Fewer than half of U.S. households in 2025 were married couples, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s America’s Families and Living Arrangements tables. The data show a notable change compared to 1975, when nearly two-thirds of households consisted of married couples.
The report also found that among married-couple households, fewer now include their own children under age 18. In 1975, over half of these households had their own children living at home; by 2025, this share dropped to about 37%.
Single-person households have increased over the past five decades. In 2025, there were 39.7 million one-person households, representing 29% of all households—up from 20% in 1975.
Householders aged 65 and older make up a larger portion of all householders than they did fifty years ago. Their share rose from one in five in 1975 to more than one in four by 2025.
The percentage of families with their own children under age 18 declined from more than half in 1975 to just under two-fifths in 2025. The median age at first marriage has also risen: men now marry for the first time at an estimated median age of 30.8 years and women at 28.4 years, compared to ages of 23.5 and 21.1 respectively in the mid-1970s.
More young adults are living with parents as well; the data indicate that over half (58%) of adults ages 18 to 24 lived with their parents’ home in early adulthood, while only about one-sixth (16%) of those aged between 25 and 34 did so.
“These statistics come from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), years 2025 and 1975,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau press release. “CPS ASEC has collected statistics on families for more than 60 years.”
The data provide information on household characteristics, living arrangements, couple types, and children.
Further details on definitions, confidentiality protection procedures, methodology issues including sampling errors can be found within technical documentation provided by the Census Bureau at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar25.pdf.
All comparative statements included have been statistically tested and are considered significant at the ten percent level unless otherwise noted.
