Census: More Americans living alone
By Tim Henderson, Washington Post
NEW YORK — At 81, Stan Piotrowski has no desire for full-time company. He lives alone in Tudor City, an enclave with a very high proportion of single dwellers.
“At this point in my life, I wouldn’t want to live with anybody,” he said. “I want to do what I want to do. If I want to sleep late, I can sleep late.”
Piotrowski may be happily alone in his apartment, but he has plenty of company nationwide. The proportion of Americans who live alone has grown steadily since the 1920s, increasing from roughly 5 percent then to 27 percent in 2013, according to the latest Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau.
The phenomenon, which is most prevalent in cities, raises health and safety issues for local governments.
The growth in the number of men living alone is especially dramatic, rising from less than 6 percent in 1970 to more than 12 percent in 2012, according to a Census Bureau report released last year. Fifteen percent of households are women living alone.
