What Do Americans Use at Home?

Another interviewee is a 45-year-old woman studying for a master’s degree in Seoul, whose husband is from the US. “I’m too scared to go back there because of ICE and things out there — it’s scary, and none of us want to be responsible for that.”

The Resident Who Sleeps On The Floor Is An Extended Family

Across the US, less than 5 percent of owner-occupier families span three or more generations. The number may sound small, but according to data published in May by Realtor.com, the demand for multi-family homes is strong: Listings that included terms such as “granny flat” or “guest house” received more views and were more expensive (on average 22 percent more than a square foot) than standard homes.

Multi-generational families were well represented in WIRED’s articles, with respondents looking to save money or support aging parents. A 45-year-old woman from Oakley, California, is “staying with relatives to avoid homelessness.” A 23-year-old girl from Decatur, Georgia, said: “Anywhere I can find at this point would be inferior to what I’ve been living with my parents.”

A 65-year-old retiree from Columbia, Missouri, volunteered to move his parents, now 91, to Covid. Although she didn’t have a secret, she wrote: “It’s been great! It’s not just old people who are moving—a 38-year-old Huntsville, Alabama, woman is planning to sell her house to move back in with her parents.”

Since the home business is so pessimistic, it’s not surprising that multi-family living is common. According to an April 2026 report by the National Association of Realtors, only about one in five buyers were first-time buyers — a record low.

A Resident Who Loves Their Off-Beat Location

Some respondents found solutions to the housing crisis. A 47-year-old man did just that by building an 8-by-24-foot house out of cold steel on the site of a large Victorian demolition. “What would have been a hot and cold place is now a wonderful big square,” he wrote. A 68-year-old man in Branchport, New York, lives in a one-room log house with many animals: “I like living in the countryside, and having animals and big farms.”

Another respondent—a 55-year-old from Santa Cruz, California—described the home he bought in 1998 as “a dump.” But, he wrote, “We have spent our lives renovating the interior and exterior of our home, making our once ugliest home on the property more beautiful,” a place surrounded by redwood trees and a mile from the Pacific Ocean.

Then there is a group of sailors. A 77-year-old man with a penchant for idleness has spent much of the past year on a boat. In Sausalito, California, the 84-year-old who “loved living on a houseboat” said that although life on a boat is not easy for the elderly, he hoped to stay as long as possible. He wrote: “I have everything I want and need here.