Census: Couples Marrying Later, Affects Household Size

Census: Couples Marrying Later, Affects Household Size

RISMEDIA, November 11, 2010--The median age at first marriage increased to 28.2 for men and 26.1 for women in 2010, an increase from 26.8 and 25.1 in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase is a continuation of a long-term trend that has been noted since the mid-1950s. In addition, the overall percentage of adults who were married declined to 54.1 percent in 2010 from 57.3 percent in 2000.

According to America's Families and Living Arrangements, the average household size declined to 2.59 in 2010, from 2.62 people in 2000. This is partly because of the increase in one-person households, which rose from 25 percent in 2000 to 27 percent in 2010, more than double the percentage in 1960 (13 percent).

These data come from the 2010 Current Population Survey, which provides a look at the socioeconomic characteristics of families and households at the national level.

"This series of tables highlights some of the changes in household composition over the last decade," said Rose Kreider, a family demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Even though the overall household size declined between 2000 and 2010, some household subgroups increased in size. For example, households where the householder had less than a high school degree increased to an average of 2.87 people in 2010 from 2.67 people in 2001.

Editor's note: The information can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/ population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html.

Other highlights:

* The percentage of households headed by a married couple who had children under 18 living with them declined to 21 percent in 2010, down from 24 percent in 2000.
* The percentage of children under 18 living with two married parents declined to 66 percent in 2010, down from 69 percent in 2000.
* In 2010, 23 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15.
* The percentage of children under 18 who lived in a household that included a grandparent increased from 8 percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2010. Of the 7.5 million children who lived with a grandparent in 2010, 22 percent did not have a parent present in the household.