Overview of Community Characteristics in Areas With Concentrated Poverty. Children in metropolitan high poverty communities are more than twice as likely to be raised by a single mother than the average child.

More than half of the households with children (53 percent) in metropolitan concentrated poverty areas are headed by single females. This compares to 26 percent of all U.S. households and 60 percent of households living in poverty. Although these zips codes are home to just over four percent of the Nation’s households with children, more than eight percent (or one in 12) of all female-headed households with children in the U.S. are located in these areas.

Figure 4: Average Share of Households with Children Headed by a Single Female

In the average area with concentrated poverty in the U.S., only 36 percent of family households with children are led by two married parents. Comparatively, at the national level, two out of every three family households with children are headed by married parents. Rates of single-mother led families are highest in Northeastern and Midwestern concentrated poverty areas where most households with children are headed by a single female. Conversely, children in the average Western metro area with concentrated poverty are least likely to live in households headed by single females.

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