 3.4 0.3 130,105 4,697 11.6 0.4

High school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57,536 3,109 13.1 0.6 251,885 6,934 22.5 0.6

Some college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127,422 4,471 29.1 0.8 365,454 7,010 32.7 0.5

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120,862 4,616 27.6 0.7 218,030 5,621 19.5 0.5

Graduate or professional school degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116,833 4,109 26.7 0.7 153,567 4,720 13.7 0.4

Labor Force Participation of the Adoptive Parent

In labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370,960 9,638 84.8 0.6 915,023 11,154 81.8 0.4

Employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352,399 9,317 80.5 0.8 849,147 10,385 75.9 0.5

Unemployed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,561 2,117 4.2 0.5 65,752 3,201 5.9 0.3

Not in labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66,705 3,148 15.2 0.6 204,018 5,805 18.2 0.4

Tenure of the Adoptive Parent

Owns home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372,418 9,557 85.1 0.8 811,831 12,021 72.5 0.7

Rents home2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65,247 3,980 14.9 0.8 307,210 8,566 27.5 0.7

X Not applicable. 1

 This figure, added to, or subtracted from the percent, provides the 90 percent confidence interval. 2

 Includes those who occupy without cash payment.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
30 U.S. Census Bureau

percent of other adopted children. 

Indeed, 27 percent of the transracially adopted children had a parent 

with a graduate or professional 

degree, while this was true for 

14 percent of their other adopted 

counterparts. The higher household 

income, lower poverty rates, and 

higher educational attainment of 

parents of transracially adopted 

children makes sense given the 

higher proportion of these children who were also internationally 

adopted. International adoption 

usually costs more than domestic 

adoption through the foster care 

system, or the adoption of stepchildren, and parents who adopt 

internationally have been found to 

be better off, on average.65,66

Transracially adopted children 

more often lived with a parent who 

was employed (81 percent) than 

did other adopted children (76 

percent). A higher percentage of 

transracially adopted children lived 

in homes owned by their parent 

(85 percent) than did other adopted 

children (73 percent). 

HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION: 

TYPES OF CHILDREN IN 

HOUSEHOLDS

How many households have 

adopted children and what combinations of children live in 

households? Of the 34.7 million 

households in 2010 that contained 

householders’ children under 18, 

most (90 percent) contained biological children only; about 2 percent contained stepchildren only; 

and another 4 percent contained 

both biological and stepchildren 

(see Table 12). Another 2 percent 

65 Hiromi Ishizawa and Kazuyo Kubo. “Factors Affecting Adoption Decisions: Child and 

Parental Characteristics,” Journal of Family 

Issues, 35:627, 2014. 66 Child Welfare Information Gateway. 

(2011). Costs of adopting. Washington, DC: 

U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, Children’s Bureau, available online

at <www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/s_cost/s

_costs.pdf#page=4&view=Adoption-Specific 

Expenses>.

contained only adopted children of 

the householder, and an additional 

2 percent contained both adopted 

and biological children. 

Among the 1.1 million households containing the householders’ adopted children under 18, 

75 percent had just one adopted 

child, while 19 percent had two 

adopted children. Six percent of 

these households had three or 

more adopted children. In addition, 

8 percent of households with an 

adopted child of the householder 

were three-generation households, 

including either a householder who 

had both a parent or parent-in-law 

and an adopted child, or a householder who had both an adopted 

child and a grandchild in the same 

household.

Table 12 shows the number of 

households with children of the 

householder that were composed 

of people of different races or were 

made up of both Hispanics and 

non-Hispanics. In the vast majority 

of these households (88 percent), 

all members were of the same race. 

Of the 1.1 million households with 

adopted children, 70 percent had 

all members of the same race. The 

30 percent of households with 

adopted children that contained 

members of different races compared with 18 percent in 2000. 

The increase in the adoption of 

foreign-born children by U.S. residents played a large role in creating these households and in the 

increase from 2000 to 2010. Of the 

33.5 million households that did 

not contain adopted children, 12 

percent included people of different 

race groups. Nearly all households 

with children of the householder 

were composed of either all

Hispanic or all non-Hispanic 

members (93 percent); 170,000 

households with adopted children 

contained both Hispanics and nonHispanics, representing 15 percent 

of households with adopted 

children.

