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Census 2000:
Population Shifts |
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Singles Get Hitched to the Suburbs |
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America's singles are now trading in the restless city for the edgeless
city in record numbers. Suburbs now contain more non-family
households—largely singles and elderly people living alone—than married couples
with children. In 2000, 29 percent of all suburban households were non-families, while 27
percent were married couples with children. Overall, metropolitan suburbs in the 1990s
experienced faster growth in every household type than did their central cities.
The single surge was predominant in the Northern suburbs, where growth in non-family and
single-parent family households virtually dwarfed married-couple growth. While
married-couple families grew a mere 2 to 5 percent overall in these areas, single-parent
and non-family households grew at rates exceeding 25 percent. In contrast to the North,
across the suburbs of the New Sunbelt and the Melting Pot metros, single-parent and
nonfamily households increases were also accompanied by considerable growth in married
couple families. Interestingly, of all five household types—ranging from married with
children to "other" families with no children—single-parent families were
the fastest growing in both the suburbs (41 percent) and the cities (19 percent).-JK |
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1990-2000 Rates of Growth and 2000 Shares
by Household Type in Central Cities and Suburbs*
*(Suburbs of Metro Areas with Population Over 500,000);
Source: US Census Bureau,
Census 2000; Center on Urban & Metropolitan Policy, The Brookings
Institution |
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HOUSEHOLD
SHARE (%)
BY TYPE 2000 |
HOUSEHOLD
TYPE |
CENTRAL
CITIES |
SUBURBS |
Married
No Children |
21 |
29 |
Married
w/ Children |
18 |
27 |
Other Family
No Children |
10 |
7 |
Other Family
w/ Children |
12 |
8 |
| Non-Family |
40 |
29 |
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Ministry Ideas |
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Are you a suburban church? If so, consider how your
approach may have embraced young couples with children to the exclusion of an emerging
single and single-parent population? |
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How might you build upon existing family ministries without excluding
either single-parent families and/or unmarried singles without children? Think of ways
that you can make both groups feel welcome. |
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One leader of a church who had a burden for single mothers, proposed a ministry
that would help attract this demographic to the church—even though he knew that this
group would probably not be able to contribute financially to the church. Does the
economic viability of a particular group affect whether you would include them in your
church ministry plans? |
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Single parents may feel displaced in family-centered churches that are
largely directed towards "intact" families. On the other hand, perhaps these
single parents also feel uncomfortable getting involved in singles ministries because they
tend to plan activities that don't include children. Think of ways that your church can
include single parents in its ministry plans. |
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© COPYRIGHT 2008 PERCEPT GROUP, INC. |
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