Solitaries..

 

Nearly 30 percent of American households comprise a single person, a record high. 

Scholars say living alone is not a trend so much as a transformation.

Homo sapiens is a social animal. Historians tapped ancient census rolls to show that our species has lived in groups for as long as such records have existed, stretching back at least to 1600.  

The U.S. Census shows that “solitaries” made up 8 percent of all households in 1940, doubled to 18 percent in 1970 and 29 percent, by 2022. 

The solo-living movement intersects with several other societal trends. Americans are marrying later, if at all. The nation is aging. The national birthrate is falling. People are living longer.  

More than anything, perhaps, the rise of single-person households is about women entering the workforce and achieving economic self-sufficiency.