When I heard that New York City’s population did not rise as much as expected, my initial reaction is there must have been a large reduction in average household size. With the city becoming relatively more affluent, one might assume that fewer people were crammed into each housing unit. Or perhaps some of the roommates were not admitted to. With the large baby boom echo cohort moving out of childhood, however, I thought the share of housing units occupied by empty nesters might have risen.
But a quick look at average household size shows an increase from 2000 to 2010, reversing decades of decline. Which makes sense given that every generation is becoming worse off than the last, because of the last. Whereas the 1960s generation moved to apartments in Manhattan, my first NYC apartment in Kingsbridge, the Bronx was shared with three other people, one to a room. Now young people live four to a room. Nevermind.