This study examines whether the cost of living is related to the probability of living alone among unmarried persons age 65 years and older in the United States. Cost of living is measured at the metropolitan area level by the Elder Economic Security Standard Index, which takes into account geographic variability in cost of housing, food, transportation, and medical care. Using multilevel modeling, we find that higher cost of living is related to a lower likelihood of living alone net of personal resources. Results also show that the gap in the likelihood of living alone between high- and low-income older adults is slightly lessened in low-cost metropolitan areas. We conclude that the price of “purchasing privacy” is substantially higher in some metropolitan areas than in others. These findings inform policies designed to help older adults age in place.
BurrJ. A.MutchlerJ. E. (1993). Ethnic living arrangements: Cultural convergence or cultural manifestation?Social Forces, 72, 169-80.
4.
BurrJ. A.MutchlerJ. E. (2007). Residential independence among older persons: Community and individual factors. Population Research and Policy Review, 26, 85-101.
5.
BurrJ. A.MutchlerJ. E.Emerson-GerstK. (2013). Hispanic residential segregation and immigrant living arrangements in later life. Population Research and Policy Review, 35, 25-45.
6.
BurrJ. A.MutchlerJ. E.WarrenJ. (2005). State commitment to home and community-based services: Effects on independent living for older unmarried women. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 17, 1-18.
7.
ChoiN. G. (2004). Stability and changes in living arrangements among unmarried older persons: The influence of housing environments. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 18(2), 69-89.
8.
GrattonB.GutmannM. P. (2010). Emptying the nest: Older men in the United States, 1880-2000. Population and Development Review, 36, 331-356.
9.
GrattonB.HaberC. (1993). In search of “Intimacy at a Distance”: Family history from the perspective of elderly women. Journal of Aging Studies, 7, 183-194.
10.
GurakD. T.KritzM. M. (2010). Elderly Asian and Hispanic foreign- and native-born living arrangements: Accounting for differences. Research on Aging, 32, 567-594.
11.
IsengardB.SzydlikM. (2012). Living apart (or) together? Coresidence of elderly parents and their adult children in Europe. Research on Aging, 34, 449-474.
12.
KasperJ. D.PezzinL. E.RiceJ. B. (2010). Stability and changes in living arrangements: Relationship to nursing home admission and timing of placement. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65, 783-791.
13.
KobrinF. E. (1976). The fall in household size and the rise of the primary individual in the United States. Demography, 13, 127-138.
14.
KoskinenS.JoutsenniemiK.MartelinT.MartikainenP. (2007). Mortality differences according to living arrangements. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 1255-1264.
15.
KramarowE. A. (1995). The elderly who live alone in the United-States: Historical perspectives on household change. Demography, 32, 335-352.
16.
LauD. T.KirbyJ. B. (2009). The relationship between living arrangement and preventive care use among community-dwelling elderly persons. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 1315-1321.
17.
McCannM.DonnellyM.O’ReillyD. (2011). Living arrangements, relationship to people in the household and admission to care homes for older people. Age and Ageing, 40, 358-363.
18.
McGarryK.SchoeniR. F. (2000). Social security, economic growth, and the rise in independence of elderly widows in the 20th century. Demography, 37, 221-236.
19.
MutchlerJ. E. (1992). Living arrangements and household transitions among the unmarried in later life. Social Science Quarterly, 73, 565-580.
20.
MutchlerJ. E.BurrJ. A. (1991). A longitudinal analysis of household and nonhousehold living arrangements in later life. Demography, 28, 375-390.
21.
MutchlerJ. E.BurrJ. A. (2003). Living arrangements among older persons: A multilevel analysis of housing market effects. Research on Aging, 25, 531-558.
22.
MutchlerJ. E.ShihY-C.LyuJ.BruceE.GottliebA. (2014). The Elder Economic Security Standard Index: A new indicator for evaluating economic security in later life. Social Indicators Research, 120, 97-116. doi:10.1007/s11205-014-0577-y
23.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
24.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S.CongdonR. (2013). HLM 7 for Windows [Computer software]. Skokie, IL: Scientific Software International.
25.
RugglesS. (2007). The decline of intergenerational coresidence in the United States, 1850 to 2000.American Sociological Review, 72, 964-989.
26.
RugglesS.AlexanderJ. T.GenadekK.GoekenR.SchroederM.SobekM. (2010). Integrated Public Use Microdata series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
27.
RyserL.HalsethG. (2011). Informal support networks of low-income senior women living alone: Evidence from Fort St. John, BC. Journal of Women & Aging, 23, 185-202.
28.
StoneR. (2013). What are the realistic options for aging in community?Generations, 37(4), 65-71.
WorobeyJ. L.AngelR. J. (1990). Functional capacity and living arrangements of unmarried elderly persons. Journal of Gerontology, 45(3), S95-S101.
31.
ZengY.LandK. C.GuD.WangZ. (2014). Household and living arrangement projections. The extended cohort-component method and applications to the U.S. and China. New York, NY: Springer.
