Three mornings a week, when Becky Leung gets ready for work, her boyfriend is just getting home from his overnight job. When her mother drops hints about her twin sister's marriage, she laughs it off. And when she thinks about getting married herself, she worries first about her career. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
PORTLAND - THREE mornings a week, when Becky Leung gets ready for work, her boyfriend is just getting home from his overnight job. When her mother drops hints about her twin sister's marriage, she laughs it off. And when she thinks about getting married herself, she worries first about her career.
Ms Leung, 27, cohabits in a Portland, Oregon, townhome with her boyfriend but has no plans yet to wed, a reflection of the broader cultural shift in the US away from the traditional definition of what it means to be a household.
Data released on Thursday by the US Census Bureau shows married couples have found themselves in a new position: They're no longer the majority.
It's a trend that's been creeping along for decades, but in the 2010 Census, married couples represent 48 per cent of all households. That's down from 52 per cent in the last Census and, for the first time in US history, puts households led by married couples as a plurality.
'I see a lot of people not having the typical 8-to-5 job, or couples where one person is employed and one isn't. There's other priorities before marriage,' Ms Leung said.
The flip in the 2010 Census happened in 32 states. In another seven states, less than 51 per cent of households were helmed by married couples. -- AP
