From the US Census Bureau:
The idea of Father’s Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. A day in June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration, June 17, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor because it was the month of Smart’s birth. The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

How Many Fathers?

70.1 million
Estimated number of fathers across the nation in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available. Source: Wave 2 Fertility Topical Module from the 2008 Survey of

Income and Program Participation

24.7 million
Number of fathers who were part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2013.

• 21 percent were raising three or more children younger than 18 (among married-couple family households only).
• 3 percent were a subfamily living in someone else’s home.

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps2013FG.html Tables FG1 and FG3

2.0 million
Number of single fathers in 2013; 17 percent of single parents were men.

• 9 percent were raising three or more children younger than 18.
• About 44 percent were divorced, 33 percent were never married, 19 percent were separated, and 4.2 percent were widowed.
• 39 percent had an annual family income of $50,000 or more.

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps2013FG.html Table FG6

Thinking of You, Dad

7,422
The number of men’s clothing stores around the country in 2011, a good place to buy dad a tie or shirt. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS code (44811), http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

15,336
The number of hardware stores in 2011, a place to buy hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers and other items high on the list of Father’s Day gifts. Additionally, there were 6,705 home centers across the country in 2011. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS codes (444130) and (444110), http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

21,227
Number of sporting goods stores in 2011. These stores are good places to purchase traditional gifts for dad, such as fishing rods and golf clubs. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS code (451110), http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

79.1 million
The number of Americans who participated in a barbecue in 2010. It’s probably safe to assume many of these barbecues took place on Father’s Day. Source: GFK Mediamark Research and Intelligence as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012, Table 1240. http://www.gfkmri.comhttp://www.census.gov/compendia/statab

Stay at Home Dads

214,000
Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2013. These married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wife works outside the home. These fathers cared for about 434,000 children.
Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/families.html Table SHP-1

18%
In spring 2011, the percentage of preschoolers regularly cared for by their father during their mother’s working hours.
Source: Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2011
http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p70-135.pdf

Child-Support Payments

$2 billion
Amount of child support received by custodial fathers in 2011; they were due $3.7 billion. In contrast, custodial mothers received $19.5 billion of the $31.7 billion in support that was due. Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011 http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-246.pdf Pages 11 and 12

41.4%
Percentage of custodial fathers who received all child support that was due in 2011, not significantly different from the corresponding percentage for custodial mothers, 43.6 percent. Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011 http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-246.pdf Page 3, table 1

63.9%
Percentage of custodial fathers receiving non-cash support, such as gifts or coverage of expenses, on behalf of their children. The corresponding proportion for mothers was 55.0 percent. Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011 https://www.census.gov/people/childsupport/data/files/chldsu11.pdf Table 10

From the US Census Bureau:

Mother’s Day: May 11, 2014

The driving force behind Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

How Many Mothers

4.1 million
Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey, Table B13002 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13002

35.7%
Percentage of births in 2011 that were to unmarried women age 15 to 50. The metro areas with birth rates to unmarried mothers that were among the highest in the country included Flagstaff, Ariz. (74.6 percent), Greenville, N.C. (69.4 percent), Lima, Ohio (67.5 percent), Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C. (67.4 percent) and Danville, Va. (67.3 percent).

Source: Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth: 2011, Table 1 http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-21.pdf

How Many Children

2,373.5

Decline in total fertility rate or estimated number of total births per 1,000 women in Utah in 2012 (based on current birth rates by age), which led the nation. At the other end of the spectrum is Rhode Island, with a total fertility rate of 1,592.5 births per 1,000 women.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 66, Table 12 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf

20%
Percentage of all women age 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 10 percent had three and about 5 percent had four or more.

Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, Detailed Tables, Table 1 http://www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2010.html

Recent Births

3.953 million
Decline in the number of births registered in the United States in 2012. Of this number, 305,388 were to teens 15 to 19 and 7,157 to women age 45 to 49.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf

25.8
Average age of women in 2012 when they gave birth for the first time, up from 25.6 years in 2011. The increase in the mean age in 2012 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women in their teen years and their 20s.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 7 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf

62.1%
Percentage of women age 16 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were in the labor force.

Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

29.5%
The percentage of mothers who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

84.6%
Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who gave birth in the past year and who have at least a high school diploma.

Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

Jacob and Sophia
The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2012.

Source: Social Security Administration http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

66
Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. The number was 56 per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor’s degree.

Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

Mothers Remembered

15,307

Number of florists nationwide in 2011. The 66,165 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother’s Day.

Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 45311) http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpdetl.pl

12,403
Number of employees of greeting-card publishers in 2011.

Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 511191) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

15,097
The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2011. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother’s Day.

Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44612) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

23,394
Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2011 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.

Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44831) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

Stay-at-Home Moms

5 million
Number of stay-at-home moms in married-couple family groups in 2013 — statistically unchanged from 2012 and 2011. In 2013, 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15, not statistically different from the percentage in 2012. Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements, Table SHP-1 http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf

Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely:

• · Younger (44 percent were under age 35 compared with 38 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• · Hispanic (27 percent compared with 16 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• · Foreign-born (34 percent compared with 19 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• · Living with a child under age 5 (57 percent compared with 43 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• · Without a high school diploma (19 percent versus 8 percent of mothers in thelabor force).

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2007 http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/p20-561.pdf

Taking Care of the Kids

863,126
Number of child day care services employees across the country in 2011. They were employed by one of the 75,059 child day care services. In addition, there were 747,436 child day care services without paid employees. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.

Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 NAICS 6244 http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/ and Nonemployer Statistics: 201l http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/

94%
The percentage of the 37.8 million mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2004 who lived with their biological children only. In addition, 3 percent lived with stepchildren, 2 percent with adopted children and 0.5percent with foster children. Source: Living Arrangements of Children: 2004 http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-114.pdf

Single Moms

10 million
The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2013, up from 3.4 million in 1970.

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/files/shp1.xls Table SHP-1

5.6 million
Number of custodial mothers who were due child support in 2011. Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011, Table 1http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-246.pdf

415,475
Number of mothers who had a birth in the past 12 months and were living with a cohabiting partner.

Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table B13004 http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13004