Massachusetts is home to 7 million people from diverse backgrounds. With a median age of approximately 40, two generations make up an outsized portion of the population: Baby Boomers (ages 60 – 80 years old), make up 22% of residents, while Millennials (born 1980 – 1999) account for another 27%. As shown throughout this plan, the housing preferences and needs of these two generations will significantly influence future housing planning.
Housing Diversity
Massachusetts residents have a wide range of housing needs and living situations. According to the 2020 Census, approximately 3.5% live in dormitories, nursing homes, correctional facilities, shelters, and other “group quarters” — residential arrangements where occupants lack separate living units. While housing discussions typically focus on traditional housing units, we must also address the needs of people in group quarters as they transition into or out of permanent housing.
The rest of the population is considered to be living in a household, which is defined as all people residing within a single housing unit. Massachusetts is home to a variety of household types, including nuclear families, empty nesters, roommates, people living alone, child-free couples, and multigenerational families. As this plan will demonstrate, housing needs and household characteristics evolve with age, making it essential to support lifecycle housing that offers options for every generation.
A single household may consist of roommates or family members living together, even when some would rather live independently. It can also include “doubled up” households, where multiple ‘subfamilies’ share a household leading to overcrowding. These households represent what is called “latent demand” — people who want their own homes but currently can’t access them. Addressing this latent demand is critical when establishing housing production goals.
Housing demand comes from three main types of households, each with unique needs and preferences:
- Families with children: Households with one or more adults and children under 18, including single parent families, two-parent families, and large multigenerational households.
- Multiple Adults without Children: Households with two or more adults and no children under 18. This encompasses married and unmarried couples, roommates, and other group living arrangements.
- People living alone – Households with a single occupant.
Households naturally change as people age. In their 20s, most people live with roommates, a partner, or alone. As they get older, many become heads or members of households with children. After age 65, most older adults live alone or in small households without children. Thus, housing demand is influenced not only by new arrivals or household formations, but also by shifting needs as people and families progress through life stages. When larger generations such as boomers and millennials all reach specific life stages, their collective influence on housing demand is significant. Reviewing how these trends have played out since 2000 provides valuable insights into housing trends and needs over time.
Baby Boomers
In 2000, Baby Boomers formed 789,000 family households and the state had 1.4 million children under the age of 18. But in the intervening years, those children have grown up and the Boomers are well past 60 years old.
Between 2010 and 2020, Boomer families with children declined by 96,000 households, as many became empty nesters with different housing needs.
Generation X and Millennials
During that same period, Gen X and early Millennials transitioned from living with roommates to starting families. Those born between 1965 and 1985 formed 155,000 new family households with children after 2010, and fewer people were living as couples or with roommates. Since Gen X had fewer children later in life than Baby Boomers however, they formed fewer families and the number of children in the state declined by 52,000 over ten years.
More recently, Millennials have rapidly formed households, driving housing demand. Between 2010 and 2020, younger Millennials (born 1986 – 1995) formed about 314,000 new households, accounting for 12.3% of all 2010 households. Being a larger generation than Gen X, Millennials are likely to increase the number of family households as they age. Current birth rates suggest, however, that the number of families or children will not rebound to the same levels as 2000.