You may think living with roommates is generally a young person's game - and you'd be right. But, while the biggest group of roommates is people in their twenties, the fastest growing group are the over 70s.
In fact, since 2018 the percentage of roommates over 70 has grown by 106%. Not only that, the percentage in their 50s has grown by 51% and in their 60s by 66%. In the same period, the percentage of roommates in their 20s fell by 20%.
Of the 10 biggest US metro areas, San Francisco/Bay Area, Dallas & Phoenix have the highest proportion of roommates over 50. Dallas has the oldest roommates (average age 37) while New York City and Boston have the youngest (average age 32).
Here's a breakdown of the top metro areas:
What's interesting is that it does seem, for most, age is just a number. We polled over 1,500 of our users and the majority (57%) said that age isn't important to them when it comes to their roommates. In fact, over a quarter (27%) already live with roommates who are over 10 years older than them, and nearly a third (31%) live with people over 10 years younger.
So maybe living with roommates is becoming a little less Friends and a little more Grace and Frankie.
Image credit: Martin Reisch