Over Half U.S. Households Headed by Someone 50 or Older

Cambridge, Mass. -- More than half of U.S. households are now headed by someone 50 or over, according to Housing America’s Older Adults 2018, a report being released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Also the living arrangements, financial resources, health, and functional abilities of those households will present serious challenges in the years to come.

The new report, which supplements the Center’s annual State of the Nation’s Housing report, cautions that baby boomers, who will soon begin turning 80, will increasingly need more accessible and supportive housing than currently available. It also warns that many households in their 50s and early 60s may not be financially prepared for retirement. Fewer of these households are homeowners or have built the wealth of their predecessors at the same age.