The Evolving American Household: Growth in Multigenerational Living

A growing share of American households have three or more generations of the same family living under the same roof.

During much of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, extended families living in tight quarters was the norm, before the post-World War II baby boom pushed more nuclear families to begin forming their own households. But a combination of economic, cultural and social forces is helping spur a new rise in multigenerational households. Extended families are increasingly driven to live together in part as a way of easing housing affordability, and it is also a much more common phenomenon among rapidly growing Asian and Hispanic households.

The slides below examine some of the characteristics of today’s multigenerational American households.