Chapter 1. Demographics

Indicator 4. Living Arrangements of the Youth Population

In 2010, most youth ages 15 to 19 were living with their parents (82 percent).²  This percentage was smaller than that in 1980, when 86 percent of youth lived with their parents. In both years, the percentage of youth living with their parents was greater for males than for females (89 vs. 83 percent in 1980 and 84 vs. 81 percent in 2010).  In contrast, a greater percentage of young adults ages 20 to 24 were living with their parents in 2010 (42 percent) than in 1980 (38 percent). In addition, more young adults lived with relatives who were not their spouse or parent or lived with related and unrelated subfamilies in 2010 than in 1980 (12 vs. 6 percent).

Between 1980 and 2010, the percentage of young adults ages 20 to 24 who were householders³ or the spouses of householders decreased (from 38 to 19 percent), while the percentage living in a nonfamily arrangement increased (from 19 to 27 percent).  In 2010, the percentage of both female and male young adults who maintained their own household or were the spouse of a householder was less than it was in 1980. The percentage for females was 25 percent in 2010, which was 21 percentage points lower than in 1980; the percentage for males was 13 percent in 2010, which was 15 percentage points lower than in 1980.

View Table 4
View Figure 4

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