Party of one: Why record numbers of Americans are going it alone
When Hilary Reiter left New York City 20 years ago and moved to Park City, Utah, she didn’t think she would still be single two decades after moving out West.
Even as the number of single adults across the country continues to reach unprecedented levels, Ms. Reiter says she never made a “proactive decision” to forgo marriage and live alone. In some ways, she’s remained unattached into her 40s due to happenstance.
“But I also think there’s more to it than that,” says Ms. Reiter, who has never lived with a romantic partner. “I was never one of those girls who wanted the 300-person wedding and white wedding dress. I am staunchly independent, and maybe one of my weaknesses is my inability to compromise. I like having my own space; I like being able to come and go as I please and not have to accommodate somebody else.”
“I guess I also like not having any drama,” she says. “I feel like so many of my relationships were just dramatic and full of heartbreak. Some of them were pretty toxic.”
The number of single adults in the U.S. has been rising steadily since the 1950s, researchers say, when about 1 out of 4 adults were unmarried – and many were single men who migrated west to work in places like Alaska. Back then, as for most of human history, there remained a deep-seated social expectation that after coming of age, most full-functioning adults would find a vocation, get married, and start a family.
Today, however, nearly half the adult population is single – about 128 million Americans. This demographically diverse
