Census Bureau Report on Child Support

On January 19, 2016 the Census Bureau released a report entitled Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2013 containing data from the Child Support Supplement to the April 2014 Current Population Survey. The report "presents a snapshot of custodial parents and child support payments — either legal or informal — that were reported as received from noncustodial parents living outside the home." Highlights include:

• About half (48.7 percent) of all custodial parents had either legal or informal child support agreements, and custodial mothers were more likely to have agreements (52.3 percent) than custodial fathers (31.4 percent).
• The aggregate amount of child support due in 2013 was $32.9 billion, a decrease of $14.0 billion from a decade earlier when adjusted to 2013 dollars.
• About 68.5 percent of the $32.9 billion in child support due in 2013 was reported as received, averaging $3,950 per year per custodial parent who was due support.