Typing "one-bedroom" into Zillow after a lifetime of living with family, and probably a few cycles of roommates, can feel like an accomplishment.
And it should: being able to pay rent and bills without needing another person to shoulder some cost, by many people's metric, is a signal of success.
Less than one-third, or 29%, of U.S. households are occupied by a single person, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Some cities have more solo-dwellers than others, though.
Here are the top 10 cities where people live alone, according to data from the Chamber of Commerce. The survey only considered cities with a population of 150,000 and more.
In the top five cities, the number of people who live alone has increased since 2016, the data shows. The number is expected to trend up as the average age of marriage continues to increase.
No. 1 loneliest city: Washington D.C.
More than 150,000 residents live alone in the nation's capital. And one-person households represent almost half, 48.2%, of all households.
There is a notable gender divide among those who choose to live alone: 21.5% of males live alone in D.C. while 26.7% of females do the same.
Experts say the number of single-person homes here will likely continue to increase, as it has from 2016.
10 loneliest cities in America
- Washington D.C.
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Richmond, Virginia
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Cleveland, Ohio
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Baltimore, Maryland
The second most lonely city is St. Louis, Missouri, where 47.5% of of homes are occupied by one person. The number of solo-dwellers has increased 1.9%, on average, year-over-year since 2016.
Alexandria, which is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area, came in third. Here, 46.5% of all households were single-person households.
Across the country, women tend to live alone more than men. In St. Louis, 21.8% of men live alone and 25.7% of women live alone. In Alexandria, 20.3% of men live alone and 26.2% of women live alone.
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