Seattle becomes country's top city for roommates amid rising housing costs

SEATTLE — Seattle is now the number one city among major cities in the country for unrelated adults living together, new census data shows.

The Seattle Times reports that as living solo becomes more expensive in the city, finding a roommate is essential for many residents.

Last year, 70,000 Seattleites lived with either a roommate, or with a boyfriend or girlfriend. That pencils out to 12.5 percent of the adult population, highest among the 50 most populous U.S. cities. In Seattle, the number of people in such living arrangements has jumped by 39 percent since 2010 — more than triple the rate of the city's overall population growth.

And as you might have guessed, as more folks are choosing to live with another person, an increasingly small percentage are living alone. In 2015, there were 118,000 singletons in Seattle. That number has remained basically flat for nearly a decade, even as the city experienced dramatic growth.

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Cox Media Group