29.5%
2025 (latest)
ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS
percent of households · 1960–2025 · neither direction is "better" · computed from the U.S. Census Bureau historical family and living-arrangement tables (counts divided within the same table)
13.1%
1960
29.5%
high · 2025
13.1%
low · 1960
+16 pts
since 1960
┊ 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. Computed from one-person households divided by all households; uses person-weighted CPS household estimates. 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/hh4.xls
- https://github.com/danielmiessler/substrate/tree/main/Data/US-Family-And-Society
Data
| Year | One-person households | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 29.5% | +0.4 pts |
| 2024 | 29.1% | +0.1 pts |
| 2023 | 29.0% | +0.1 pts |
| 2022 | 28.9% | +0.6 pts |
| 2021 | 28.2% | +0.1 pts |
| 2020 | 28.2% | −0.2 pts |
| 2019 | 28.4% | +0.4 pts |
| 2018 | 28.0% | +0.1 pts |
| 2017 | 27.9% | −0.2 pts |
| 2016 | 28.1% | +0.1 pts |
| 2015 | 28.0% | +0.3 pts |
| 2014 | 27.7% | +0.3 pts |
| 2013 | 27.4% | +0.0 pts |
| 2012 | 27.4% | −0.1 pts |
| 2011 | 27.5% | +0.8 pts |
| 2010 | 26.7% | −0.3 pts |
| 2009 | 27.0% | −0.5 pts |
| 2008 | 27.5% | +0.7 pts |
| 2007 | 26.8% | +0.2 pts |
| 2006 | 26.6% | +0.0 pts |
| 2005 | 26.6% | +0.2 pts |
| 2004 | 26.4% | −0.0 pts |
| 2003 | 26.4% | +0.1 pts |
| 2002 | 26.3% | +0.3 pts |
| 2001 | 26.1% | +0.6 pts |
| 2000 | 25.5% | −0.1 pts |
| 1999 | 25.6% | −0.1 pts |
| 1998 | 25.7% | +0.5 pts |
| 1997 | 25.1% | +0.2 pts |
| 1996 | 25.0% | +0.0 pts |
| 1995 | 25.0% | +0.7 pts |
| 1994 | 24.3% | −0.1 pts |
| 1993 | 24.4% | −0.6 pts |
| 1992 | 25.1% | +0.0 pts |
| 1991 | 25.0% | +0.4 pts |
| 1990 | 24.6% | +0.2 pts |
| 1989 | 24.5% | +0.4 pts |
| 1988 | 24.0% | +0.4 pts |
| 1987 | 23.6% | −0.3 pts |
| 1986 | 23.9% | +0.2 pts |
| 1985 | 23.7% | +0.4 pts |
| 1984 | 23.4% | +0.4 pts |
| 1983 | 22.9% | −0.2 pts |
| 1982 | 23.2% | +0.2 pts |
| 1981 | 23.0% | +0.3 pts |
| 1980 | 22.6% | +0.4 pts |
| 1979 | 22.2% | +0.3 pts |
| 1978 | 22.0% | +1.0 pts |
| 1977 | 20.9% | +0.4 pts |
| 1976 | 20.6% | +1.0 pts |
| 1975 | 19.6% | +0.5 pts |
| 1974 | 19.1% | +0.6 pts |
| 1973 | 18.5% | +0.2 pts |
| 1972 | 18.3% | +0.6 pts |
| 1971 | 17.7% | +0.6 pts |
| 1970 | 17.1% | +0.4 pts |
| 1969 | 16.7% | +0.6 pts |
| 1968 | 16.1% | +0.6 pts |
| 1967 | 15.5% | −0.0 pts |
| 1966 | 15.6% | +0.5 pts |
| 1965 | 15.0% | +1.1 pts |
| 1964 | 13.9% | +0.4 pts |
| 1963 | 13.6% | −0.1 pts |
| 1962 | 13.7% | +0.4 pts |
| 1961 | 13.3% | +0.2 pts |
| 1960 | 13.1% | — |
Also in Family & Society