The new face of America

Changing U.S households have real estate, marketing implications

American households look a lot different than they did 30 years ago. Overall, households are smaller, more people are putting off getting married and families with one stay-at-home parent -- once the understood norm -- have been placed in a demographic of their own, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In its recently released "America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2003" survey, the U.S. Census reports the average size of American households has decreased to 2.57 people in 2003 from 3.14 people in 1970.

Only 10 percent of households have 5 or more members compared with 21 percent in 1970, while the proportion of households with one person living alone increased to 26 percent in 2003 from 17 percent 33 years ago. Two-person households are the largest percentage, 33 percent.

Changes in marriage, divorce and mortality have contributed to the declines in the size of American households, the report says.

An aging population and the long-term decline in fertility are also factors, following a trend that has been developing world-wide, says Frances Goldscheider, professor of Sociology at Brown University. "In Sweden, approximately one-third of all households have one person, and we're closing in on that," Goldscheider says.