# More than 1 in 4 Americans now live alone

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2019-06-04

census-data, data, economics, household-data, household-size, housing, housing-size, urban-consumer, us-census-bureau, wall-street-journal

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The percentage of single-person households in the US has been steadily increasing since the 1960's (though the rate of increase has moderated in recent decades). As of last year (2018), 28% of Americans lived alone, according to the [US Census Bureau](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/households.html). So about 1 in 4 households. This is in comparison to 13.1% of households in 1960.

Here is a chart from [a recent WSJ article](https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-americans-are-living-solo-and-companies-want-their-business-11559497606) on the topic:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4b85397794c86e9e406913e9a28fe880.png)

Not surprisingly, this is changing how marketers target households. Affluent, single-person households in urban areas have proven to be a boon to product makers because they tend to spend more per person and they tend to value time > money. Of course, this phenomenon also has implications for those of us who work as city builders.

For more historical household tables from the US Census Bureau, [click here](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/households.html).

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/more-than-1-in-4-americans-now-live-alone)*