Family court statistics cover several connected parts of family law: marriage and divorce, custody and child support, child-protection referrals, and foster-care outcomes. The latest figures in this overview span 2019 to 2023, with each measurement period identified below. Together, they show the scale of family-law matters and the different populations represented in national statistics.
Contents
- How large is the U.S. family-law landscape?
- How common are child-support agreements?
- What do child-support orders and payments look like?
- Who is represented in custody-related statistics?
- What does child-protection court workload look like?
- What are the main foster-care and permanency outcomes?
How large is the U.S. family-law landscape?
Marriage and divorce statistics provide a broad national context for family-law questions. According to provisional National Vital Statistics System data reported by the CDC’s FastStats - Marriage and Divorce, the United States recorded 2,041,926 marriages in 2023. The provisional marriage rate was 6.1 marriages per 1,000 total population.
The same source recorded 672,502 divorces in 2023 across 45 reporting states and the District of Columbia. Its provisional divorce rate was 2.4 divorces per 1,000 population across those reporting jurisdictions. These figures are not a count of court filings in every state; they are vital-statistics measures, and the divorce coverage is explicitly limited to the 45 reporting states and the District of Columbia.
Custody and support data describe a different part of the family-law landscape. The Census Bureau’s Custodial Parents and Their Child Support: 2022 counted 13.9 million parents living with 22.2 million children under age 21 while the other parent lived outside the household in 2022. Those 22.2 million children represented 27.1% of children under age 21 living in U.S. families.
Economic conditions are also part of the context. Families including a custodial parent had a 20.7% poverty rate in 2022, compared with 11.3% for all families with children under age 21. About 5.6 million children in families that included a custodial parent lived in poverty. The rate was 22.6% for families including a custodial mother and 12.6% for families including a custodial father. The poverty rate for families including any custodial parent fell from 28.9% in 2011 to 20.7% in 2022.
How common are child-support agreements?
The 2022 Census child-support universe included 13.872 million custodial parents. Of those parents, 5.692 million reported a child-support agreement, meaning an agreement was reported by 41.0% of custodial parents.
Among custodial parents with an agreement, 4.683 million were supposed to receive child-support payments. The form of the agreement varied: 91.0% reported a legal agreement, while 9.0% reported an informal agreement. These categories describe the arrangement reported in the Census data and should not be treated as a complete measure of every custody or support order handled by a court.
The population was not evenly divided by parent sex. There were 10.850 million custodial mothers and 3.022 million custodial fathers in 2022. Across all custodial parents, mothers represented 78.2% and fathers represented 21.8%.
The following figures summarize the main 2022 counts and shares:
| Measure | 2022 figure |
|---|---|
| Custodial parents in the Census universe | 13.872 million |
| Custodial parents reporting an agreement | 5.692 million |
| Share reporting an agreement | 41.0% |
| Custodial parents supposed to receive payments | 4.683 million |
| Legal agreements among agreements | 91.0% |
| Informal agreements among agreements | 9.0% |
The agreement statistics help distinguish several groups that are sometimes combined in casual discussion: all custodial parents, parents reporting an agreement, and parents who were supposed to receive payments. Each denominator produces a different percentage, so the population being measured matters.
What do child-support orders and payments look like?
For custodial parents with agreements, the average child-support amount supposed to be received was $6,390 in 2022. The median annual amount was $4,816. The median is lower than the average, which indicates that the typical reported amount was below the average amount in this population; the figures alone do not explain the distribution of individual awards.
In total, custodial parents were supposed to receive $29.9 billion in child-support payments in 2022 and actually received $19.2 billion. The reported gap between child support supposed to be received and actually received was $12.5 billion. These are reported national totals from the Census source; they should not be used to estimate an individual family’s expected payment without case-specific information.
The totals differed by custodial-parent sex. Custodial mothers were supposed to receive $25.2 billion and actually received $16.2 billion. Custodial fathers were supposed to receive $4.8 billion and actually received $3.0 billion.
