Seattle’s population growth has slowed since the 2010s boom, but housing here is still stretched thin. We usually blame zoning, construction costs or new arrivals. But an often overlooked factor is eating up tens of thousands of housing units: More of us than ever are living alone.
The latest census data shows a remarkable 44% of Seattle households are occupied by a single person — that’s about 170,500 of our total 383,700 households. Seattle has long had a higher share of solo dwellers than most cities, and that number keeps rising. In 2015, about 117,900 people lived alone in the city, making up 38% of households.
With that increase, single-person households have become the most prevalent household type in Seattle. In 2015, the city had more family households than single-person households. In 2024, the reverse was true — family households totaled 154,200, easily outnumbered by the 170,500 with just one person. (There are also around 59,000 roommate and unmarried-couple households)…