Fewer than half of U.S. households in 2025 consisted of married couples, according to new estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s America’s Families and Living Arrangements tables. The data show a decline from 66% of households being married couples in 1975 to just 47% in 2025.
The proportion of married-couple households with their own children has also decreased over the past fifty years. In 1975, more than half (54%) of these households included their own children under age 18; by 2025, that figure had dropped to about 37%.
The number of one-person households reached 39.7 million in 2025, making up 29% of all households compared to only 20% in 1975. There was also an increase in householders aged 65 and older, rising from one in five in 1975 to over one in four by 2025.
Other findings include a drop in families with their own children under age 18 living at home—from 54% fifty years ago to just under two-fifths today—and a rise in the median age at first marriage for both men and women. In 2025, the estimated median age at first marriage was reported as “30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, up from ages 23.5 and 21.1, respectively, in 1975.”
Living arrangements among young adults have shifted as well: “In 2025, more than half (58%) of adults ages 18 to 24 lived in their parental home, compared to 16% of adults ages 25 to 34.”
These statistics are based on data collected through the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) for both years referenced. CPS ASEC has been collecting information on families for over six decades.
The Census Bureau provides further details on household characteristics, living arrangements, couple types, and children on its Families and Living Arrangements page at census.gov.
Technical documentation regarding definitions, confidentiality protection measures, methodology details—including sampling error—is available online through the Census Bureau’s published materials at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar25.pdf.
“All comparative statements have undergone statistical testing, and unless otherwise noted all comparisons are statistically significant at the ten percent significance level,” according to the release.
