Where People Live: 2014 Regional Look at Families by Dwelling Type

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Persons Per Household 1960 to 2013

With a declining birth rate in the state and the region also comes declining household sizes. So not only do we have fewer births but smaller household sizes as a result. However, over the last 8 to 9 years this pattern seems to be flattening out.


Click on the graphic below to see how the persons per household declined between 1960 and 2010. In addition, the exploded-out portion of the graph shows the ACS data for roughly the last decade. Note how during that period, at least based on the ACS data, household size seems to be stabilizing.

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Herkimer County Seniors Within Family Households (2013)

Living in a family household means that you have at least one other relative or spouse living with you. For seniors (those age 65 and over) in Herkimer County, family households often have many different parts present. The graphic below shows some of the people in those family households where someone age 65 or over is present. Click the graphic to enlarge it.

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Characteristics of Children By Household Types in Herkimer County

The following graphics were all based on the 2013 Five Year Estimates of the American Communities Survey (Table S0901) for Herkimer County as a whole. The focus for the most part is on children in one of three types of households: Married Couple households, Single Dad households, and Single Mom households.

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Mapping Herkimer County Persons Living Alone (2013)

The map below shows the distribution of single person households (a person living alone) as a proportion of all households by block group in Herkimer County. The block groups have been color coded as follows: ORANGE block groups represent areas where at least 50% of the households are comprised of a single person living alone;  YELLOW block groups have between 25% and 49% of their households occupied by a single adult; and WHITE (or unfilled) block groups have less than 25% of their households made up of a single person living alone.

These are based on the 2013 Five Year Estimates of the ACS. Click the map to enlarge it.

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Children of Cohabitation: Births in the Past Year to Married and Unmarried Partners

The American Communities Survey offers us a glimpse into the number of children born within the past year to married and unmarried parents. In addition, it also allows us to identify children born in the past year to unmarried, but partnered, females. The following table comes from the 2011  ACS Five Year Estimates for Herkimer and Oneida Counties.

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Note that about one in twenty females (ages 15 to 50) gave birth during this time frame - 5% in Herkimer County and 6% in Oneida County. Among those women, roughly 38% of births in the last year in Herkimer County were to unmarried women, and two thirds of those (or about 24% of ALL births) were to women with no partner in the household. In Oneida County, about 46% of births in the past year were to unmarried females, and roughly 3 out of 4 of those (overall about 33% of all births) were to females with no household partners.

Cohabitation: The New Normal

According to a recent NBC News article, more and more people are reporting that they have cohabitated with a partner before ever getting married. As the article states, "More women are choosing to live with men first without marriage and more of those relationships are lasting longer, according to a new government study that tracks the continuing climb of cohabitation in the U.S."

The study, which comes from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), is sponsored through the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The NSFG gathers information on family life, marriage and divorce, pregnancy, infertility, use of contraception, and men's and women's health. The survey results are used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and others to plan health services and health education programs, and to do statistical studies of families, fertility, and health. The study on cohabitation can be found in their publications on their website.

While no local data is available about partners who have EVER cohabitated prior to marriage, there is data in  the American Communities Survey that identifies the number of people who report that they are CURRENTLY cohabitating. According to the 2011 Five Year Estimates of the ACS, about 8% of households in Herkimer County are composed of cohabitating partnerships, while in Oneida County it is closer to 7%.

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