Californian fathers are among the most supportive dads in America, according to a September 2026 report on parenting across the US. This freshly released study by the family location-tracking app iSharing reveals where dads are checking in on their children’s whereabouts most often.
- San Mateo and San Jose dads are among the most active fathers in the country, tracking their kids’ location more often than anyone else.
- More than half the time a parent checks on a child’s whereabouts in Surprise, Arizona, it’s the dad doing it.
- Omaha, Nebraska, has the most involved dads in the Midwest, with fathers doing parental checks 4 out of 10 times.
The research looked at parenting session data from the iSharing family location app across dozens of US cities to find where dads are most involved in their kids’ lives. It measured how many times fathers versus mothers checked on their children’s whereabouts in each city. These figures were then used to calculate each city’s dad share of parental location checks, revealing which cities come closest to equal parenting between moms and dads.
Here’s a look at the top 10 cities where dads are most involved in their kids’ lives:
| City | State | Dad share of sessions | Total sessions | Dad sessions | Mom sessions |
| San Mateo | CA | 54.1% | 37 | 20 | 17 |
| Surprise | AZ | 53.7% | 41 | 22 | 19 |
| Binghamton | NY | 53.1% | 32 | 17 | 15 |
| Euless | TX | 51.4% | 37 | 19 | 18 |
| Cumming | GA | 51.3% | 78 | 40 | 38 |
| San Jose | CA | 43.1% | 840 | 362 | 478 |
| Omaha | NE | 42.1% | 444 | 187 | 257 |
| Seattle | WA | 41.7% | 1,019 | 425 | 594 |
| Sacramento | CA | 41.4% | 1,180 | 489 | 691 |
| Jackson | MS | 41.2% | 335 | 138 | 197 |
You can access the complete research findings here.
1. San Mateo, California
- Dad share of parenting sessions: 54.1%
- Dad sessions: 20
- Mom sessions: 17
- Total sessions: 37
San Mateo fathers tend to be more present in their kids’ daily lives. Out of every 10 times a parent checks on a child’s location here, dads are behind more than 5 of them. That makes San Mateo one of the few places where fathers are actually more active than moms when it comes to day-to-day parenting. In most American cities, fathers’ involvement is closer to 33%, while in San Mateo it exceeds 50%.
2. Surprise, Arizona
Surprise, Arizona, is another city where dads are more present than moms in their kids’ daily lives. Fathers here are behind 53.7% of all parental location checks, so more often than not, it is the dad who notices where the kids are and checks in on them. That kind of father involvement is almost unheard of in American cities, where moms typically handle the daily parenting 7 out of 10 times.
3. Binghamton, New York
Next comes Binghamton, New York, where fathers also take a big role in monitoring their children daily. More than half of the time, it is the dad rather than the mom keeping tabs on where the kids are. Specifically, fathers here are behind 53 out of every 100 parental location checks, a number that sits far above what most other New York cities record.
4. Euless, Texas
Euless, Texas, is also among the cities where fathers are actively involved in their kids’ lives. Here, dads check on their kids as much as moms do, but across the rest of Texas, that number looks very different. In Houston and Dallas, for example, moms are behind roughly 65 out of every 100 checks, making Euless fathers some of the most hands-on in the state.
5. Cumming, Georgia
Cumming, Georgia, rounds out the top five. More than half the time a parent checks where their kid is in this city, it is the father doing it, which is unusual anywhere in the South. In contrast, Atlanta mothers check on their kids nearly twice as often as dads do, highlighting how much more fathers in Cumming are involved in their children’s lives.
A spokesperson from iSharing commented on the study:
“Children who grow up with present, engaged fathers tend to feel more secure and do better socially and academically. For example, research shows that Dutch kids rank among the happiest in the world, largely because their fathers take an equal role in raising them. Dutch dads are just as likely to be on school pickup duty or home with a sick child as moms are, and that shared responsibility makes a real difference to children’s well-being. Even simple check-ins and a quick “how’s your day going” message can mean a lot. And tools like location-sharing apps make that kind of daily involvement easier to maintain, giving both parents a way to stay connected to their kids throughout the day.”