What cities do you think most likely have extended families living under one roof?

[Capsicum]

Extended families or multigenerational households where it's not just a nuclear family with parents and children but more than one adult generation like grandparents, parents and kids, or aunts, uncles etc.?

Expensive cities, where young people might have a hard time buying their own home before getting married and even having their own kids?

Cities with lots of immigrants/racial/ethnic minorities where this kind of family living is common?

Which cities in North America in particular?

[jd3189]

The most expensive cities and metros along with those that have always been immigrant or college/ young professional centers are probably good contenders.


Thus, NYC, LA, SF, Miami, Boston, and a bunch of other smaller college towns.

[Capsicum]

My instinct was probably to say NYC or the Bay Area, but I'm not sure.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by jd3189

The most expensive cities and metros along with those that have always been immigrant or college/ young professional centers are probably good contenders.


Thus, NYC, LA, SF, Miami, Boston, and a bunch of other smaller college towns.

But won't college towns have lots of students living alone in dorms and thus not with parents/family (if that's how it's counted on the census?).

[edale]

This is probably impossible to measure, but I would say Los Angeles. Not only is it an expensive place to live, it also has a ton of immigrant communities where it is more normal for extended families to live together. This plays out both among new arrivals from Latin America who live together, as I experienced frequently among neighbors when I lived in South LA, but also in ethnic communities where there is a bit of an expectation that family will live together. I have Armenian friends in their 30s who still live with their parents and grandparents, and think little of it. The abundance of single family homes also probably helps to facilitate more inter-generational cohabitation, though I've seen it in small one bedroom apartments here, too.

[dave8721]

LA probably by total, Miami probably by %. I am sure the ranking of % of multigenerational households probably matches the ranking of % immigrant communities. The only thing holding Miami down from a higher % is the % of households that are single immigrant who sends money back to their family. If they do have a family in the US though, the % that has the whole family (3 or 4 generations) living together is pretty high.

[dave8721]

This census article has it broken down by state but they have a map with it broken down by Counties. Miami is the only major city that falls in one of the highest rate counties. Judging by the map African American and rural households would also be highly likely to be multigenerational.
Map page 4
https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-03.pdf

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by dave8721

LA probably by total, Miami probably by %. I am sure the ranking of % of multigenerational households probably matches the ranking of % immigrant communities. The only thing holding Miami down from a higher % is the % of households that are single immigrant who sends money back to their family. If they do have a family in the US though, the % that has the whole family (3 or 4 generations) living together is pretty high.

But if multi-generational living also correlates to rural and African American share, that would counter the trend, since most African-Americans are not immigrants, and most rural areas are also low in immigrant share.

Cities with immigrants would have the multigenerational share raised by families of immigrants but also lowered by "lone immigrant sending money back to family abroad" types or "split families".

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by dave8721

This census article has it broken down by state but they have a map with it broken down by Counties. Miami is the only major city that falls in one of the highest rate counties. Judging by the map African American and rural households would also be highly likely to be multigenerational.
Map page 4
https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-03.pdf

Very interesting.

[llamaorama]

This raises an interesting point.

Census figures include children and retirees. How big a city feels and how much activity it has(cultural, economic, etc) is a function of how many adults it has who work and spend money.

The same thing applies to urban density. A neighborhood with families or multi-generational households is going to be really dense on paper, but it could have fewer buildings, traffic, etc than a less populated neighborhood of singles if the latter has a greater number of permanently occupied housing units.