Recession, Immigration Spur More Families to Live Together
The twin forces of recession and broad demographic shifts have sparked a return to the multi-generational household, according to this report from the Pew Research Center.
According to the report, about 49 million Americans, or about 16% of the population, lived in a household with at smallest amount two adult generations. That compared with 28 million, or 12% of the population, in 1980. That is a reversal from past trends: Between 1940 and 1980, the number of multi-generational households had declined to 12% in 1980 from 25% in 1940.
The Pew report, which was compiled through a amalgamation of Census data and telephone surveys, charts several decades of social and economic trends that have seen American families go apart and back together. Between 1940 and 1980, Social Security and better health allowed more seniors to live alone later into their lives. At the same time, the settler population declined as the economy and outer edge boomed, chief to more independent households.
Much of that has reversed. Immigration is a driving force of the economy and the country’s demographics, with whites of non-European extraction expected to make up less than 50% of the U.S. population by 2042. Asian and Hispanic immigrants, in particular, are more likely to see multi-generational dwellings. Also, people are waiting longer to get married and many of them “consider their childhood home to be an attractive living situation, especially when a terrible economy makes it hard for them to find jobs or launch careers,” according to the Pew Report.
To be sure, these long-term demographic changes have been accelerated by the Fantastic Recession. According to Pew analysis of Census data, 2.6 million more Americans were living in multi-generational households than in 2007 — an increase that has seen across all racial groups. Those findings dovetail with a 2009 Pew Report that found that among 22- to 29-years-olds, one-in eight had suffered a recession-induced go-in after living on their own.