The Population Division of the Bureau of the Census periodically publishes projections of the number of households and families. In 1979 the Population Division issued the report projections of the Number of Households and Families: 1979 to 1995” (Series P-25, No. 8051, and this year (1986) they released “Projections of the Number of Households and Families: 1986 to 2000” (Series P-25, No. 986). In this paper we describe the time series methodology used in the 1986 projections, evaluate the resulting and some alternative projections, and contrast this approach with the approach used in 1979.