Rural residents less likely than urban ones to live alone; map has county-level data

Rural Americans are less likely to live alone. The number of Americans living in one-person households has risen from 5 percent in the 1920s to 27 percent in 2013, but the highest concentrations of single-person households are in cities such as Manhattan and Washington, D.C., Tim Henderson reports for Stateline. To see an interactive map of county-level changes from 2000 to 2010, click here.

The lowest percentage of single-households is in Madison County, Idaho, an area settled by Mormons, where only 10 percent of people live alone, Henderson writes. Utah has the lowest number of single-person households at 19 percent. Experts say overall single-person numbers are higher because people are living longer and getting married later in life.

Sociologist Eric Klinenberg told Henderson, “Most of the people I talk to, when I ask why they live alone, they say, ‘Because I can.' Living alone is a luxury. You’re better off doing it in a densely populated urban area that’s high in amenities. It’s more difficult if you live in a rural area or a suburban area designed for families." (Read more) (Stateline map: In Wayne County, Tennessee, with a population of about 17,000, 27 percent of people live alone)