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What are roommate trends over the last few decades?
Hello! Thank you for your request about what are roommate trends over the last few decades.
The short answer is that the number of roommates over the last few decades has gradually and continuously increased from 12.5 million adults living with roommates in 1990, 16.8 million in 2000 to 20.5 million in 2010.
METHODOLOGY
In order to provide you with the historical trends of roommates in the United States, I have consulted academic databases, industry reports, government reports/databases, regulatory filings, trusted media sites and user forums and review sites. Below you will find the results of my research.
TRENDS OVER THE PAST DECADES
From an article released by Symbi in 2014, quoted "According to the US Census Bureau, 7% of all homes in the US are condominiums, and 11.8% of homes in the US have 10 units or more in the structure. In fact, 3.8% of US homes have 50 or more units in the building. We learned that 3% of US homes – that’s 9.4M households – are for rent at any given time, on average. Of all rental homes, only 17% are currently rented out, leaving 83% – or 7.9 M homes – currently up for rental at any given time."
From CNN article also released in 2014, reveals that "the percentage of adults living with someone other than a spouse or partner hit 32% nationwide in 2012, up from 26% in 2000, according to Zillow's analysis of the latest Census Bureau data. People start pairing up when rents are climbing and incomes aren't keeping up -- and in recent years, rents have really been on a tear."
We already learned that the current estimated number of Americans living with roommates was about 32.3M (or 12,753,000 households), as per our previous research, thus I will be providing you with the historical trends from analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau data.
1990
From the U.S. Census Bureau report, in 1990, there is a total of 91,947,410 households in the U.S. with 5.2% are nonfamily households with two or more people living together. The average size of households (number of person per household) in 1990 from Statista report was reported to be at 2.63.
Calculating would yield to this formula: 91,947,410*0.052*2.63 = 12,574,727 (estimated number of adults with roommates in 1990).
2000
From the same report from the U.S. Census Bureau, total households in the US in 2000 was at 105,480,101 with 6.1% nonfamily households sharing and living with more than two people. The average number of person per household in 2000 was reported to be at 2.62.
Calculating would yield to this formula: 105,480,101*0.061*2.62 = 16,857,829 (estimated number of adults with roommates in the year 2000).
2010
In 2010, there is a total of 116,716,292 households recorded in the U.S. Census Bureau report and 6.8% of these households account for nonfamily households with two or more people living together. The average number of person per household in 2010 was reported to be at 2.59.
Using the same formula would yield to this result: 116,716,292*0.068*2.59 = 20,556,073 (estimated number of adults with roommates in the year 2010).
YOUNG ADULTS AGED 18 TO 34
--In 2005, 23% of the total population of 65,081,164 or an equivalent of 14.9 million, are living with non-relatives (roommates).
--In 2015, there are 25.2% from the total population of 70,872,118 or an equivalent of 17.8 million are living with roommates.
--While in 2016, it was reported to reach just 15.6 million or 21%of young adults are living with roommates, we can see a decrease here from 2015.
From FRED compilation data and trend analysis for numbers of nonfamily households from 1940 to 2016, we can observe that the numbers is going up year-over-year except between year 2007 to 2009. The current number of nonfamily households as at 2016 was 43.6 million -- this account for adults living alone and adults living with two or more people.
For your ease of reference, I have compiled the data in this spreadsheet together with the average number of person per household from Statista report over the years.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, the number of roommates over the last few decades has gradually and continuously increased from 12.5 million adults living with roommates in 1990, 16.8 million in 2000 to 20.5 million in 2010.
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