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A recent report revealed that all the single ladies—and men—have a lot to be proud of these days. Specifically, statistics show that this demographic owns the most owner-occupied homes in the nation.
Current data reveals that today’s single-homeownership rate is enjoying a lofty position at record highs. Much of this has been attributed as being a result of an uptick in single households that exist with owners under the age of 35 and over 55.
Experts offer likely reasons for this majority demographic concentration of age-range, among which begins with their surmising that single homeowners under 35 are much more likely to have never been married, and those in the over-55 age bracket have most likely been through a divorce to arrive at their current single statuses. Yet another revelation from the data shows that when comparing the gender of single homeowners, the female population has dominated the uptick, earning them a majority over the single men homeowners.
The data also indicates that single homeownership is much more prevalent and concentrated in the Midwest and South versus the much more expensive West of the United States. This direct result of housing affordability on single homeownership cannot be denied, especially in how such criteria affect the singles able to purchase—or not purchase—their next abodes.
This historic rise in single homeownership was pointed out by analyzing the 2018 American Community Survey Data and decennial census data, traced all the way back to 1900. Regarding the single demographic, the exact criteria are officially listed as someone who’s never been married, who’s divorced, or who’s been widowed.
To get into specifics, the exact portion of single homeowners in the nation are reported as owning 38.4% of the nation’s entire owner-occupied housing stock. Impressively, again, this is the highest ever reported, at least since the census data begins in 1900. A few reasons for this have been revealed by experts, the main one being that the population as a whole is seeing singles multiply in record numbers as well, with US residents finding themselves single via a divorce, death of a spouse, or simply a chosen foregoing of the institution of marriage altogether.
The reasons experts give for the majority of single homeowners being female include the idea that women often outlive their male spouses, leaving them single, as well as the fact that data shows that men are more prone to remarry after experiencing the loss of a spouse. The obvious reason is, of course, that it simply makes sense, seeing as the US is home to roughly 5 million more females than males in the general population.
