Household Size

Small white clapboard home in Boston, Massachusetts with green wreath on black front door.

Report: Massachusetts needs more small homes

Smaller households are more prevalent than ever, but most homes in the state are still designed for larger families.

June 23, 2026 - News From the States

Close-up of person signing home or apartment contract and receiving house key with house-shaped keychain.

Solo Renters on the Rise Despite High Housing Costs

Between 2016 and 2021, the share of American tenants renting apartments and homes alone grew, with the fastest growth in Salt Lake City.

October 11, 2023 - RentCafé

Regional Transportation District

Co-Living Redefined by Denver City Council

Over the strong opposition from neighborhood groups, the Denver City Council has approved new regulations that allow up to five unrelated individuals to live in the same household.

February 10, 2021 - The Denver Post

McMansion

Study: A McMansion Can't Buy Happiness

As houses grow and households shrink, many Americans have a lot more space to themselves. But recent research says they aren't any happier trying to keep up with Joneses.

June 12, 2019 - The Atlantic

Full House Painted Ladies

Most Young Adults Living With Their Parents for the First Time in 130 Years

A Pew Research Center analysis of Census Data reveals a fundamental shift in the way U.S. residents are living—last true in a time closer to the Civil War than the 20th century.

May 25, 2016 - Pew Research Center

Living Alone Now the Most Common Type of Household

A revealing examination of demographic data shows a country that bears little resemblance to the 1950s era that bequeathed its housing and transportation models to current generations.

December 2, 2015 - Stat Chat

Detroit Vacant Properties

Explained: Vacancies, Population Decline, and the Importance of Household Size

Jason Segedy has published a long, brutally frank look at blight and vacant properties, especially at the underappreciated culprit for the woes of so many shrinking cities around the Rust Belt: household decline.

November 11, 2014 - Notes from the Underground

Families Aren't Leaving Cities, They're Just Getting Smaller

While there's no denying the fact that the number of children in many American cities has declined, it's untrue that urban life is incompatible with raising a family, or that families in cities are being replaced by singles and childless couples.

December 18, 2013 - Shane Phillips

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.