Cohabitation in Middle and Later Life, 2022

Family Profile No. 14, 2024
Author: Jaden Loo

This Family Profile is
an update to FP-16-20.

The popularity of cohabitation for US adults of all ages has continued to grow in recent years. For older men and women (aged 50+) in 2000, the number of cohabitors was about 1.2 million, or 1.6% of adults in that group (Brown, Bulanda, & Lee 2005). As of 2022, this number has almost quadrupled to 4,205,505. We find that among older adults more men (2,216,977) are cohabiting than women (1,988,528). This sex difference is especially pronounced when comparing cohabitation rates (number of cohabitors per 1,000 unmarried and separated). The cohabitation rate is higher among older men at 118.2 than women at 67.17. This rapid growth is evidence cohabitation has become a more common experience for today’s older adults. A majority of older cohabitors are Non-Hispanic White (69%) with the next closest racial/ethnic group being 14% of older adult cohabitors being Hispanic. 10% were non-Hispanic Black, 4% were non-Hispanic Other race, and 3% were non-Hispanic Asian. Drawing on 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) data, we examine variation in cohabitation trends for older US adults by geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics. First, we present state variation in cohabitation rates which represent the number of older adult cohabitors per 1,000 unmarried and separated older adults. Second, we examine how poverty rates and marital histories of cohabitors compare to those who are single and married.[1]

[1] Following Stepler (2017), those who are separated are included in the denominator for these estimates of cohabitation rates. This approach differs from that used in FP-16-20 and thus those estimates are not directly comparable to the ones presented here.

Older Cohabitation Rates by State

Figure 1. Cohabitation Rates of Individuals Aged 50 or Older, by State, 2022

[1] The IPUMS variable “POVERTY” assigns all members of each family the same code, rather than each household, meaning that a cohabiting partner’s income is not included in the computation

Data Source:
Flood, S., King, M., Rodgers, R., Ruggles, S., Warren, J. R., Warren, D., Chen, A., Cooper, G., Richards, S., Schouweiler, M., & Westberry, M. (2024). IPUMS USA: Version 15.0 American Community Survey. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V15.0

References:
Brown, S. L., Bulanda, J. R., & Lee, G. R. (2005). The significance of nonmarital cohabitation: Marital status and mental health benefits among middle-aged and older adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60(1), S21–S29. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/60.1.S21

Hemez, P. & Brown, S. L. (2016). Cohabitation in middle and later life. Family Profiles, FP-16-20. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/hemez-brown-cohabitation-middle-later-life-2014-fp-16-20.html

Stepler, R. (2017, April 6). Number of U.S. adults cohabiting with a partner continues to rise, especially among those 50 and older. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/04/06/number-of-u-s-adults-cohabiting-with-a-partner-continues-to-rise-especially-among-those-50-and-older/

Suggested Citation:
Loo, J. (2024). Cohabitation in Middle and Later Life, 2022. Family Profiles, FP-24-14. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-24-14

This project is supported with assistance from Bowling Green State University. From 2007 to 2013, support was also provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the state or federal government.