SUMMARY

This report has provided a portrait 

of adopted children and stepchildren. While these data are crosssectional and do not show the 

specific circumstances that lead 

to children living with an adoptive parent or stepparent, they do 

allow us to see differences in the 

characteristics of adopted, step, 

and biological children. Overall, we 

found that some of the characteristics of the groups reflect the way 

the children joined their families. 

For example, adopted children and 

stepchildren tended to be older 

than biological children, since it 

often requires some time for the 

adoption process to take place, 

or for the repartnering of parents 

that results in living with a stepchild. Similarly, adopted children 

were less likely than the other two 

groups to be White, non-Hispanic, 

reflecting the overrepresentation 

of these children in the foster care 

system, as well as among internationally adopted children. Stepchildren had the highest percentage White, non-Hispanic, which 

is related to the fact that Whites 

remarry more often than other race 

groups.67 While adopted children 

had the highest prevalence of disability, their households also had 

more economic resources. Adopted 

children lived in households that 

had higher incomes, a lower 

percentage in poverty, a higher percentage with a parent with at least 

a bachelor’s degree, and a higher 

percentage who owned their homes 

than stepchildren or biological 

children. It is possible that this difference reflects the fact that often, 

significant financial resources are 

67 Matthew D. Bramlett and William D. 

Mosher. “Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and 

Remarriage in the United States,” National 

Center for Health Statistics, Vital Health Statistics 23:22. 2002.
U.S. Census Bureau 31

required in order to finalize an 

adoption. 

The third section of the report provided a look at specific topics for 

stepchildren and adopted children. 

Comparing ACS data with Census 

2000, we found an increase in the 

percentage of stepfathers and stepmothers who were never married. 

Fifty-eight percent of the currently 

unmarried stepfathers and 53 

percent of the currently unmarried 

stepmothers in ACS data had never 

been married, an increase from 

Census 2000, when 51 percent of 

currently unmarried stepfathers 

and 41 percent of currently unmarried stepmothers had never been 

married. Using the direct reports 

of the relationship between two 

coresident parents and the child in 

CPS data, we explored how often 

the cohabiting partner of a biological or adoptive parent is reported 

as the stepparent of the child. We 

found that 11 percent of children 

living with one biological or adoptive parent who was cohabiting 

(but not with the child’s other 

biological or adoptive parent) had 

their parent’s cohabiting partner 

identified as their stepparent. 

Table 12.

Households by Child and Householder Relationship: 2010 

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod

/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf)

Characteristic Number Percent

 Total households with children under 181 . . . . . . . . . 34,743,604 100.0 

Households by Type of Child—Householder Relationship

One relationship type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,585,343 93.8 

Adopted children only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590,790 1.7 

Stepchildren only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766,215 2.2 

Biological children only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,228,338 89.9 

Two relationship types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,129,712 6.1 

Adopted and biological children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564,602 1.6 

Adopted children and stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,994 0.1 

Biological children and stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,540,116 4.4 

Three relationship types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Biological children, adopted children, and stepchildren . . . . . . 28,549 0.1 

Households with adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,143,098 3.3 

One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857,457 2.5 

Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217,544 0.6 

Three or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68,097 0.2 

Households with stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,038,503 5.9 

One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,439,836 4.1 

Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475,731 1.4 

Three or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122,936 0.4 

Three generation households2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,593,311 4.6 

Contains adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,413 0.3 

Contains stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123,597 0.4 

Racial Composition of the Household

All household members of same race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,473,845 87.7 

Contains adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867,111 2.5 

Contains stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,953,662 5.6 

Contains members of different races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,269,759 12.3 

Contains adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341,824 1.0 

Contains stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406,212 1.2 

Hispanic Origin Composition of the Household

All household members of same origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32,217,405 92.7 

Contains adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,038,892 3.0 

Contains stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,081,164 6.0 

Contains members of differing origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,526,199 7.3 

Contains adopted children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170,043 0.5 

Contains stepchildren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278,710 0.8 

1

 These households contain at least one child of the householder who is under 18, but other children of the householder who are present may be of any age. 2

 Householder had both a parent/parent-in-law and a child in the household, or householder had both a child and grandchild in the household.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census.
32 U.S. Census Bureau

Finally, the report focused on two 

subgroups of adopted children 

that are often highlighted in the 

media: internationally adopted 

children and transracially adopted 

children. ACS data are large enough 

to create a profile of the relatively 

small group of internationally 

adopted children. Compared with 

U.S. native-born adopted children, 

internationally adopted children 

were more often Asian, and less 

often White, non-Hispanic, Black 

or Hispanic. A lower percentage of 

internationally adopted children 

aged 5 to 17 had at least one disability than native-born adopted 

children. 

