Home | Newsletter | Advertise

Married Couples in the DC Area Are Taking on Roommates

  • February 11th 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

Rising housing costs are compelling married couples to take on a roommate in order to save money. A recent Trulia study illustrates this rise across the country — which is even more apparent in the DC area.

Married households with roommates by median affordability. Click to enlarge.

The DC region has the tenth-highest share of married couples with roommates in the country, and is the lone top ten entrant not in the western United States. From 2012 to 2016, the average share of married couples with roommates in the DC area was 1.39 percent, a 66 percent increase over the share observed from 2005 to 2009.

Nationwide, just under half a percent of married couples lived with a roommate or had a tenant last year — more than double the share when compared to 1995. Married renters are more likely to have roommates than are married homeowners.

Having roommates is more common in expensive housing markets, particularly on the West Coast. The Honolulu and Orange County metro areas have the highest shares of married couples with roommates, both with shares at least four times the national average.

See other articles related to: roommates, trulia

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/high-dc-area-housing-costs-mean-more-married-couples-with-roommates/14992.

Pipeline: New Condos & Apartments Coming to the DC Area

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse