The Rise of the American 1-Person Household

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1-person households are on the rise across the United States. Just 17 percent of American households were considered 1-person back in 1970 and this figure grew steadily over the past four decades, reaching 26 percent by 2000. In 2012, it increased further to 28 percent.

In line with this increase, households containing married couples have steadily declined. In 2012, 49 percent of households in the country fell under the ‘married couples’ category. This is a massive decrease on the situation in 1970 when married couples’ households accounted for 71 percent of the nation’s total.

Why have these figures changed so much between 1970 and 2012? Rising divorce rates certainly played a major role in eroding married couple’s firm grip on American household statistics in the 1970s. More recently, the recession, though it ended in 2009, had an impact on married couples with children. Likewise, the percentage of other multi-person households including Americans living with roommates has increased slowly over the past decade, standing at 24 percent by the end of 2012.