North Carolina

HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY STRUCTURE

A household is defined as one or more people living in a residence. A family is more than one person living together, either married or of the same bloodline. The head of a household is one of the people who owns or rents the residence and was indicated first on the Census questionnaire.

The tendency for people to marry at an older age and the number of married people getting divorced may have contributed to the overall drop in married couples. Also, it may more culturally acceptable for people to not get married at all or to have non-traditional relationships.

Household Types, 1990-2000
1990 2000
Number Percent Number Percent
Total Households 2,517,026 100.00% 3,132,013 100.00%
Married Couple 1,424,206 56.58% 1,645,346 52.53%
With Children* 633,607 25.17% 707,506 22.59%
Without Children* 790,599 31.41% 937,840 29.94%
Female Householder, no spouse 309,876 12.31% 389,997 12.45%
With Children* 168,554 6.70% 227,351 7.26%
Without Children* 141,322 5.61% 162,646 5.19%
Male Householder, no spouse 77,971 3.10% 123,526 3.94%
With Children* 33,634 1.34% 60,791 1.94%
Without Children* 44,337 1.76% 62,735 2.00%
Non-Family Households 704,973 28.01% 973,144 31.07%
Living Alone 596,959 23.72% 795,271 25.39%
Two or More Persons 108,014 4.29% 177,873 5.68%

*In this table, children are people under age 18.

Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

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