Transracially adopted children 

(over a third of whom were foreign 

born) tended to be younger than 

other adopted children. The largest 

proportion of transracially adopted 

children were Asian (28 percent), 

while another 25 percent were 

either Black or Black/White. Among 

adopted children, transracially 

adopted children tended to live in 

households with higher socioeconomic resources. Compared 

with U.S.-native adopted children, 

a higher percentage of transracially 

adopted children lived in households with household incomes of at 

least $100,000, an owned home, or 

a parent with a graduate or professional degree. A lower percentage 

of transracially adopted children 

lived in poverty. 

ACCURACY OF

THE ESTIMATES

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 indicated. 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 is designed, how 

respondents interpret questions, 

how able and willing respondents 

are to provide correct answers, and 

how accurately the answers are 

coded and classified. The Census 

Bureau employs quality control procedures throughout the production 

process—including overall survey 

design, question wording, review 

of interviewers’ and coders’ work, 

and statistical review of reports—to 

minimize these errors. The Decennial Census data is a 100 percent 

sample, therefore they are not 

subject to statistical testing.

The Current Population Survey 

weighting procedure uses ratio estimation, whereby sample estimates 

are adjusted to independent estimates of the national population by 

age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin. 

This weighting partially corrects 

for bias due to undercoverage, 

but biases may still be present; for 

example, when people who are 

missed by the survey differ from 

those interviewed in ways other 

than age, race, sex, and Hispanic 

origin. How this weighting procedure affects other variables in the 

survey is not precisely known. All 

of these considerations affect comparisons across different surveys or 

data sources.

For further information on statistical standards and the computation 

and use of standard errors, go to 

<www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc

/cps/cpsmar12.pdf> or contact the 

Census Bureau’s Demographic

Statistical Methods Division via 

e-mail at <dsmd.source.and

.accuracy@census.gov>.

The final ACS population estimates 

are adjusted in the weighting procedure for coverage error by controlling specific survey estimates to 

independent population controls by 

age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin. 

The final ACS estimates of housing 

units are controlled to independent 

estimates of total housing. This 

weighting partially corrects for 

bias due to over or undercoverage, 

but biases may still be present; for 

example, when people who are 

missed by the survey differ from 

those interviewed in ways other 

than age, race, sex, and Hispanic 

origin. How this weighting procedure affects other variables in the 

survey is not precisely known. All 

of these considerations affect comparisons across different surveys or 

data sources.

For further information on the ACS 

sample, weighting procedures, 

sampling error, nonsampling error, 

and quality measures from the ACS, 

see <www.census.gov/acs

/www/Downloads/data

_documentation/Accuracy

/MultiyearACSAccuracyofData2011

.pdf>.

Data on relationship to the householder from the 2010 Census

Summary File 1 provide information 

at the state level and below and are 

available on the Internet at

<factfinder2.census.gov/main

.html> and on DVD. Information

on confidentiality protection,

nonsampling error, and definitions 

is available on the Census Bureau’s 

Internet site at <www.census.gov

/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf>.

For more information about the 

2010 Census, including data products, call the Customer Services 

Center at 1-800-923-8282. You can 

also visit the Census Bureau’s

Question and Answer Center at 

<ask.census.gov> to submit your 

questions online.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Rose M. Kreider and Daphne A. 

Lofquist, Adopted Children and 

Stepchildren: 2010, Current Population Reports, P20-572, U.S. Census 

Bureau, Washington, DC. 2014. 
U.S. Census Bureau 33

Appendix Table A.

