According to a US Census Bureau report released last week, the number of unmarried couples living together has tripled in the past twenty years. This is thought to be because of cohabitation being widely accepted by Generation X and Millennials.
The number of unmarried partners cohabiting jumped from just 6 million in 1996 to 19.1 million in 2018. Experts also believe the staggering jump to be the result of live-in being viewed as a marriage alternative by socially disadvantaged groups.
In another report, it was discovered that Millennials tend to get married at a far later age than the previous generations which could lead to a spike in partners living together without actually getting married. However, the report reveals that the statistics were for people aged 35 and up.
48.5% people aged 18 to 35 were unmarried and cohabiting in 2017, which was, in fact, a slight decrease from 1996 where 59.8% unmarried couples were living together.
In 1996, 37.9% people were unmarried and cohabiting between the age group 35 and 64, which jumped to 45.4% in 2017.
The 2018 report sees that majority of couples are Millennials, which means they are born between 1981 and 1996 and their age range is between 22 and 37 years old.
This report shows that there are more unmarried couples living together that are older, racially diverse, earn a higher wage, and are better educated than ever before.
