The New Household

The results of the American Community Survey by the United States Census Bureau for 2013 were recently released, and the results showcase a shift in the way we think of who lives in the average American house.

At the end of 2013, there were 116,391,033 total household units, a 0.3% increase from 2012. This number includes any and all registered single-family homes, apartments units, condominium units, townhouses, mobile homes, and any virtually every permanent dwelling place.

Looking at the pie chart below, we can see the breakdown of the number of units in the three household types: family, one-person, 2+ non-family.

Within the Family Households, we can extrapolate the data from the ACS that 88.2% of these units have the "traditional" family structure with a head of household, a spouse, and one or more children. Nearly seven million households, or approximately 8.9% of the family household units, have extended family living with them. 2.9% of these units have non-family members living with them as well.

Market Impact: The traditional family structure is still the most dominant type of household unit in the country. What is important to note that the definition of traditional family unit is expanding to include possible extended family and family friends.

One-Person Households
From the One-Person Households, nearly 30% of household types across the country, we see that this number has increased 2.6% since 2010. What this tells us that more and more people are choosing to live on their own, having either put off getting married and starting a family or have either ended their first family and are now living independently.

Market Impact: This can have a negative impact on the housing market as single people tend to have less buying power than their married counterparts, meaning they either cannot afford a home or can only afford smaller, less expensive homes.

2+ Non-Family Households
Taking a look at the pie chart below, we can see the breakdown of the population in the final type of household, those not living by themselves or in the traditional family type.

In general, this type of household population has increased 3.2% since last year alone, the largest population increase of any group. What this shows us is that over 18 million Americans are living with someone other than a traditional family relative.

Market Impact: In the opposite sense of a growing number of individual person household, a growing number of multi-person household typically has more buying power. Although it may be more difficult to document and track this buying power than that of a married family, two or more buyers can change the market more so than an individual. While this group still remains the smallest group by a wide margin, it is a growing market that should be observed for the next several years.

What this means
While the traditional family structure of a household is still the dominant and most common type of household in the United States, the other two types of households are picking up the pace as an alternative way of living. Focusing efforts to serve these growing markets can be a wise way to increase business opportunities, but one should not dismiss the "traditional" family unit as this still widely dominates the housing landscape.