Margin of Error for Table 3a, Selected Characteristics of the Householder’s Children 

Under 18 by Type of Relationship and Sex of Child: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,660 9,875 10,427 19,467 12,540 13,204 43,354 26,759 27,042

Age

Under 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,772 1,325 1,131 830 587 636 14,164 11,434 11,076

1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,384 1,564 1,746 1,479 1,043 966 16,521 11,562 11,188

2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,629 1,662 1,562 1,756 1,192 1,234 16,248 11,297 12,151

3 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,615 1,642 1,976 2,298 1,691 1,369 16,539 12,092 11,086

4 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,853 1,948 1,919 2,713 1,944 1,767 17,113 13,214 11,502

5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,784 1,989 2,047 3,060 1,996 1,984 18,991 13,520 13,502

6 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,590 1,649 2,026 3,163 2,304 2,133 17,946 12,796 11,290

7 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,902 1,930 2,301 3,612 2,387 2,437 16,004 12,070 11,283

8 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,935 1,923 2,246 3,645 2,197 2,415 18,012 13,398 11,391

9 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,346 2,162 2,109 3,536 2,923 2,676 17,777 11,020 13,559

10 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,742 1,939 1,909 4,362 2,997 2,900 16,320 11,495 11,514

11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,126 2,062 2,166 3,993 2,883 2,980 16,829 12,651 11,185

12 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,411 2,456 2,398 4,892 3,117 3,510 17,515 12,050 12,325

13 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,928 2,086 1,795 4,772 3,522 3,382 16,287 11,202 11,362

14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,101 2,217 1,922 4,262 3,257 2,869 18,060 11,284 11,527

15 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,958 2,140 1,951 3,712 2,630 3,072 15,635 11,039 10,789

16 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,407 1,919 1,596 4,639 3,251 3,179 14,178 11,066 10,331

17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,124 1,699 2,254 5,136 3,502 3,090 17,151 10,891 11,317

Race and Hispanic Origin

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,766 7,386 8,165 15,766 9,596 10,233 47,468 27,127 27,777

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . 7,168 4,511 4,342 7,056 3,865 5,093 26,969 15,907 16,746

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . 1,603 1,140 1,020 1,723 1,251 952 7,527 5,002 4,453

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,482 2,004 3,661 2,352 1,732 1,540 11,545 6,818 7,165

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 545 526 660 467 382 3,569 2,365 1,936

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,188 1,934 2,202 5,593 3,174 3,442 27,687 15,373 16,274

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,941 2,249 2,592 4,152 2,640 2,828 23,575 12,857 14,341

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . 7,298 4,122 4,946 9,832 5,964 6,378 22,845 13,653 14,704

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . 10,598 6,522 6,517 13,554 8,713 8,180 32,016 17,688 19,988

Nativity and English Ability

Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,721 8,576 8,693 18,650 12,075 12,425 42,006 27,223 26,602

Foreign born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,668 3,674 4,334 3,800 2,234 2,844 17,423 11,090 11,087

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,765 3,074 3,741 3,662 2,118 2,804 16,471 10,383 10,304

 Speaks non-English language at home1 . 2,716 1,499 1,829 3,102 1,942 2,355 15,169 9,473 9,852

 Speaks English very well . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,974 964 1,555 2,597 9,097 1,794 11,939 9,097 7,243

Disability Status1

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,697 8,503 8,763 18,938 11,982 12,490 34,855 21,591 22,123

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,439 3,147 2,335 4,099 3,017 2,284 14,755 12,117 8,255

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,103 787 734 1,114 756 747 6,118 4,538 3,589

 Vision disability...................... 1,118 816 942 1,311 825 844 5,660 4,352 3,758

 Cognitive disability2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,224 2,976 2,008 3,589 2,766 1,819 11,851 10,122 6,475

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,326 875 974 1,148 833 739 5,050 4,284 3,643

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,681 1,086 985 1,379 1,109 775 6,064 5,393 3,598

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,109 856 629 1,028 714 656 3,523 3,026 2,159

Multiple disabilities3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,950 1,328 1,224 1,646 1,310 964 7,112 6,375 4,212

In poverty4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,308 3,962 4,877 8,376 5,650 4,814 87,639 45,865 46,506

1

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 2

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 3

 This includes children with any combination of two or more of the disabilities listed above. 4

 Household poverty level.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
34 U.S. Census Bureau

Appendix Table B.

