“National Singles Week” was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohio in the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their contributions to society.
The week is now widely observed during the third full week of September as “Unmarried and Single Americans Week,” an acknowledgment that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed.
The U.S. Census Bureau compiled the data. Unmarried people include those who were never married, widowed, or divorced, unless otherwise noted.
Single Life
96.6 million
Number of unmarried Americans 18 and older in 2009. This group comprised 43 percent of all U.S. residents 18 and older.
53 percent
Percentage of unmarried Americans 18 and older who were women.
61 percent
Percentage of unmarried Americans 18 and older who had never been married. Another 24 percent were divorced, and 15 percent were widowed.
16.2 million
Number of unmarried Americans 65 and older. These older Americans comprised 17 percent of all unmarried and single people 18 and older.
88
Number of unmarried men 18 and older for every 100 unmarried women in the United States.
52.5 million
Number of households maintained by unmarried men or women. These households comprised 45 percent of households nationwide.
31.7 million
Number of people who lived alone. They comprised 27 percent of all households, up from 17 percent in 1970.
Parenting
33 percent
Percentage of women age 15 to 50 with a birth in the last 12 months, as of 2006, who either were widowed, divorced or never married. About 199,000 were living with an unmarried partner.
11.6 million
Number of single parents living with their children in 2009. Of these, 9.9 million were single mothers and 1.7 million were single fathers.
38 percent
Percentage of opposite-sex, unmarried-partner households that included at least one biological child of either partner.
766,000
Number of unmarried grandparents who were caregivers for their grandchildren in 2008. They comprised about three in 10 grandparents who were responsible for their grandchildren.
Unmarried couples
6.2 million
Number of unmarried-partner households in 2008. Of this number, 565,000 were same-sex.
Dating
904
The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and generated $489 million in revenues.
Voters
38 percent
Percentage of voters in the 2008 presidential election who were unmarried.
Education
84 percent
Percentage of unmarried people 25 and older in 2009 who had a high school diploma or more.
24 percent
Percentage of unmarried people 25 and older in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree or more education.