Back in 1940, the share of single-person households was 7.8 percent. By 2013, 28 percent of all households have just one person, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reports.
According to Joint Center Senior Research Fellow George Masnick, single-person households are now the “second most common household type just behind married couples without minor children (29 percent), and well ahead of married couples with minor children in the household (19 percent).”
Traditionally, single-person households consisted mostly of renters. Today, homeowners make up the majority of this household type.