14
THE PEOPLE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
PLANNING ISSUE
Single person households are
increasing while households
of married couples with
children decline. Changes in
household types will
influence the housing choices
people make.
Population and Projections
Household Characteristics
and Age
Income, Poverty, and Education
Race and Hispanic Origin
Household Characteristics and Age
Household Types
Montgomery County, like much of the nation, has shifted
away from the traditional family structures that defined
popular household types for decades. Over the last 50
years, the percentage of households classified as a family
has dropped from 89% in 1960 to only 67% in 2010. A
single person living alone is now more common than a
household consisting of a married couple with children.
Married couples without children living at home are still the
largest household type. These households represent elderly
couples, empty nesters whose children have moved out, or
other married couples who do not have children.
What’s New
•
For the first time, there were more single person
households than families with married couples and
children living under the same roof in 2010.
•
Further evidence of the dissolution of the traditional
family structure—married couples with children
decreased as a percentage while single parent
households increased.
•
Boroughs and more urbanized areas of the county
tend to have more single person or two person
households, but these smaller households are also
becoming more common where new age restricted
developments have been built.
•
Changes in households have influenced the types of
residential units being constructed in the county.
Apartment buildings and other developments with
denser designs and smaller units have become more
popular over the last decade and now represent over
half of all new residential construction.
•
The Millennial Generation is roughly described as
people born between 1980 and 2000, and their views
are changing the status quo in terms of employee and
residential preferences. Attracting Millennials could
spur economic growth in a community.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
2+ Person Nonfamily
1 Person Nonfamily
Other Family
Single Parent
Married with Children
Married No Children
2010
2000
FIGURE 11:
Percent of Household Types: 2000 and 2010
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
2010
2000
1990
1980
1970
1960
Family Households
Nonfamily Households
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
FIGURE 10:
Percent of Family and Nonfamily Households:
1960—2010
