Families are getting smaller while homes are getting bigger

The average square footage of a new single-family home in the US is now 20% larger than in 1990. Yet, households have fewer people in them, with family sizes shrinking to the smallest they’ve been in eight decades. USAFacts analyzed these two trends for insight into how Americans use their houses.

The average American household size in 2022 was 2.5 people, down from 3.7 people in 1940. The longest stretch of decline was during the 1970s.

The number of housing units nationwide grew 22.8% from 115.6 million in 1997 to 141.9 million in 2021.

Household composition is also changing. More people in their 20s and 30s live with their parents. In 2000, 4 million people ages 25–34 lived with their parents. By 2021, 7.68 million did, an increase of 87.4%.
More people are using their homes as their workplace. By the end of 2021, 27.6 million people nationwide worked from home. That’s more than triple the number of people working from home in 2019 and the most since recording began in 2005.

See more data on shrinking US households here.

Known traumatic brain injuries are on the rise

Traumatic brain injuries kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. This new article analyzes these metrics for a deeper understanding of all the various groups who are at risk, including high school athletes and older people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) categorized 69,473 deaths in the US as related to traumatic brain injury. Older adults account for nearly one-third of traumatic brain injury hospitalizations and more than one-quarter of related deaths.
Men are three times more likely to die from a traumatic brain injury than women, with a rate of 28.3 per 100,000.
Over 450,000 US service members were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury from 2000 to 2021. Approximately 80% of these injuries occurred when the service members were not deployed.
In 2021, 11.9% of high school students reported having one or more sport- or recreation-related concussions in the previous 12 months.
The CDC reports that research from the US and other countries indicates almost half of people in correctional facilities have a history of traumatic brain injuries. People experiencing homelessness are also more likely than the general population to have had previous brain injuries. People who have suffered a traumatic brain injury due to an assault are more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD, insomnia, and depression.

Learn more about how the CDC classifies traumatic brain injuries here.

Data behind the news

New York City coped with record rainfall and subsequent flooding at the end of September. People in New York state have had some of the most claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978. See how NY compares to other states.

California is dealing with particularly high prices at the pump. Here are some causes of high gas prices.

Some Kaiser Permanente employees went on a three-day strike after contract negotiations failed. Here’s a look at US labor strikes dating back to 1983.

The weekly fact quiz is here. Have you studied?

One last fact

The last — and longest— government shutdown was in 2019 in part over disagreements regarding former President Donald Trump’s proposal to fund and build a wall between the US and Mexico, according to statements made by Trump in January 2019. It lasted for 34 days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019.