Modeling U.S. Households Since 1900

Did you ever wonder how many households there were in the United States in 1925? Or maybe you just want to project how many there will be in 2015?

If so, you've come to the right place! Our latest tool takes data collected by the U.S. Census every 10 years from 1900 through 1940, and then annually beginning in 1947 to estimate the number of households there were in the U.S in a given year.

You just need to select your year of interest in the tool below and click the "Calculate" button!

Year of Interest
Input Data	Values
Select Year	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Number of U.S. Households
Calculated Results	Values
Estimated Number of Households

Although we've modeled the number of households in the U.S. as a function of time, in reality, it would be more proper to describe it as being a function of population, demographics and income. Time simply works as a catchall for these factors.

In building the tool however, we realized that there are two distinct periods in U.S. history where the number of households is concerned: the period up to and including 1947 and the period ever since. Our chart below illustrates those two periods:

As best as we can determine, the shift between the two periods was caused by a technological change - the introduction of mass-production techniques in U.S. home construction by William Levitt in 1947.

These technological improvements were quickly adopted by home builders across the United States, transforming the industry from a large number of local builders who might only construct three to four homes in a year, to one dominated by regional and national builders capable of constructing hundreds or even thousands of dwellings per year.

References

U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003. Table No. HS-12. Households by Type and Size: 1900 to 2002.

U.S. Census Bureau. Table HH-4. Households by Size: 1960 to Present. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Accessed 3 February 2013.