The D.C. area ranks high on a list of cities with the fewest stay-at-home parents, adding to the challenges local families face as many schools reopen virtually and parents must juggle work and child care.
Stay-at-home mothers and fathers account for less than 20% of parents in the U.S., according to the .
That means over 80% of parents in the country worked either full- or part-time in 2016 (the most recent year available), according to the report.
And a by Smartest Dollar 鈥� a that reviews financial products and services 鈥� found that D.C., Maryland and Virginia are home to a high number of working parents.
Among cities in large metro areas (1 million people or more) that have the most full-time working parents, the area comprising D.C. and Arlington and Alexandria, in Virginia, together came in at No. 8 on Smartest Dollar鈥檚 list, also based on 2018 census data.
The three cities are home to 175,000 married-couple households where both parents work, and nearly 64,000 households with a single parent who works.
In all, 47% of households in D.C., Arlington and Alexandria lack a stay-at-home parent to watch their children, according to the analysis.
Richmond, Virginia, came in at No. 3 on the list, with nearly 34,000 married households where both parents work and more than 15,000 households with a single working parent.
Richmond鈥檚 share of households without a stay-at-home parent stood at 48.5%.
And the cities of Baltimore, Columbia and Towson, in Maryland, took the No. 2 spot, with nearly half of households lacking a stay-at-home parent.
St. Louis, Missouri, took the top spot: Its share of households without a stay-at-home parent was 52%.
To calculate the metro areas with the most full-time working parents, researchers at Smartest Dollar analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau鈥檚 2018 .
The researchers ranked areas according to the share of households with children under 14 that potentially lack a parent to supervise their children (defined as either both parents working full-time in two-parent families, or one parent working full-time in single-parent families).
