2022’s Best Cities for Single Moms

A mom sits on the couch, trying to work on her laptop while her children run around

Motherhood is a challenge, especially if you’re alone. That’s why living in a supportive environment can make a world of difference for a single mother. 

So, which cities set up single moms for success? 

LawnStarter ranked 2022’s Best Cities for Single Moms to find out where single moms are thriving and where they might need some help.

We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on 36 key metrics. We looked for safe, affordable cities with ample child care and community support, high-quality education and health care, and a decent work-life balance. 

See where your city stands below, followed by some highlights, lowlights, and expert tips.

Contents

City Rankings

See how each city fared in our ranking:

Infographic showing the Best Cities for Single Moms, a ranking based on 36 key metrics, such as cost of living, cost of child care, food insecurity rate, public school quality, and more
Note: For presentation purposes, not all ties may be displayed for some metrics in the above infographic.

Highlights and Lowlights

There’s No Rose Without a Thorn

Roseville, California, tops our ranking as the Best City for Single Moms this year. 

Roseville has the lowest share of single moms in poverty, the third highest median annual income for single moms, and plenty of insured women and children. This city also has excellent public schools, low food insecurity, and state policies allowing sick leave for child care. 

There are plenty of baby supply stores, but Roseville lacks child care workers. California cities in general have some of the priciest hourly rates for babysitters and a high annual cost of child care. 

Growing Healthy, Smart Kids

Quality education and health care are big priorities for parents. Small cities and suburbs set the standard for the rest of the country, especially in the Health and Education category. 

Wealthy suburbs Naperville, Illinois (No. 2), Overland Park, Kansas (No. 4),  Irvine, California (No. 7), and Frisco, Texas (No. 13), have the highest-rated school districts in the country, making them great for both single moms and dads

In the Health category, Irvine has the best-quality public hospitals in our ranking, followed by Eugene, Oregon, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Fremont and Elk Grove, California, have the highest rates of insured women, while Syracuse, New York, Santa Clarita, California, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, have the most insured children. 

Balancing Work and Family Time

It’s not easy juggling work and family, especially as a single mother.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota (No. 8), helps ease the load with the most child care workers per 100,000 residents. The city also comes in second place both for its low annual cost of child care and a short average commute. 

Women in Lubbock, Texas, spend the least time on the road. Meanwhile, Eugene, Oregon, Syracuse, New York, and Fort Collins, Colorado, have the shortest average workweeks for women.

States like Oregon, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have paid family leave policies protecting jobs, a high share of wage replacement, and allow the maximum paid family leave of 12 weeks. These states also have laws allowing sick leave for child care. Some cities even have protected time off for school events, including Fort Collins, Washington, and Boston. 

High-Poverty Cities Lacking Policy

Huntsville, Alabama (No. 103), has the highest share of single mothers in poverty, followed by Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Each of these cities has a low median annual income for single mothers, unaffordable housing, and no state law allowing sick leave for child care.

At the very bottom of our ranking is Detroit, alongside several Texas cities, including Houston (No. 194), Dallas (No. 192), and some of their suburbs. These cities fared poorly across most metrics, such as median annual income for single moms and housing affordability. They also have high rates of food insecurity and high numbers of single moms and children in poverty. 

Michigan and Texas lack supportive policies like paid family leave, wage replacement, and sick leave for child care. 

Ask The Experts

Being a single mom can be stressful — emotionally, socially, physically, and financially. 

Thankfully, there are programs out there to help. We reached out to some experts to gain insight into the support systems available to single moms. Read their thoughts below on the following questions.

  1. What are the three best ways for single moms to find social support if they don’t have a strong family or friend network?

  2. With record inflation, what government incentives or social programs, if any, are available to single moms struggling to make ends meet?

  3. When it comes to single parenting, there appear to be double standards for moms and dads. What is the easiest disparity to address now and how?

  4. What are some creative ways you’ve recently observed, if any, that employers are supporting their workers who are single moms?
Denise Bodman
Denise Ann Bodman, PhD
Principal Lecturer, Barrett Honors Faculty
Michelle Kiefer
Michelle Kiefer
Director, Lecturer
Jessica Morales-Chicas
Jessica Morales-Chicas, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Laila Murphy
Laila Murphy, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Psych.
Assistant Professor, Faculty Associate, Doris Bergen Center of Human Development

Methodology

For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, we gathered publicly available data on the factors listed in the table below. 

We then grouped those factors into six categories: Affordability, Child Care, Health and Education, Home and Outdoors, Work-Life Balance, and Community Support.

Next, we calculated weighted scores for each city in each category. 

Finally, we averaged the scores for each city across all categories.

The city that earned the highest average score was ranked “Best” (No. 1), while the city with the lowest was ranked “Worst” (No. 200). (Note: The “Worst” among individual factors may not be No. 200 due to ties among cities.)

Sources: Areavibes, Care.com, Child Care Aware of America, County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, Other LawnStarter Studies, Livability, National Center for Children in Poverty, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Meetup, Niche, Neighborhood Scout, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Trust for Public Land, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Census Bureau, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Walk Score, Workplace Fairness, and Yelp

Why This Study Matters

Raising a child isn’t easy, especially now that it costs more than $300,000 to do so. 

Four in 10 children reside in a single-parent home, and single moms make up nearly 80% of total U.S. single-parent households. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this rate is likely to increase, especially in the South.

Additionally, with inflation, high child care costs, and the gender wage gap, a disproportionately higher share of these single mothers — especially single mothers who are women of color — live in poverty compared with married couples. 

Undertaking these challenges alone can be a difficult and stressful endeavor. 

The holiday season can bring another set of obstacles for a struggling family. Thankfully, there are organizations devoted to helping spread holiday cheer to those in need. Reach out for assistance, or become a holiday helper through some of these organizations:

Communities can support single moms by implementing supportive community programs and grant initiatives. Individuals can also help unburden single moms by offering to babysit or helping with chores like picking up groceries or mowing the lawn.

Why is LawnStarter ranking the Best Cities for Single Moms? We’re all about lawn care, and a big backyard where kids can play safely can be beneficial for time-pressed and stressed single moms. 

Schedule a fall cleanup with a LawnStarter pro for a single mom in your life so she has one less thing to worry about this holiday season. 

Main Photo Credit: Shutterstock

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Sav Maive

Sav Maive is a writer and director based in San Antonio. Sav is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is a loving cat and plant mom.