Newsroom Archive

Unmarried and Single Americans Week Sept. 16-22, 2012

The Buckeye Singles Council “National Singles Week” started in Ohio in the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their contributions to society. The week is now widely observed during the third full week of September (Sept. 16-22 in 2012) as “Unmarried and Single Americans Week,” an acknowledgment that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed. In this edition of Facts for Features, unmarried people include those who were never married, widowed or divorced, unless otherwise noted.

Single Life

102 million

Number of unmarried people in America 18 and older in 2011. This group comprised 44.1 percent of all U.S. residents 18 and older.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A1.

53%

Percentage of unmarried U.S. residents 18 and older who were women in 2011; 47 percent were men.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A1.

62%

Percentage of unmarried U.S. residents 18 and older in 2011 who had never been married. Another 24 percent were divorced, and 14 percent were widowed.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A1

17 million

Number of unmarried U.S. residents 65 and older in 2011. These seniors comprised 16 percent of all unmarried people 18 and older.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A1

89

Number of unmarried men 18 and older for every 100 unmarried women in the United States in 2011.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A1

55 million

Number of households maintained by unmarried men and women in 2011. These households comprised 46 percent of households nationwide.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table A2

33 million

Number of people who lived alone in 2011. They comprised 28 percent of all households, up from 17 percent in 1970.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table H1 and HH-4

Parenting

36%

Percentage of women age 15 to 50 with a birth in the last 12 months, as of 2010, who were widowed, divorced or never married.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey <http://factfinder2.census.gov/> Table DP02

13.6 million

Number of unmarried parents living with their children in 2011. Of these, 10.0 million were unmarried mothers and 1.7 million were unmarried fathers, and 1.9 million were unmarried couples with at least one shared child.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Tables FG5-1 and FG5-2

40%

Percentage of opposite-sex, unmarried-partner households in 2011 that included at least one biological child of either partner.
Source: Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html> Table UC3

820,000

Number of unmarried grandparents who were caregivers for their grandchildren in 2010. They comprised about three in 10 grandparents who were responsible for their grandchildren.
Source: 2006-2010 American Community Survey <http://factfinder2.census.gov/> Table B10057.

Unmarried Couples

6.8 million

Number of unmarried-partner households in 2010. Of this number, 593,000 were same-sex households.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey <http://factfinder2.census.gov/> Table B11009.

Voters

35%

Percentage of voters in the 2010 November election who were unmarried.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of 2010
<https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2010/tables.html> Table 9

38%

Percentage of voters in the 2008 presidential election who were unmarried.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of 2008
<https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2008/tables.html> Table 11

Education

33%

Percentage of unmarried people 25 and older in 2011 who had a high school diploma or equivalent as their highest level of attainment.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/cps2011.html> Table 2

25%

Percentage of unmarried people 25 and older in 2011 with a bachelor's degree or more education.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2011
<https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/cps2011.html> Table 2