From the Seattle Times:
December 28, 2014 at 8:25 PMEnd of the nuclear family? Not in Seattle
Could the traditional American family be making a comeback in — of all places — Seattle?
Recent census data reveal an unlikely trend: The good old nuclear family, declining across the United States, is on the rise here.
Today, 70 percent of Seattle’s roughly 100,000 kids under 18 live with two married parents — a jump of 6 points from 2000. Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle now has the highest percentage of kids in married-couple households.
To get to No. 1, Seattle leapfrogged some famously conservative and religious cities. We surged past Salt Lake City and evangelical-mecca Colorado Springs, and even overtook Mesa, Ariz., recently dubbed America’s most conservative city.
Surprised? It gets stranger still.
Among the 50 cities, Seattle is one of just three where nuclear families increased their share of total households (Washington, D.C. and Atlanta being the others). Married couples living with their own kids now represent 14 percent of Seattle households, up from 12.5 percent in 2000.
Nationally, the trend is moving the other way. Nuclear families have fallen from 24 percent of U.S. households down to 19 percent today.
Liberal, accepting Seattle might seem like the ideal place to raise a kid in a less traditional family structure, but few of us do. Seattle has a very low percentage of children in single-parent households. And perhaps more surprising, we rank just 45th out of 50 for kids living with two unmarried parents.
