Wednesday, February 1, 2012
By the Way Thirty-Five Percent of Nashvillians Live Alone?
Posted by Steve Haruch on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Over at The Daily Beast, Andrew Sullivan posted this map of housing solitude in the U.S., showing that urban areas (at least according to 2010 census data) lead the way in single-person households. Nashville checked in at 35 percent, the same as Chicago (which I expected to be higher) and well behind my old hometown of Seattle's 42 percent.
While urban living and widespread solitude do seem to correlate, I'm curious what more drilldown of the statistics might yield. For instance, how does age figure in? Do cities attract more young people, who tend to be less established (and therefore more likely to live alone)? And do these single households tend to contain a higher percentage of entrepreneurs and mover-shaker types? Does living alone allow more social and economic agility, and therefore help drive creativity and innovation? And by that token, does the aloneness quotient line up at all with any of the "creative class" or other such theories of urban progress and transformation?
Living alone tends to be more expensive than collective life. At least it was in Seattle, where I could barely afford the apartment in which I first watched Altman's Nashville (alone, on two VHS tapes). So it should also correlate with, if not affluence, then at least a can-do attitude, right?
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In general, the higher the percentage of Democrats in a city, the higher the number. Liberals in cities tend to live alone because no one can stand to be around them.
This arrangement has the added advantage for Democrats in that they can consume more resources per individual while condemning conservatives for not being green, thus maintaining their hypocrisy index at a high level.
Davidson County TN. 2010 Census.
Households: 259,499
1 Person Households: 89,503
% 1 Person Households: 34.5
@davidlongfellow
This is not a very logical statement. How does living alone have any effect on resources consumed "per individual." Let me guess- your conclusions are in no way based on facts, and you have no idea what you are talking about.
I'm stunned there isn't a green party admonishment yet for these energy and space hogs not all moving into a commune together.
I haven't always lived alone, but I do now. And I can pretty much guarantee that it has nothing to do with my party affiliation, one way or the other.
Conservatives have a tendency to engage in serial marriages, usually starting a new relationship while "committed" to another. Then, when they no longer can stand the person they are with, they find someone else who needs their life ruined.
@davidlongfellow: Beautiful.
Packrat: Liberals tend to engage in serial relationships resulting in large numbers of children without fathers in the house. A comedian once made the observation that when he was a teen he was sleeping on the couch, his normal bed, when he was startled awake by a stranger in the house. Then he realized it was the father to one of his sisters. He may have been a comedian but there is nothing funny about that.
I think deadbeat dads are pretty much a bi-partisan issue, gast.
Thanks for this post, super-interesting. Any sense of how much higher urban areas are compared to suburban or rural?
Overall this may have some connections to the idea that many levels of community involvement in heterogeneous, urban areas has been shown to be lower than more homogeneous, suburban areas--according to Robert Putnam at least: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/art… (And before anyone jumps on the somewhat xenophobic/racially-charged nature of the headline, be sure to read the whole article, there's solid stuff in there about how we can move past these apparent lower levels of community.)
Reminds me of the great song by Loudon Wainwright.
http://grooveshark.com/s/Living+Alone/3lNHqG?src=5
Deadbeat nation is also a bi-partisan issue, but we strive on to carry the load.
Interesting article yes, noted D.C. is at the top. Suppose the high pay in that
area makes it extremely attractive for the nation's "best and brightest"!
gast, my post was in response to the moron davidlongfellows post. I'm willing to stop making overlybroad simplistic generalizations (maybe even a little tongue in cheek) when you right wingers do so as well. BUt why don't you and Paul Stanley go figure out whether you Cons have the market cornered on "family values." I'm a liberal on social issues yet I've managed to stay married for 21 years to the same woman and raise 3 children. I'll put my liberal record on that score up against ANY conservative anywhere.
You guys are missing the point, folks in these cities just like to sleep around. Much easier to do when living alone.
Packrat: You do know that the packrat is also known as the "trade rat." They'll take- without permission, mind you -anything they can carry that catches their fancy. If they happen to be carrying something at the time of their theft they'll leave it in place of their new loot. Thus, a trade. If you're ever out hiking out West and you see what looks like a miniature beaver lodge back in the brush and usually hard to get to, that's a packrat nest. If given access and left undisturbed, they'll build nests in attics and basements. Somehow the name fits a liberal. Must be the taking part.
lol, gosh, you really told me, gast. Told me what, I'm not quite sure.
Classic gast, I think it's time for his nap. He'll be much more lucid after a good nap.
Posit: "People in large cities tend to live alone."
Conjecture: "It would be interesting to explore what the reason for this is."
Longfellow: "Democrats live around large cities, so this disconnected fact means that no one wants to live with Democrats!"
Gast: "Liberals are concentrated around cities and are terrible at relationships and are the single leading cause of deadbeat dads!"
Everyone Else: "...."
Huuuummmmm.......I guess so. I get along with myself quite well so living alone is just fine. I'm not so sure about those numbers from New Orleans. To me it is a fine old persevered downtown and a few nice sections-about 1% of the city. The other 99% is nothing but 3rd world slums and we need another hurricane to come and finish the job Katrina started. The city that made 100billion dollars to rebuild disappear.
sp
