housing "Housing in Metro Areas--Single Parent Families"
(01/10/95)

            EMBARGOED UNTIL:  JAN. 10, 1995 (TUESDAY)

Public Information Office                              CB95-02
301-457-2794
301-457-4067(TDD)

Timothy Grall
301-763-8148


NEW YORK LEADS LIST OF LARGE METRO AREAS WITH HIGHEST PERCENTAGE

     OF SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES IN 1990, CENSUS BUREAU FINDS

     EMBARGOED UNTIL:  JAN. 10, 1995 (TUESDAY)--Among the
nation's 46 largest metropolitan areas (those with one million or
more people), New York had the highest percentage of single-
parent families at 36 percent in 1990, according to a new
statistical brief entitled, Housing in Metropolitan Areas--
Single-Parent Families (SB/94-26), released today by the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau.

     New Orleans, La., was second at 34 percent, followed by
Miami-Hialeah, Fla. (31 percent), Detroit, Mich. (29 percent),
and Sacramento, Calif. and Baltimore, Md. (28 percent each).

     At the other end of the scale, the three large metropolitan
areas with the lowest rates of single-parent families--Nassau-
Suffolk, N.Y. (14 percent), Middlesex, N.J. (15 percent), 
Bergen-Passaic, N.J. (18 percent)--each bordered on New York,
which had the highest rate.

     Timothy Grall, the author of the brief, says, "One out of
four of the nation's metro households with own children under  
18 was maintained by a single parent in 1990.  More than 8 in 
10 one-parent families living in metropolitan areas were
maintained by women."

     Other highlights from the brief:

     -  Four in 10 single-parent renters living in metro areas
        were either unemployed or not in the labor force.  The 
        rate for single-parent owners was less than half that, at
        16 percent.
     
     -  Single-parent renters in metro areas were more than
        three times as likely as single-parent owners to live in
        "crowded" conditions--17 percent versus 5 percent.

     -  In metropolitan areas, single-parent renters were 
        seven times more likely not to have a motor vehicle and
        more than four times as likely not to have a telephone
        compared to their owner counterparts.

                               -X-

Editor's Note:  EMBARGOED UNTIL:  JAN. 10, 1995 (TUESDAY)--media
representatives may obtain copies of the brief from the bureau's
Public Information Office by telephone:  301-457-2794, fax:  
301-457-3670, or e-mail:  pio@census.gov.  Non-media orders
should go to the bureau's Customer Services Office on 
301-763-INFO(4636).  The attached table provides rankings of single-
parent families for the 46 metro areas with populations of one
million or more.  Corresponding data for all 335 metro areas can
be obtained from the bureau's housing statistics office on 
301-763-8148.