Unmarried couples increased, US was more wired in first year of COVID | WGN Radio 720

In the first two years of the pandemic, the number of U.S. telecommuters tripled, home values ​​soared, and people spent more than a third of their income on rent, according to a study released Thursday. proportion of people has increased. According to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The one-year estimate for the agency’s 2021 American Community Survey, which provides the most detailed data yet on how life has changed in the United States under COVID-19, is The percentage of unmarried couples rose and Americans became more wired, indicating an increase in the percentage of the population. The number of people who identify as multiethnic has increased significantly. And changes that appear to be a direct reflection of how the pandemic has upended people’s choices, with fewer people traveling, lower preschool enrollment rates, and fewer commuters using public transport. have been halved.

One-year estimates from the 2020 survey were deemed unavailable due to people not getting responses in the early months of the pandemic, so the release of the data reflects the For the first time, you get a reliable glimpse into life. A one-year data gap occurred at a time when the pandemic forced major changes in people’s lifestyles.

The survey typically relies on responses from 3.5 million households, providing 11 billion estimates each year about commute time, internet access, family life, income, education level, disability, military service and employment. This estimate helps us know how to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending.

“We are confident in this year’s data,” said Mark Asiala, head of statistical design for the survey, as response rates improved significantly from 2020 to 2021.

While the proportion of married couple households remained stable at around 47% over the two years, the proportion of households where unmarried couples live together rose from 6.6% in 2019 to 7.2% in 2021. During the pandemic, the average household size actually shrunk from his 2.6 to hers 2.5.

People also stayed still. More than 87% of those surveyed said he lived in the same house a year ago in 2021, compared to 86% in 2019. America has become more wired as people rely on remote learning and working from home. Households with computers increased from 92.9% in 2019 to 95% in 2021, and internet subscription services increased from his 86% to 90% of households.

The surge in people who identify as multiracial from 3.4% in 2019 to 12.6% in 2021 and the decline in those who identify as exclusively white (from 72% to 61.2%) are coded by the Census Bureau were consistent with changes in racial and Hispanic origin responses. These adjustments were aimed at obtaining more detailed written responses from participants. The interval between investigations also overlapped with the 2020 killing of black George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer and social justice protests following attacks on Asian-Americans. Experts say this may have led multiethnic people, previously perceived as a single race, to embrace all backgrounds instead.

“This pattern is strong evidence of a shift in self-identity. This is nothing new,” said Paul Ong, emeritus professor of urban planning and Asian American studies at UCLA. “Other research has shown that racial or ethnic identities can change in the short term. For many it is contextual and situational. This is especially true for individuals of ethnic background.”

Estimates show the pandemic-related impact of closed theaters, closed theme parks and restaurants with limited seating capacity on workers in the arts, entertainment and lodging industries. That number fell from his 9.7% to 8.2% of the workforce, while other industries remained relatively stable. Self-employed he increased from 5.8% to 6.1%.

Housing demand increased in two years as the vacancy rate fell from 12.1% to 10.3%. Median home prices rose from $240,500 to $281,400. The proportion of those whose gross rent exceeds his 30% of income increased from 48.5% to 51%. Historically, a renter is considered rent liable if they pay more than that amount.

Allison Pryor, chief demographer for the New Orleans data center, said:

Commute time has shrunk from 27.6 minutes to 25.6 minutes, and the proportion of people working from home during the start and end of the return to the office has increased from 5.7% in 2019 to almost 18% in 2021. did. The District of Columbia has the highest rate of working from home in the nation, and Mississippi has the lowest rate, at 6.3%. In his two years, the percentage of workers nationwide who use public transportation to commute has risen from 5% to 2.5%. Roses that catch viruses on buses and subways.

“The widespread adoption of working from home is a defining feature of the COVID-19 pandemic because work and commuting are so central to American life,” said Census Bureau statistician Michael Burrows. . “The number of people working primarily from home has tripled in just two years, and the pandemic is having a very strong impact on the US commuting environment.”

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP.