Family Circle is an
American women's
magazine published 15 times a year by
Meredith Corporation. It is, by many accounts, the best-selling women's magazine in America, with more than 4,000,000 subscribers and an advertising "reach" of roughly 20,000,000. It began publication in 1932 as a store-distributed magazine of
Piggly Wiggly, which it remained until 1946.
Cowles Magazines and Broadcasting bought the magazine in 1962.
The New York Times Company bought the magazine for its woman's magazine division in 1972. The division was sold to
Gruner + Jahr in 1994. When Gruner + Jahr decided to exit the US magazine market in 2005, the magazine was sold to the
Meredith Corporation.
The magazine is considered one of the "
Seven Sisters", a group of seven women-oriented magazines, with the others being
Ladies' Home Journal,
McCall's,
Good Housekeeping,
Better Homes and Gardens,
Woman's Day, and
Redbook.
Family Circle also sponsors the
Family Circle Cup in the
Family Circle Magazine Stadium in
Charleston, South Carolina, a
WTA tennis tournament which is the only Tier I
clay court tournament in the United States.