2.50
2025 (latest)
AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE
people per household · 1940–2025 · neither direction is "better" · U.S. Census Bureau, historical family and living-arrangement tables
3.67
1940
3.67
high · 1940
2.50
low · 2022
−1.17 pts
since 1940
┊ dashed lines mark 1979 Oil shock & inflation peak · 1987 Black Monday crash · 1991 Gulf War recession · 2001 Dot-com bust & 9/11 · 2008 Global financial crisis · 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
Method & caveats. Publisher average population per household, all households; not average family size. Breaks: 2014 ASEC questionnaire redesign; decennial population-control revisions (the publisher's lettered r rows, taken over the original); 2021 appears twice in the tables (the later-method row is taken); 2025 uses Vintage-2025 population controls; 2019 onward includes same-sex married couples.
Sources
Every value on this page is read from the publisher below. Current and historical source documents:
- https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/families/time-series/households/hh6.xls
- https://github.com/danielmiessler/substrate/tree/main/Data/US-Family-And-Society
Data
| Year | Average household size | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.50 | −0.01 pts |
| 2024 | 2.51 | +0.00 pts |
| 2023 | 2.51 | +0.01 pts |
| 2022 | 2.50 | −0.04 pts |
| 2021 | 2.54 | +0.01 pts |
| 2020 | 2.53 | +0.01 pts |
| 2019 | 2.52 | −0.01 pts |
| 2018 | 2.53 | −0.01 pts |
| 2017 | 2.54 | +0.01 pts |
| 2016 | 2.53 | −0.01 pts |
| 2015 | 2.54 | +0.00 pts |
| 2014 | 2.54 | +0.00 pts |
| 2013 | 2.54 | −0.01 pts |
| 2012 | 2.55 | −0.01 pts |
| 2011 | 2.56 | −0.03 pts |
| 2010 | 2.59 | +0.02 pts |
| 2009 | 2.57 | +0.01 pts |
| 2008 | 2.56 | +0.00 pts |
| 2007 | 2.56 | −0.01 pts |
| 2006 | 2.57 | +0.00 pts |
| 2005 | 2.57 | +0.00 pts |
| 2004 | 2.57 | +0.00 pts |
| 2003 | 2.57 | −0.01 pts |
| 2002 | 2.58 | +0.00 pts |
| 2001 | 2.58 | −0.04 pts |
| 2000 | 2.62 | +0.01 pts |
| 1999 | 2.61 | −0.01 pts |
| 1998 | 2.62 | −0.02 pts |
| 1997 | 2.64 | −0.01 pts |
| 1996 | 2.65 | +0.00 pts |
| 1995 | 2.65 | −0.02 pts |
| 1994 | 2.67 | +0.01 pts |
| 1993 | 2.66 | +0.04 pts |
| 1992 | 2.62 | −0.01 pts |
| 1991 | 2.63 | +0.00 pts |
| 1990 | 2.63 | +0.01 pts |
| 1989 | 2.62 | −0.02 pts |
| 1988 | 2.64 | −0.02 pts |
| 1987 | 2.66 | −0.01 pts |
| 1986 | 2.67 | −0.02 pts |
| 1985 | 2.69 | −0.02 pts |
| 1984 | 2.71 | −0.02 pts |
| 1983 | 2.73 | +0.01 pts |
| 1982 | 2.72 | −0.01 pts |
| 1981 | 2.73 | −0.03 pts |
| 1980 | 2.76 | −0.02 pts |
| 1979 | 2.78 | −0.03 pts |
| 1978 | 2.81 | −0.05 pts |
| 1977 | 2.86 | −0.03 pts |
| 1976 | 2.89 | −0.05 pts |
| 1975 | 2.94 | −0.03 pts |
| 1974 | 2.97 | −0.04 pts |
| 1973 | 3.01 | −0.05 pts |
| 1972 | 3.06 | −0.05 pts |
| 1971 | 3.11 | −0.03 pts |
| 1970 | 3.14 | −0.05 pts |
| 1969 | 3.19 | −0.04 pts |
| 1968 | 3.23 | −0.05 pts |
| 1967 | 3.28 | −0.02 pts |
| 1966 | 3.30 | −0.01 pts |
| 1965 | 3.31 | −0.02 pts |
| 1964 | 3.33 | +0.00 pts |
| 1963 | 3.33 | +0.02 pts |
| 1962 | 3.31 | −0.05 pts |
| 1961 | 3.36 | +0.03 pts |
| 1960 | 3.33 | −0.01 pts |
| 1959 | 3.34 | +0.00 pts |
| 1958 | 3.34 | +0.01 pts |
| 1957 | 3.33 | +0.01 pts |
| 1956 | 3.32 | −0.01 pts |
| 1955 | 3.33 | −0.01 pts |
| 1954 | 3.34 | +0.06 pts |
| 1953 | 3.28 | −0.04 pts |
| 1952 | 3.32 | −0.02 pts |
| 1951 | 3.34 | −0.03 pts |
| 1950 | 3.37 | −0.05 pts |
| 1949 | 3.42 | −0.07 pts |
| 1948 | 3.49 | −0.07 pts |
| 1947 | 3.56 | −0.11 pts |
| 1940 | 3.67 | — |
Also in Family & Society