How have American households changed over time?

What is the most common household makeup in the United States?

In 2023, more than half of American households were childless: 29.4% were married households without children^[1], and 29.0% were single households without kids. More than a quarter of households did include parents and children, including 17.9% married-parent households and 7.4% single-parent households.

How have American households changed?

In 1960, over 44% of all American households included married parents with children, while slightly over 13% were single with no children. Today, that’s inverted — in 2023, single people living alone and married couples without children outnumbered married-parent households. Single-person households increased more than fivefold, from 6.9 million in 1960 to 38.1 million in 2022.

Other household types have also become more common. In 2020, the Census Bureau estimated that approximately 9 million US households were maintained by a cohabitating, unmarried couple, two-thirds of whom were childless.

From 2022 to 2023, the share of single-parent households dropped from 8.1% to 7.4%, its lowest share since 1977, nearly a half-century ago.

How have households stayed the same?

The proportion of American households made up of married people without children at home has remained a relatively consistent between 28% and 31% since 1960.

The number of married households has increased with the country’s population. There were 38.7 million married, childless households in 2023, a 143% increase over 1960; the country’s population grew by 88% during that same period.

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