One third of single adults now have roommates

Study Finds - One-third of adults now live with roommates, a byproduct of rising rents, a new study finds.

Researchers at Zillow, an online real estate database, analyzed figures from a 2016 U.S. Census Bureau survey and recently interviewed more than 13,000 Americans, asking them about their experiences with renting and homeownership. With rents jumping in many major cities, the number of single adults in America living “doubled-up” with roommates is at its highest since at least 1990.

One component of their inquiry looked at doubled-up households, which are those in which two or more working-aged adults — none of whom are romantically involved — live together.

Since the late 1990s, the share of doubled-up residences across the U.S. has increased by nearly 10 percent, their analysis showed — from 23 percent of households to today’s figure.

The researchers were able to clearly link the increase in shared homes with ballooning rental rates.