Average US Household Size Declines to 2.6

Marketing Charts: Average US Household Size Declines to 2.6

These charts have important implications when we start talking about changes in household income. We are frequently told that household income hasn't risen for two or three decades. But per capita income has been increasing. The rise in single-parent households means more poor households and depresses the overall household income averages, not because of stagnate wages but because of lifestyle choices. Furthermore, families in the top quintile of income have family sizes of more than 3 per household, while the bottom quintile has an average family size of about 1.9. That means the income in high-income households is divided across 50% more people. Wealthy households are growing in size while poor households are shrinking. Per capita wages have been increasing for all quintiles but the top 1% have had significantly faster growth

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