Margin of Error for Table 3b, Percent Distribution of Selected Characteristics of 

Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship and Sex of Child: 2009–2011

(In percent. For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census

.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of child Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X X X X X X

Age

Under 1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

1 year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

2 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

3 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

4 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

5 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

6 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

7 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

8 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

9 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

10 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

12 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0

13 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0

14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0

15 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

16 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0

17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0

Race and Hispanic Origin

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.1

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.1

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.1

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.1

Nativity and English Ability

Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

Foreign born 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X X X X X X

 Speaks non-English language at home1 . 1.1 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.6 0.3 0.4 0.3

 Speaks English very well . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 3.7 2.7 1.9 2.6 2.0 0.4 0.6 0.6

Disability Status1

Aged 5 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X X X X X X

At least one disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.0

 Hearing disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

 Vision disability...................... 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

 Cognitive disability2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0

 Ambulatory disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

 Self-care disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

 Independent living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

Multiple disabilities3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0

In poverty4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.2

X Not applicable. 1

 These questions were asked only of people aged 5 and over. 2

 The question asks if the person has difficulty learning, remembering, or concentrating. 3

 This includes children with any combination of 2 or more of the disabilities listed above. 4

 Household poverty level.

Note: Due to rounding, some margin of errors round to zero, even though they are not actually zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 35

Appendix Table C.

Margin of Error for Table 4, Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship, 

Age, and Selected Characteristics of the Householder: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristic of householder

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Number Percent Number Number Percent Number Number Percent Number

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,660 X 8,179 19,467 X 12,603 43,354 X 53,387

Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,659 0.4 7,437 15,890 0.4 9,519 49,845 0.1 49,108

Black or African American alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,295 0.4 3,046 7,162 0.3 5,972 29,174 0.0 23,632

American Indian and Alaska Native alone . . . . . . . 1,306 0.1 866 2,031 0.1 1,150 8,515 0.0 5,774

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,100 0.1 1,409 2,302 0.1 1,610 11,690 0.0 12,387

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander

alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 0.1 428 797 0.0 438 4,907 0.0 2,314

Some other race alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,464 0.2 1,428 4,651 0.2 3,142 27,888 0.0 14,873

Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,913 0.1 814 2,483 0.1 1,499 16,484 0.0 8,401

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,167 0.4 3,213 8,128 0.3 5,580 29,572 0.0 21,358

White alone, not Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,462 0.5 6,622 14,148 0.4 8,720 44,004 0.1 41,964

Child and Householder Race/Origin Difference

Different race1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,232 0.5 3,653 7,642 0.3 4,187 29,016 0.0 12,425

Different Hispanic origin2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,775 0.3 1,996 6,383 0.3 3,504 23,878 0.0 7,591

Living Arrangement of the Householder

Married couple households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,498 0.5 6,917 15,808 0.3 12,082 93,947 0.2 39,066

Male householder—no spouse present . . . . . . . . . 3,953 0.3 2,324 8,587 0.3 4,503 34,968 0.1 18,092

With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,335 0.2 848 7,813 0.3 2,888 17,922 0.0 4,490

No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,358 0.2 2,160 3,230 0.1 3,315 22,807 0.0 16,987

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,589 0.1 964 1,886 0.1 1,736 9,708 0.0 6,180

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,194 0.1 1,891 1,860 0.1 2,322 15,071 0.0 14,778

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,230 0.1 651 883 0.0 923 8,016 0.0 4,952

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,423 0.1 671 1,994 0.1 985 11,775 0.0 3,762

Female householder—no spouse present . . . . . . . 7,638 0.4 3,614 4,289 0.2 2,762 75,247 0.1 38,203

With an unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,476 0.2 1,144 3,907 0.2 1,658 26,771 0.0 8,337

No unmarried partner present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,411 0.4 3,732 2,533 0.1 2,092 66,403 0.1 37,601

 Married—spouse absent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,844 0.1 1,002 1,394 0.1 794 15,483 0.0 8,012

 Divorced or widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,119 0.3 3,231 1,085 0.0 1,481 35,384 0.1 30,635

 Separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,440 0.2 1,380 925 0.0 853 24,672 0.0 12,462

 Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,364 0.3 1,567 17,912 0.1 746 8,627,165 0.1 14,911

Average Age of Householder (in years) . . . . . . 0.1 X 0.2 0.1 X 0.1 0.0 X 0.0

Average Age Difference (in years)

Between householder and child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1 X 0.1 0.1 X 0.1 0.0 X 0.0

Between spouse3 of householder and child . . . . . . 0.1 X 0.1 0.0 X 0.1 0.0 X 0.0

Between partner4 of householder and child . . . . . . 0.3 X 0.9 0.1 X 0.3 0.0 X 0.1

X Not applicable. 1

 Child and householder do not report the same group, where race groups are: White alone, Black alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian 

alone, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone, Some Other Race alone, or either the child or householder reports multiple race groups. 2

 Child is Hispanic and householder is not Hispanic, or vice versa. 3

 For households containing a spouse of householder. 4

 For households containing an unmarried partner of the householder.

Note: Due to rounding, some margin of errors round to zero, even though they are not actually zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
36 U.S. Census Bureau

Appendix Table D.

Margin of Error for Table 5, Householder’s Children Under 18 by Type of Relationship 

and Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Householder: 2009–2011

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Characteristics of the householder

Adopted children Stepchildren Biological children

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Under

18 years 

18 years 

and over

Number Percent Number Number Percent Number Number Percent Number

 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,660 X 8,179 19,467 X 12,603 43,354 X 53,387

Household Income (in 2011 dollars)

$0 or less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,625 0.1 618 1,232 0.1 656 14,726 0.0 4,525

$1–$9,999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,225 0.2 1,097 3,391 0.1 1,204 33,346 0.1 9,393

$10,000–$14,999........................ 3,304 0.2 1,255 3,064 0.1 1,236 28,591 0.0 9,010

$15,000–$24,999........................ 4,085 0.3 2,043 4,674 0.2 2,398 46,591 0.1 15,553

$25,000–$34,999........................ 5,283 0.3 1,953 7,152 0.3 3,099 40,007 0.1 14,335

$35,000–$49,999........................ 5,776 0.4 3,130 8,002 0.3 4,756 42,149 0.1 22,686

$50,000–$74,999........................ 7,000 0.4 3,503 8,425 0.3 6,017 38,283 0.1 28,382

$75,000–$99,999........................ 5,495 0.3 3,412 7,988 0.3 5,616 46,803 0.1 27,385

$100,000–$149,999...................... 6,746 0.4 3,650 7,123 0.3 6,006 45,673 0.1 24,290

$150,000–$199,999...................... 3,831 0.2 2,281 4,406 0.2 4,103 23,899 0.0 17,272

$200,000 or more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,800 0.2 1,957 3,257 0.1 2,942 23,097 0.0 15,301

Median household income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 X 1,085 484 X 755 208 X 171

Average household size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.03 X 0.05 0.02 X 0.03 0.00 X 0.01

Educational Attainment of the Householder

Less than high school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,697 0.3 3,231 6,834 0.3 4,665 54,459 0.1 29,428

High school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,841 0.4 4,269 9,997 0.4 7,692 61,590 0.1 32,358

Some college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,167 0.4 4,466 13,513 0.4 7,142 58,126 0.1 30,682

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,529 0.4 3,452 7,387 0.3 4,717 53,904 0.1 22,499

Graduate or professional school degree . . . . . . 6,833 0.4 2,553 4,339 0.2 3,043 47,197 0.1 17,127

Labor Force Participation of

the Householder

In labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,613 0.4 7,065 18,371 0.2 11,477 70,252 0.1 45,934

Employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,874 0.4 6,694 18,173 0.3 11,389 75,338 0.1 45,407

Unemployed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,037 0.3 1,620 5,877 0.2 3,012 34,635 0.1 12,524

Not in labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,822 0.4 4,070 5,903 0.2 5,186 60,289 0.1 35,839

Tenure

Owns home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,011 0.6 7,731 14,401 0.4 11,169 118,000 0.2 48,008

Rents home1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,563 0.6 3,382 14,108 0.4 6,902 124,721 0.2 39,944

X Not applicable. 1

 Includes those who occupy without cash payment.

