Living Solo

The latest trend in many industrialized countries, including ours, is that of living alone. More people in Indiana are going it alone, living by themselves in an apartment or condo or their empty-nested family home. Each decade brings a larger percentage of people who live alone, and in Indiana that number is now more than one in four households – 26.9 percent of all households in Indiana compared to 26.7 percent nationally (see Figure 1). Consider this: the percentage of households comprised of married couples with children is now 19.9 percent in Indiana and 20.2 percent nationally.

Figure 1: Living Solo Timeline for Indiana, 1940 to 2010

Figure 1: Living Solo Timeline for Indiana, 1940 to 2010

Source: IBRC, using U.S. Census Bureau data

As shown in Table 1, the Census counted 671,920 Hoosiers living alone, with the majority (55 percent) women. Most of those living alone tend to own rather than rent, with 56 percent of them owning and the remaining 44 percent renting. Among seniors living alone, nearly three in four are women (73 percent).

Table 1: Living Solo in Indiana—Results from Census 2010

CategoryNumber Living AlonePercent
By Sex
Total 671,920 100%
Men 303,513 45%
Women 368,407 55%
By Tenure
Owner 379,164 56%
Renter 292,756 44%
By Age
Less than Age 65 433,803 65%
65 and Older 238,117 35%
     Men 65+ 64,936 27%
     Women 65+ 173,181 73%
For Context
65+ Living in Group Quarters 39,942 5%

Source: IBRC, using U.S. Census Bureau data

We will continue to mine the 2010 census in InContext, but if you are hungry for more data be sure to visit American FactFinder (https://data.census.gov), the repository for the 2010 Census as well as the American Community Survey.

Carol O. Rogers
Deputy Director and Executive Editor, Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of Business