Jay Miles has been unmarried for 52 years, which has suited his creative ambitions as a videographer in Connecticut and, he said, his mix of "independence and stubbornness." He is concerned about who will take care of him as he ages.
Donna Selman, a college professor in Illinois, said that she is mostly grateful to be single because her mother and aunts didn't have the financial and emotional independence that she enjoys.
Mary's children are now grown in her rowhouse. She lives in a home that has plenty of space for one person, but it costs a lot to maintain.
People 50 and older are one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the country.
13 percent of American households had one person in 1960. Today it is close to 30 percent, and it has risen steadily. Thirty-six percent of households are headed by people 50 or older.
The number of Americans 50 or older living alone increased from 15 million to 26 million. Baby boomers and Gen Xers make up a bigger share of the population than at any other time in the nation's history.
The number of people living alone in the US.
Deep changes in attitudes surrounding gender and marriage have been driving the trend. Older people are more likely to be separated or never married.
For previous generations of older women, professional advancement, homeownership and financial independence were all out of reach. A majority of older adults living by themselves are female.
There is a lot of social and demographic change going on.
Many older adults say they feel good about their lives.
While many people in their 50s and 60s enjoy living alone, research shows that they experience worse physical and mental health outcomes as they get older.
The research shows that people in this group are more lonely than those who live with others.
The nation's housing stock has grown out of whack with demographic changes. Census data shows that many solo adults live in homes with at least three bedrooms, but it's not easy to downsize because of a shortage of smaller homes.
One in six Americans 55 and older do not have a child, which raises questions about how elder care will be managed in the future.
Will this cohort survive? "Dr. Schafer, what do you think?" Can they still find other supports to live alone?
There is a segment of the US population that is 50 and older.
The challenge of aging was highlighted by the Pandemic.
Ms. Selman lived in Terre Haute, Ind. She said she used the isolation to create new routines to stave off loneliness and depression after being divorced for 17 years. She stopped drinking and started calling her friends.
She relocated to Normal, Ill., because she wanted to live in a state that reflected her progressive politics. She has met new friends at a farmers market, she said, and is happier than she was before the epidemic, even though she sometimes wishes she had a romantic partner to take motorcycle rides with her or just to help carry laundry up and down the stairs of her three-bedroom home.
She decided to move closer to her daughter and grandson in Louisville, Ky., because she was forced to drive 12 hours to care for her parents in Detroit.
She doesn't want her daughter to worry about her.
Watching their own parents age seems to have had a profound effect on many members of Gen X, who say they doubt that they can rely on the same supports that their parents did.
Two years after his mother's death, Mr. Miles moved some of her furniture into his house.
He said it was a return to his roots after decades of cross-country moves and peripatetic career explorations, shifting from the music business to high school teaching.
He said that he still feels like he's indestructible.
He thought about his own future when he cared for his mother. He doesn't have the security that she has. He doesn't have kids.
He said he couldn't call his child because he used to go to his mom's house to change light bulbs.
He said his options for independence were terrible. I am terrified by it.
Several Gen X solo dwellers said they had begun exploring options to live communally as they age, inspired by living arrangements they had enjoyed in college.
Patrick McComb, a graphic artist from Michigan, has been talking to friends about end-of-life issues. Being alone until the end wouldn't be the worst thing. I'd rather be with people.
Three years ago, Mattingly bought a house in Michigan. There are three bedrooms and it is small.
She wants to know if she can cash in when she's old.
Ms. Mattingly didn't think she'd be able to pay down her mortgage and build wealth.
She said it was "inevitable" that she would never be able to retire.
It is a trend driven less by personal choice than by the nation's limited housing supply, according to experts. According to research from Freddie Mac, there is a nationwide shortage of homes below 1,400 square feet, which has caused the cost of smaller units to go up.
Forty years ago, units of less than 1,400 square feet made up 40% of all new home construction.
It is more difficult for older Americans to downsize due to the fact that a large, aging house can command less than what a single adult needs to establish a new, smaller home and pay for their living and health care expenses in retirement.
More people live in the U.S.
In households with less than 500 people.
The market has become more lazada.
They created bigger living spaces.
The number of people in a house.
Since 2000.
The number of bedrooms in a building.
Since 2000.
The director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard said that people in this group face the reality that it is more expensive to get a smaller condo than a single family home.
When they hold onto family-size houses well into retirement, there are less spacious homes on the market for young families, who in turn squeeze into smaller units or endure long commute to find affordable housing.
Jenny Schuetz is an expert on housing and urban economics at the Brookings Institution.
The legacy of redlining and segregation means that homeownership has not generated as much wealth for older black Americans. In historically Black neighborhoods, the percentage of people living alone in large houses is higher. Older women own a lot of the homes in those areas.
The Strawberry Mansion neighborhood in Philadelphia has one of them. After it was damaged in a fire, she and her ex- husband bought a row house for a song.
Ms. Felder worked in a variety of jobs while raising her children. She retired in 2008 and has lived alone for more than 10 years.
It is difficult to maintain her home. She used every piece of fabric in the house to sop up the water in the rainstorm. She's worried about her safety.
She would like to relocate to small-town South Carolina, where she was born and raised.
She thinks of a small home there.
The median value of a home in her neighborhood was more than $60,000. She thinks she can sell her house and make a lot of money.
She sighed as she sat in her living room filled with plants.
The share of US households with one person by age group and race/ethnicity.
Ms. Felder is a fixture in her neighborhood and has received help from Habitat for Humanity to fix her roof.
It became more difficult to live alone in September.
A masked man shot a woman in the legs while she was cleaning the trash out of the alley.
She had no idea who shot her. She recuperated at her daughter's home, which has a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor.
She said she was feeling better by the end of the month. She didn't stay overnight in her home. She is still scared.
She stated that she was working on it. I like my house very much.
Noyes was a researcher.
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