Number of stay-at-home parents on the rise?

As of the 2003 U. S. Census, 23.6% of all households with children age 15 and younger contained a stay-at-home parent. The number of stay-at-home parents was nearly 5.5 million. There were 23,209,000 households with children age 15 and younger; 5,388,000 of which held a stay-at-home mom and 98,000 of which held a stay-at-home dad.

According to the article linked above, this was the first-ever analysis of stay-at-home parents.

Details can be found on page 10 of this report (in pdf format) titled “America’s Families and Living Arrangements 2003.”

Thanks to Shirley Witcher and Martin O’Connell of the U.S. Census Bureau for providing this report.