Study: Washington, D.C. is "loneliest" city while multiple North Carolina cities make list

According to this study by chamberofcommerce.org, America’s getting lonelier.

There are a lot of single person households currently and that trend might not be cooling anytime soon.

From the study’s methodology section:

To determine our ranking, we analyzed more than 170 census-defined places with a population of 150,000 or more via the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey. Our analysis looked at the number of one-person households in each city as well as the number of males and females living in one-person households. To determine the average year-over-year increase, we analyzed 2021-2022 one-person household data. Data from the American Community Survey was not available for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Data for Macon, Georgia; Louisville, Kentucky; Columbus, Georgia; Spokane Valley, Washington and Rancho, California was not available from 2022, so these cities were omitted from the analysis. 

The “loneliest” is Washington, D.C. and it makes sense. There’s a constant stream of people moving in and out. They’re coming for work in the private sector, government, one of the many colleges and they’re living alone.

I lived in the area previously and could just see a lot of people living alone working long hours and basically using their residence as a place to sleep, change clothes, and check the mail. I’ve done that in other places.

Other key findings from the study:

• Nationwide, 37,161,100 live alone, representing 28.6% of all households. 
• The number of people living alone has increased by nearly 5 million throughout the last decade. 
• Year-over-year, one-person households have seen an increase of 1.1 million.
• Along with ranking No. 1 in the nation for the most one-person households, Washington, D.C. also ranks 2nd for cities with the most women living alone (30%) and 3rd for the most men living alone (27.9%).
• “Loneliest” Cities for Males: St. Louis, Missouri (#1); Cleveland, Ohio (#2), Washington, D.C. (# 3); Birmingham, Alabama (#4); Cincinnati, Ohio (#5).  
• “Loneliest” Cities for Females: Alexandria, Virginia (#1); Washington, D.C. (#2); Atlanta, Georgia (#3); St. Louis, Missouri (#4); Birmingham, Alabama (#5).

North Carolina had multiple cities with a high amount of single person households.

Out of 166 that were ranked, Charlotte was 49th. The Queen City had 378,089 total households with 139,238 of them one-person households. Charlotte's percentage of single-person households is 36.8 percent. This is the largest city in the state.

Durham was the next highest North Carolina city at No. 59. Raleigh was 62nd and Greensboro was 65th. Fayetteville and Winston-Salem finished 79th and 80th, respectively. Cary, which is near Raleigh, finished 122nd.

But there’s really no efficient way to find out if all these people are lonely or just prefer the solitude. There would need to be additional questions about one’s social life and the time they spend with others. That would be a lot more involved and would inevitably miss something. We’re humans and make mistakes occasionally.

But looking at U. S. Census Bureau statistics can be enlightening and very useful. One might not be able to find a measure for loneliness and I don’t see that being included in future surveys of the population.

But, this is nothing new at all as Harvard Professor Robert Putnam states in Bowling Alone. I read it during my undergraduate Research Methods class. It discusses decline civic engagement and ways we can offset that. It was a fascinating read.

Putnam discusses the declining civic engagement and societal disconnect that’s currently hurting us. There’s also tips on what to do to reconnect with our society and its formal and informal institutions.

Some of these are fairly simple such as joining and participating in groups.

Some of my newspaper jobs I covered local government meetings. Yes, that’s city council, county commissioners, school board and sometimes associated committees. I noticed there would be few people in attendance and the most vocal of citizens were usually quite few. A couple of them were well-known and sometimes criticized for their civic engagement. This was way before the time when meeting chambers were packed with pictures of attendees holding signs.

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