Among custodial parents who were supposed to receive support, 3.534 million received some payment, 2.320 million received all payments due, and 1.149 million received no payment. “Some payment” and “all payments due” are separate reported outcomes; the figures should not be added together as if they described mutually identical categories without reference to the Census definitions.
The composition of payment recipients also differed from the composition of parents who received no payment. Among custodial parents supposed to receive support, males represented 14.3% of those receiving any payment, while females represented 85.7%. Among those receiving no payment, males represented 24.5% and females represented 75.5%.
Who is represented in custody-related statistics?
The Census definition used for child-support eligibility was specific: a child had to be under age 21, live with one parent, and have the other parent living outside the household. In 2022, 22.2 million children met that minimum threshold. This is a household-based statistical definition, not a statement that every child had a court case.
Eligibility varied by race and ethnicity in the 2022 data. Among children under age 21, 46.4% of Black children were child-support eligible, compared with 23.9% of White children, 9.2% of Asian children, and 30.8% of Hispanic children. Among children of other races or race combinations, 31.0% were child-support eligible.
Noncash support was also included in the Census picture. At least one form of noncash support was reported by 55.8% of all custodial parents in 2022. Birthday, holiday, or other gifts were reported by 49.2%, while clothes, diapers, or shoes were reported as noncash support by 39.8%.
These measures expand the view beyond formal dollar payments, but they measure reported household support categories rather than the legal enforceability or monetary value of each item. They also should not be read as a measure of the quality of a parenting relationship or the outcome of an individual custody dispute.
What does child-protection court workload look like?
Child-protection statistics concern allegations of abuse or neglect and the public-agency response. The Youth and the Juvenile Justice System: 2022 National Report reported that U.S. child-protective-services agencies received an estimated 4.4 million referrals alleging child abuse or neglect in 2019. An estimated 7.9 million children were included in those referrals, producing a 2019 referral rate of 59 referrals per 1,000 children younger than 18.
The 2019 referral rate was 14% above the 2015 rate of 52.3 referrals per 1,000 children. The comparison is a rate comparison across those measurement years, and the 2019 counts are estimates.
Professionals were the source of 68.5% of child-maltreatment reports in 2019. Educators accounted for 21.0%, law enforcement for 19.1%, and medical professionals for 11.0%. These percentages describe report sources, not findings that maltreatment occurred and not the percentage of cases that reached family court.
CPS agencies screened in 54% of all referrals received in 2019. They conducted investigations or alternative responses for more than 1.9 million reports. A referral, a screened-in report, and an investigation or alternative response are different stages, so the figures should be interpreted as measures of workload progression rather than interchangeable case counts.
What are the main foster-care and permanency outcomes?
An estimated 424,000 children remained in foster care on September 30, 2019. The 2019 foster-care population was 25% below the 1999 peak of 567,000 children and 8% above the 2012 low point of 392,000 children. Those historical comparisons describe the reported foster-care population at different points in time; they do not by themselves identify why the population changed.
About 251,000 children entered foster care in 2019, while about 249,000 exited. Compared with 2015, the number entering foster care fell 7% between 2015 and 2019, and the number exiting increased 3% over the same period.
The median time in foster care was 13 months on September 30, 2019. Permanency goals showed the direction agencies recorded for children in care: reunification with parents was the goal for 55% of children in foster care, while adoption was the goal for 28%.
| Foster-care measure | 2019 figure or comparison |
|---|---|
| Children in foster care on September 30 | Estimated 424,000 |
| Children entering foster care | About 251,000 |
| Children exiting foster care | About 249,000 |
| Median time in foster care on September 30 | 13 months |
| Reunification as permanency goal | 55% |
| Adoption as permanency goal | 28% |
The foster-care figures are from 2019, while the marriage and divorce figures above are from 2023 and the custodial-parent figures are from 2022. Keeping those dates separate is essential: these statistics describe different systems, populations, and measurement periods, rather than a single-year count of all family court activity.