Single mothers represent a large segment of parenting Americans. Approximately 30 percent of households with children were led by single parents in 2023, the majority of which were single mothers who face elevated rates of poverty and material hardship. Further, this population is not prioritized in the country’s social safety net. In this report, we present a set of evidence-based policy levers across a range of sectors that support single mothers’ economic and social mobility and improve outcomes for their families.

Why This Matters

Single parents experience higher rates of material and financial hardship compared with dual-parent households due to a range of intersecting barriers, including lower job-quality with less income than a dual-parent household and higher caregiving responsibilities on top of the already high costs of child care and housing. These economic pressures in turn create higher vulnerability to economic shocks and can lead to additional mental health stressors. Families led by single mothers make up 80 percent of single-parent households, motivating the focus on policies supporting single mothers. However, Americans, no matter their household type, have reported an inability to sustain their livelihoods as housing, child care, and grocery costs continue to increase. As a result, the policy levers discussed in this report not only benefit single parents but all families regardless of their household’s characteristics.

Despite the uncertainty of how economic and social policies will unfold, the current political rhetoric suggests significant pressure to cut social spending and curtail programs that have attempted to mitigate myriad challenges facing single mother families and all families with limited means. Thus, prioritizing strategies specifically focused on improving outcomes for single mothers is especially necessary to ensure sufficient protection for child well-being.

Key Takeaways

In this report, we focus on the maintenance, expansion, and innovation in policies across a range of sectors. Specifically, we provide evidence for the following policy levers:

• Improving child care access and affordability through child care subsidies
• Increasing job quality
• Expanding access to postsecondary education via child care and workforce development opportunities
• Providing adequate health care coverage and maternal/child health services
• Promoting housing affordability and expanding housing options
• Expanding access to tax benefits
• Promoting financial resilience, stability, and well-being

How We Did It

To identify a cohesive set of policy levers that could advance the economic mobility of single mothers, we gathered insights across four stages:

• Stage 1: Policy Scan. We performed a policy scan of existing literature on policies that support single mothers and economic mobility.
• Stage 2: Consultations with Urban Experts. We conducted 14 interviews with subject matter experts from the Urban Institute to supplement the information collected during the literature scan.
• Stage 3: Additional Consultation with Share Our Strength Partners. We conducted nine interviews with key stakeholders providing leadership in domains known to be important for increasing supports and opportunities for single-mother households. Interviews consisted of sharing findings from the policy scan and aligning findings with priorities from each stakeholder.
• Stage 4: Interviews with Single Mothers: We also conducted seven one-on-one interviews, six with single mothers and one with a group of caseworkers, about challenges faced in supporting their households, supports that are helpful, and recommendations for policymakers.