Note: Due to rounding, some margin of errors round to zero, even though they are not actually zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau 37

Appendix Table E.

Margin of Error for Table 7, Selected Characteristics of Children Living in a Stepfamily:1

2012

(For more information about ASEC, including the source and accuracy statement, see the technical documentation accessible at 

www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar12.pdf)

Characteristics

Children 

living in

a stepfamily,

total

Lives with

married parents

Lives with

unmarried parent(s)

Total2

Biological mother 

and stepfather,

total

Biological father 

and stepmother,

total

Total4

Lives with two 

unmarried parents,3

total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

 Total (numbers in thousands) . . . . . . . . 174 164 140 X 77 X 60 52 X

Age of Child

Less than 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 50 42 0.01 24 0.03 28 26 0.06

6 to 11 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 94 81 0.02 42 0.04 38 34 0.07

12 to 17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 125 106 0.03 61 0.05 37 30 0.06

Presence of Siblings5

At least 1 sibling present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 152 129 0.02 72 0.03 56 48 0.05

Stepsibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 125 104 0.03 64 0.04 45 41 0.07

Race of Child

White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 145 124 0.02 67 0.06 48 43 0.04

White alone, non-Hispanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 128 108 0.03 62 0.07 39 35 0.07

Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 70 60 0.02 34 0.05 36 31 0.06

Asian alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 29 24 0.01 16 0.02 11 7 0.02

All remaining single races and all race

combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 51 43 0.01 26 0.04 21 14 0.03

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 78 78 0.02 32 0.04 38 34 0.06

Median Household Income in 2011 dollars6 . . 613 620 612 X 643 X 560 597 X

Parents’ Labor Force Participation

One parent present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 X X X X X 120 X X

Mother and father in labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 131 111 0.02 65 0.04 45 45 0.06

Father in labor force, mother not in labor force . . 87 84 73 0.02 36 0.04 22 22 0.05

Mother in labor force, father not in labor force . . . 41 40 35 0.01 16 0.02 11 11 0.03

Father not in labor force, mother not in labor

force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 33 30 0.01 14 0.02 12 12 0.03

Tenure

Owns home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 127 107 0.03 62 0.04 39 34 0.07

Rents home7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 104 90 0.03 46 0.04 45 40 0.07

X Not applicable. 1

 This table includes children who live with at least 1 stepparent. 2

 Includes 179,000 children who live with 2 stepparents and 17,000 children who live with 1 adoptive and 1 stepparent. 3

 Includes 348,000 children living with 1 biological or adoptive parent and 1 stepparent, and 33,000 living with 2 stepparents. 4

 Includes 63,000 children who live with 1 stepparent who is cohabiting, and 57,000 children who live with 1 stepparent who is not cohabiting. 5

 Includes siblings of any age. 6

 Median is based on the weighted distribution of children, rather than households. 7

 Includes those who occupy without cash payment.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2012.
U.S. Census Bureau 38

Appendix Table F.

Margin of Error for Table 8, Householder’s Adopted Children Under 18 by Place of

Birth and Age: 2009–2011 

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/acs/www)

Nativity and place of birth

Total 

adopted 

children of 

householder

Under 18 years 18 years and over

Total Under 6 6 to 11 12 to 14 15 to 17 Total 18 to 24

25 and 

over

 Total1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,080 3,574 1,304 2,009 1,175 812 1,259 1,135 633

Europe2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,641 1,493 433 975 731 433 469 445 202

Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,303 1,205 412 787 543 350 336 333 54

Asia2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,638 2,363 888 1,333 874 569 823 678 455

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,653 1,645 744 981 655 353 107 107 72

Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,298 1,049 298 579 389 385 633 515 368

Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 690 421 425 141 136 90 72 58

Latin America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,689 1,389 720 729 420 391 746 613 380

Central America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,320 1,160 666 640 295 243 460 359 286

 Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,181 1,086 657 630 266 169 266 232 105

 Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 189 38 109 90 105 211 100 201

South America2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 473 130 200 218 271 533 447 249

Northern America . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 74 21 45 32 29 130 83 98

1

 Includes 421 children born in Oceania, which are not shown separately. 2

 Includes areas not shown separately.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2011 American Community Survey.