A new report from the
Between 1970 and 2012, the share of households consisting of mom, dad and the kids slid from 40% to 20%, according to data from the American Community Survey, a key Census study that is used by planners, builders and retailers, among many others, to make their business decisions.
At the same time, the share of households consisting of one person living alone climbed from 17% to 27%.
These trends "reflect a rising age at first marriage and older adults who can live in their own homes for longer," said Jonathan Vepa, who works in the Bureau's Fertility and Family Statistics Branch and is a co-author of the report.
Here are some other highlights from the report, which provides an updated picture of the composition and living arrangements of American families and households:
* A somewhat larger percentage of young adults age 25 to 34 still reside in their parents' homes.
For men in this age cohort, the share still at home rose from 13% in 2000 to 17% in 2012. For women, the increase was smaller, from 8% in 2000 to 10% in 2012.
* Just two-thirds of all households in 2012 were family households, compared with 81% in 1970. A family household consists of two or more people related by birth, marriage or adoption.
* Between 1970 and 2012, the average number of people per household declined from 3.1 to 2.6.
* The majority of multi-generational couples, 64%, consisted of at least one householder living with a child and a grandchild.
A higher percentage of black (55%) and Hispanic (31%) children lived with one parent than white non-Hispanic (21%) or Asian children (13%).
* Some 72% of men 65 or older lived with a spouse in 2012 versus just 45% of women.
* Nearly one-fourth of married mothers with children were stay-at-home moms prior to the economic recession, which began in 2007. That share dropped to 23% in 2009 but returned to 24% in 2012.
On the other hand, the share of married dads who were stay-at-home remained unchanged between 2006 and 2010, then rose slightly in 2011 and 2012 to a higher rate than prior to the beginning of the recession. However, the percentage is still below 1%.
* The number of householders with children under 18 who owned their home declined by 15% to 20.8 million between 2005 and 2011. But in some sections of the country, the decline was even sharper.
The six states with the steepest drops in home ownership among households with children were Michigan (23%), Arizona (22%), California (22%), Ohio (20%), New Hampshire (19%) and Florida (19%).
* As of the 2011 survey, there were 605,000 same-sex couple households, 284,000 of which were males and 321,000 were females. The total includes both married and unmarried couples.
Lew Sichelman is an independent journalist who has been covering the housing and mortgage markets for more than 40 years.
