Facts and figures: older Americans who live alone (2026)

How many older Americans live alone, and how often do they fall or go to the hospital?

• 16.7 millionof the 64.8 million adults 65 and older in the US lived alone in 2025: 10,964,324 women and 5,723,139 men, by our sum of the table’s two rows (US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year, Table B09020, 2025). Fact 1
• 28%of older adults living in the community, about 16.2 million people, lived alone in 2023: 5.7 million men (22% of older men) and 10.5 million women (33% of older women) (Administration for Community Living, 2023 Profile of Older Americans, 2024). Fact 2
• 26%of adults 65 and older lived alone in 2023, down from 29% in 1990, in an analysis that also counts people in nursing homes and other group quarters (Pew Research Center, A smaller share of older U.S. adults live alone today than in 1990, 2025). Fact 3
• 41.8%of women 75 and older lived alone in 2023, compared with 23.0% of men that age (US Census Bureau, Table AD-3: Living Arrangements of Adults 75 and Over, 2023). Fact 4
• 38%of adults 85 and older lived alone in 2023, compared with 24% of adults 65 to 84 (Pew Research Center, A smaller share of older U.S. adults live alone today than in 1990, 2025). Fact 5
• 32%of older Black adults lived alone in 2023, compared with 27% of White, 19% of Hispanic and 14% of Asian older adults (Pew Research Center, A smaller share of older U.S. adults live alone today than in 1990, 2025). Fact 6
• 1,472,499adults 65 and older lived alone in California in 2025, the largest estimate of any state, ahead of Florida (1,276,125), Texas (1,094,474) and New York (1,068,603), by our sum of each state’s two rows (US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year, Table B09020 by state, 2025). Fact 7
• 30.5%of adults 65 and older in North Dakota lived alone in 2025, the highest estimate of any state, and 19.6% in Hawaii, the lowest; the District of Columbia’s estimate was 41.7%, all by our calculation from the table (US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year, Table B09020 by state, 2025). Fact 8
• 75%of adults 50 and older would like to live in their current home for as long as possible, and 73% in their current community (AARP, 2024 Home and Community Preferences Survey, 2025). Fact 9
• 1 in 4older adults, over 14 million people, report falling every year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Older Adult Falls Data, reviewed 2026). Fact 10
• 4.5 millionemergency department visits for older adult falls were recorded in 2024, by the CDC’s rounded count (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Older Adult Fall Prevention, reviewed 2026). Fact 11
• 27.5%of adults 65 and older reported at least one fall in the past year in 2018, rising to 33.8% at 85 and older, with 8.4 million fall-related injuries in all (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MMWR report on falls among adults 65 and older, 2020). Fact 12
• 76emergency department visits per 100 people aged 75 and older were recorded in 2022, compared with 47 per 100 at all ages (National Center for Health Statistics, Data Brief 503, 2024). Fact 13
• 16.0readmissions within 30 days per 100 hospital admissions was the 2020 rate for Medicare patients 65 and older (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Characteristics of 30-Day All-Cause Hospital Readmissions, 2016-2020, 2023). Fact 14

What phones and technology do older adults use?

• 96%of adults 65 and older own a cellphone of some kind, in a survey conducted from January to June 2026 (Pew Research Center, Americans’ Use of Mobile Devices in 2026, 2026). Fact 15
• 79%of adults 65 and older own a smartphone, and 14% own a cellphone that is not a smartphone (Pew Research Center, Americans’ Use of Mobile Devices in 2026, 2026). Fact 16
• 63.4%of adults 65 and over were wireless-only from July to December 2025 (National Center for Health Statistics, Wireless Substitution: Early Release, July-December 2025, 2026). Fact 17
• 35.2%of adults 65 and over had a landline from July to December 2025, by our sum of the report’s four landline groups: 16.7% wireless-mostly, 8.5% dual-users, 6.5% landline-mostly and 3.5% landline-only (National Center for Health Statistics, Wireless Substitution: Early Release, July-December 2025, 2026). Fact 18
• 1.2%of adults 65 and over had no phone of any kind from July to December 2025 (National Center for Health Statistics, Wireless Substitution: Early Release, July-December 2025, 2026). Fact 19
• 89%of adults 65 and older use the internet, compared with 99% of adults under 50 (Pew Research Center, Americans’ Use of Internet, Broadband in 2026, 2026). Fact 20
• 71%of adults 65 and older subscribe to home broadband, and 16% own a smartphone but have no broadband at home (Pew Research Center, Americans’ Use of Internet, Broadband in 2026, 2026). Fact 21
• 1 in 3people in the US aged 65 to 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH, Age-Related Hearing Loss, 2023). Fact 22

How much time do older adults spend alone?

