In the past several years, “home sharing” among older adults has garnered increased attention, with news stories focusing on “the Golden Girls trend” and a growing number of businesses helping to screen and match people interested in shared housing.
The data, however, suggest that this is as yet a small – but growing – phenomenon. In 2016, 879,000 people age 65 or over lived with, or as, a “roomer or boarder,” “housemate or roommate,” or other non-related person according to the American Community Survey, representing 1.8 percent of all older adults. Of the older adults who share homes, 438,200 lived only with a roommate who also was age 65 or over, while nearly 370,000 lived with a younger person. An additional 71,000 people lived as a group of older adults in a household that also included a younger non-family member. In contrast, nearly 12.8 million people 65 or over lived alone and another 21.7 million lived only with their spouse or partner, while 452,000 older adults lived with only a sibling or siblings. (These figures exclude more complicated arrangements such as older couples, families, and siblings who also live with nonrelatives including roommates.)