The bar chart illustrates the rate of people living alone in five different age categories in the United States between 1850 and 2000.
Overall, the percentage of individuals who live alone in all age categories consistently increased throughout the years. Notably, younger ages appeared in later years and the number of people living solo from 55 to 64 years old was recorded the highest among every age group for over a hundred years.
Looking first at the proportion of residents living solo in 1850, the 37-46 and 47-54 age groups were at the same point just above 2 percent. While the former remained unchanged in the next fifty years, the latter slightly increased to around 3 percent, which was the same with the 55-64 age bracket in the year 1850. In 1990, the percentage of people living alone in the age range of 27 to 36, which was not recorded in the last fifty years, being the lowest with roughly 2. Conversely, the oldest group still had the highest rate, with a marginal growth to 4 percent in the same year.
Regarding the years 1950 and 2000, the percentage of solo living individuals in the 17-26 age category was recorded to be the lowest with almost 2 and around 5 in that order. Similarly, those aged 27-36 and 37-46 also showed relatively low figures despite a gradual rise to 8 and around 7 in 2000. By contrast, the older cohorts experienced a significant upward trend. In 1950, the category from 47-54 was nearly 4 percent, after which this figure grew sharply to approximately 13 in the next 50 years. While the oldest group peaked at roughly 17 percent in the year 2000, which was doubled compared to 1950.