• 10.5 hoursa day, roughly, is how long adults 60 and older who live by themselves say they spend alone, almost twice the time of those who live with a spouse, in survey data for 2014 to 2017 (Pew Research Center, On average, older adults spend over half their waking hours alone, 2019). Fact 23
• 37%of adults 60 and older who live alone report spending all their measured time alone, compared with 14% of all adults 60 and older (Pew Research Center, On average, older adults spend over half their waking hours alone, 2019). Fact 24
• 7 hours 47 minutesa day alone is the average for people 80 and older, compared with about 4 hours 45 minutes for people in their 40s and 50s (Pew Research Center, On average, older adults spend over half their waking hours alone, 2019). Fact 25
• 4.3 hoursa day went to watching TV among people 65 and over in 2025, compared with 2.61 hours for everyone 15 and over (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, 2025). Fact 26
• 0.56 hoursa day, about 34 minutes, went to socializing and communicating among people 65 and over in 2025, compared with 0.58 hours for everyone 15 and over (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, 2025). Fact 27
• 51%of adults 65 and older who live alone say they feel lonely or isolated at least sometimes, compared with 35% of all adults 65 and older (Pew Research Center, How Americans Are Thinking About Aging, 2025). Fact 28
• 71%of adults 65 and older with adult children are in touch with them at least a few times a week, in person, by phone or by text: 77% of women and 64% of men (Pew Research Center, How Americans Are Thinking About Aging, 2025). Fact 29
• 46.5%of adults 50 to 80 who lived alone said they lacked companionship at least some of the time in 2023, compared with 33.4% of those who did not live alone (University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, Loneliness and Social Isolation Among US Older Adults, JAMA, 2025). Fact 30
• 33.4%of all adults 50 to 80 said they lacked companionship at least some of the time in 2024, and 29.2% said they felt isolated; among those 65 to 80 the shares were 27.6% and 23.1% (University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging, Loneliness and Social Isolation Among US Older Adults, JAMA, 2025). Fact 31
• 28%of adults 70 and older were lonely on AARP’s measure in 2025, compared with 49% of adults 45 to 49 and 40% of all adults 45 and older (AARP, Disconnected: The escalating challenge of loneliness among adults 45-plus, 2025). Fact 32

How many family caregivers are there, and how far away do they live?

• 63 millionAmericans, nearly 1 in 4 adults, provided ongoing care for an adult or a child with a complex medical condition or a disability in the past year, up 20 million from 2015 (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025, 2025). Fact 33
• 51 millionAmericans, nearly 1 in 5 adults, were caring for someone age 50 or older in 2025 (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Family Caregivers of Adults Age 50-plus, 2026). Fact 34
• 27 hoursa week is the average time family caregivers spend providing care, and 24% provide 40 hours or more (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025, 2025). Fact 35
• 5.5 yearsis the average duration of family caregiving, and nearly 30% of caregivers have provided care for five years or more (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025, 2025). Fact 36
• 11%of family caregivers live an hour or more from the person they care for, including 8% who live two hours or more away; 40% live with that person (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025, 2025). Fact 37
• 3 in 10adults 50 and older who get family care and live in a home or community setting live alone, and 36% of those 85 or older do (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Family Caregivers of Adults Age 50-plus, 2026). Fact 38
• 24%of family caregivers say they feel alone, a share that has grown since 2020 (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025, 2025). Fact 39
• $1.01 trilliona year is what 49.5 billion hours of family care for adults would be worth if paid in the marketplace (AARP, Valuing the Invaluable 2026, 2026). Fact 40
• 38.2 millionpeople aged 15 and over, 14% of that population, gave unpaid care in 2023 and 2024 to someone 65 or older who needed help because of a condition related to aging, and 47% of them cared for a parent (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unpaid Eldercare in the United States, 2023-2024 Summary, 2025). Fact 41
• 79%of those unpaid eldercare providers cared solely for someone they did not live with, and 25% provided care daily (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unpaid Eldercare in the United States, 2023-2024 Summary, 2025). Fact 42

How much money do older adults have, and how much do they lose to fraud?

