Statistics

The number one question that leads people to rebeldad.com is the same one that first sent me scrambling to the web when I first became an at-home dad: how many of us are out there? The answer, unfortunately, is far from simple. I’ve written probably dozens of posts on the topic, and this page is an effort to pull together all the estimates — and link to the rebeldad.com commentary for each estimate. It should go without saying that the numbers and definitions are extraordinarily varied, and one estimate cannot be fairly compared with any other.

Except where noted, all data is for the US population, and, where possible, a link to the source data is provided.

158,00
Census Bureau, 2010 (Based on 2008 numbers)
rebeldad.com analysis

600,00 (UK)
Aviva, 2010 (insurance company)
rebeldad.com analysis

140,00
Census Bureau, 2009 (Based on 2008 numbers)
rebeldad.com analysis

165,000
Census Bureau, 2008 (Based on 2007 numbers)

17.3 percent of all children aged 0-4 with employed mother
Census Bureau, 2007 (based on 2005 data, Excel file)
Or maybe it’s 25 percent (Press release)
Or 17.2 percent (“historical table”)
Or 18.2 percent (“detailed table 2b”)
rebeldad.com analysis
Also:additional rebeldad.com analysis

159,000
Census Bureau, 2007 (based on 2006 data, Excel file)
rebeldad.com analysis
additional rebeldad.com analysis

143,000
Census Bureau, 2006 (based on 2005 data, CSV file, sorry)
rebeldad.com analysis

147,000
Census Bureau, 2005 (based on 2004 data, Excel file)
rebeldad.com analysis

98,000
Census Bureau, 2004 (based on 2003 data)
rebeldad.com analysis
Also additional rebeldad.com analysis

105,000
Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 2002 data)
rebeldad.com analysis

18.5 percent of fathers with working wives
Census Bureau, 2003 (based on 1999 data)
rebeldad.com analysis

1,915,000
Census Bureau, 1997 (based on 1993 data)

22 percent of fathers
Spike TV survey, via Time magazine, 2004
rebeldad.com analysis

80,000 (Japan)
Social Insurance Agency, as cited in newspaper report
rebeldad.com analysis

155,000 (UK)
Cited in newspaper report, 2004 (story now in paid archive)
rebeldad.com analysis

11 percent of fathers (UK)
Early Learning Centre, 2004
rebeldad.com analysis

31 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2009

37 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2008

37 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2007

“Four-in-ten”
careerbuilder.com, 2006
rebeldad.com analysis

49 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2005
rebeldad.com analysis

43 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2004

73 percent (“at least ‘somewhat willing’ to be stay at home dads)
Spike TV survey, 2008

56 percent
Spike TV survey, 2004
rebeldad.com analysis

40 percent
careerbuilder.com, 2003
rebeldad.com analysis

“Almost half” (UK)
Pregnancy and Birth Magazine survey, 2004 (based on newspaper report)
rebeldad.com analysis

“One-third” (UK)
Pregnancy and Birth Magazine survey, 2003 (based on newspaper report now in paid archives)
rebeldad.com analysis