An increasingly diverse US population explains part of the increase
A record 64 million Americans, representing 20% of the US population, lived in multigenerational family households in 2016, representing a continuous increase in this type of household despite economic improvements since the Great Recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census data.
In 2014, 60.6 million Americans, or 19% of the population, were part of multigenerational homes, according to the last major Pew Research Center analysis of this data. In 2009, 51.5 million Americans, or 17% of the population, lived in multigenerational households, according to data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The study found that living in multigenerational households continues to grow across almost all US racial groups, Hispanics, most age groups, and both men and women. Pew attributed some the increase in multigenerational living to the growing racial and ethnic diversity in the US population. It noted that Asian and Hispanic populations are more likely to live in multigenerational households than whites, and those groups are growing more rapidly than the white population.
Among age groups, young adults are the most likely to live in multigenerational households in recent years, according to the analysis. This finding differs from previous research that found adults 85 years old and older were most likely to be living in such a household. In 2016, 33% of those between 25 and 29 years old resided in multigenerational households.