• $7.748 billionin losses was reported to the FBI by people 60 and over in 2025, up 59% from 2024, across 201,266 complaints averaging $38,500; 12,444 complainants lost more than $100,000 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report, 2026). Fact 43
• $3 billionand more in fraud losses was reported to the FTC by people 60 and older in 2025, a 400% increase from 2020 (Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026, 2026). Fact 44
• $13.3 billionto $119.5 billion is the FTC’s estimate of the overall cost of fraud to older adults in 2025, depending on method, because many frauds go unreported (Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026, 2026). Fact 45
• $900or so was the median amount reported lost by people 60 and over in 2025, while people 80 and over reported a median of $2,000, far higher than any other age group (Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026, 2026). Fact 46
• $3,000was the median amount older adults reported losing when a fraud started with a phone call in 2025, compared with $599 when it started on social media (Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026, 2026). Fact 47
• 17%of fraud reports filed for people 80 and over in 2025 came from someone reporting on their behalf, a far higher rate than for any other age group (Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Older Consumers 2025-2026, 2026). Fact 48
• 23%of 1,408 Americans and Canadians who were targeted by a scam and reported it engaged and lost money, and respondents were more likely to lose money if they had nobody to discuss the offer with (FINRA Investor Education Foundation, BBB Institute and Stanford Center on Longevity, Exposed to Scams, 2019). Fact 49
• 53%of adults 65 and older living alone have incomes below the Elder Index, a measure of what basic needs cost, compared with 25% of older couples (University of Massachusetts Boston, Living Between the Lines: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans, 2026). Fact 50
• 17.7%of older people living alone were poor in 2022, compared with 6.6% of older people living with families (Administration for Community Living, 2023 Profile of Older Americans, 2024). Fact 51
• $35an hour was the national median cost of in-home care in 2025, or $80,080 a year at 44 hours a week (CareScout, 2025 Cost of Care Survey, 2026). Fact 52

What have phone-call trials found?

These are the trials worth reading first. Trials differ in who calls, how often and what they measure, and not every trial finds an effect; the research page says where the evidence runs out.

• 240adults aged 27 to 101 served by Meals on Wheels Central Texas, 63% of them 65 or older and 56% living alone, were randomly assigned in 2020 to four weeks of empathy-focused calls from lay callers or to no calls (Kahlon et al., Effect of Layperson-Delivered, Empathy-Focused Program of Telephone Calls, JAMA Psychiatry, 2021). Fact 53
• 1.1points was the improvement on a three-item loneliness scale in that trial, compared with no calls (Cohen d, 0.48), with depression scores 1.5 points better and anxiety scores 1.8 points better. A second loneliness scale showed no significant difference, and the authors say it is unclear whether benefits last past four weeks (Kahlon et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2021). Fact 54
• 58%of the people called in that trial chose to keep five calls a week for the last three weeks, when they could have chosen as few as two (Kahlon et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2021). Fact 55
• 1.65points was the adjusted difference in depression scores at three months in a trial of 435 socially isolated adults 65 and older in England and Wales, favoring up to eight weekly phone sessions of behavioral activation over usual care. Emotional loneliness improved too; social loneliness did not (Gilbody et al., BASIL+ trial, Lancet Healthy Longevity, 2024). Fact 56
• 119adults 65 and older in the Region of Murcia, Spain, were assigned to weekly 30-minute calls from trained nursing students for nine months or to standard care, and 85 finished. Loneliness, social support and depressive symptoms improved against the control group; functional status, sleep quality and quality of life showed no significant differences (Hernández-López et al., HELPeN Telephone-Call Program, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025). Fact 57
• 1.75more unmet service needs were identified when social workers at an Area Agency on Aging used semi-structured telephone reassurance calls rather than unstructured friendly calls, in a randomized pilot of 43 older adults that added about seven minutes a call (Minyo et al., Developing and testing a protocol for telephone reassurance calls, Innovation in Aging, 2024). Fact 58

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Cite the original source named in the fact, and this page as: Hi Betsy, “Facts and figures: older Americans who live alone (2026)”, fact 12, checked November 5, 2026, https://hibetsy.com/facts#fact-12. Each fact has its own anchor, from https://hibetsy.com/facts#fact-1 to https://hibetsy.com/facts#fact-58.

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