Snitz explains what Americans are "like". All the metrics, none of the fat!

I know what you're thinking. People living alone get a dog or a cat which is less trouble than a human.

Wrong! Gemini tells me that For single adults living alone:

Dog Ownership: Approximately 33.1% own a dog. (Broken down as 23.4% owning only dogs, and 9.7% owning both dogs and cats).

Cat Ownership: Approximately 25.1% own a cat. (Broken down as 15.4% owning only cats, and 9.7% owning both cats and dogs).

By comparison, more than 51% of single-adult households do not own a dog or a cat at all. This lower rate is largely attributed to the logistical and financial challenges of managing pet care—especially for high-maintenance animals like dogs—without a partner or roommates to share the daily responsibilities.

When there are two or more adults in the household to share the financial obligations, daily feeding, and walking duties, pet ownership jumps dramatically:

Overall Pet Ownership: While only about 49% of single, unpartnered adults own any kind of pet, that number climbs to 77% for adults cohabitating with a partner, and 65% for married couples.

Who are Americans today?

USA Facts

July 8, 2026

Two hundred and fifty years ago, 13 scrappy British colonies decided to step out on their own. And today, the US has 50 states and more people, households, and ways of living than the founders could have anticipated. So, who are Americans in this historic moment? Here’s a semiquincentennial snapshot of America today.

America’s population is aging

The country’s largest age group is people who are 65 and older. Last year, 18.9% of people in the US, or nearly one in five, were in this age group. The number of births in the US hit a record high in 1957: 4.3 million. These babies turned 65 in 2022.

US population by age group's percentage

People between the ages of 25 and 34 are the country's second-largest age demographic. They comprise 13.6% of the population.

​More people are living alone

In recent decades, the most common type of US household has been those headed by a married couple without children under 18 in the home. But last year, people living alone comprised the largest share of households (29.5%) for the first time. Nearly three out of every 10 people lived on their own. 

Married couples without children under 18 were the second-largest group, accounting for 29.3% of households. This includes both married couples with children older than 18 (even if they live at home) and married couples without any children.

Married parents headed 17.3% of households, while single parents headed 7.6%.

The population’s getting more diverse

In 1990, 75.6% of people in the US identified as white and non-Hispanic. By 2024, 57.5% did, a difference of 18.1 percentage points.

The share of all other racial and ethnic groups, as measured in the census, increased over the same period. The Hispanic share of the population more than doubled from 9.0% to 20.0%, making it the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group.

In 2024, 12.6% of people in the US identified as Black and 6.7% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Another 3.2% identified as “other,” a category that includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, and people who report identifying with two or more races.

Neary 50% of adults have a college education

In 2024, 49.3% of people who were 25 or older held a postsecondary degree. The largest percentage of people had a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education (23.7%), and the second-largest was a graduate or professional degree (14.9%).

Another 27.8% had completed high school, while 8.4% had less than a complete high school education.

The median household income nationwide was $81,600 in 2024. (Household income is the total money received in a year — wages, pensions, investments, public assistance, and more — by everyone in a household older than 15.)

That same year, 41.2% of households made $100,000 or more, 28.2% made between $50,000 and $99,999, and 30.6% made less than $50,000.