Trendspotting: Multigenerational Households Keep Climbing

NewsWire: 5/6/22

• As of March 2021, the share of Americans living in multigenerational households has risen to 18%. The majority of adults living in these households say that their experience has been positive. (Pew Research Center)
  
• NH: We’re back with an update on multigenerational living, and yes, you guessed it: It’s still growing. As of March 2021, the share of Americans living in multigenerational households is now 18%--more than double what it was in 1971. Back in 2016, Pew estimated that 20% of Americans were living in multigenerational homes, but it has since provided updated estimates for previous years based on data from the Current Population Survey.

• Pew’s latest survey reiterates several points that we’ve discussed in our previous coverage--namely, that most people living in multigenerational households are happy with their arrangement. (See “Americans Are Happy in Their Multigenerational Homes.”) The share who say the experience has been positive (57%) is more than 3x the share who say it’s been negative (17%). Fully 58% of respondents told Pew that living with adult family members is “convenient” all or most of the time, and 54% said it’s “rewarding.” Only 23% said that it’s “stressful.”
• As has been the case in other surveys, financial issues and caregiving are the most common drivers motivating families to live together.
• The experiences of those living in multigenerational households vary by income and age. Lower-income earners are more likely to live in multigenerational households than upper-income earners, but the latter are more positive about it. As we’ve discussed before, this partially reflects stronger stigmas against living at home among lower SES groups. (See “Is the Stigma Against Living at Home Finally Fading?”)

• But as shown here, it probably also reflects the fact that lower-income families are more likely to be providing or receiving care as part of their living arrangement, and are less likely to see it as a temporary situation. They’re also considerably less likely to say that they have enough space for everyone to live comfortably.