Married couple families are no longer the majority of households in San Diego County. According to the recently released census data, the proportion of husband-wife families fell from 50.7 percent of households in 2000 to 48.9 percent in 2010. The decade saw a growth in the proportion of non-family householders and female family householders without husbands.
The decennial census is the most comprehensive count of population demography. There are a little over a million households in the San Diego region, with 72 percent of the households being family households.According to the Census Bureau, a family household contains at least two persons — the householder and at least one other person related to the householder by birth, marriage or adoption. Family households could be married couple or a male/female householder with no spouse present.
Family couples constituted a majority of all households until 2000. A nonfamily household may have one or more people who are not relatives of the householder. This includes room-mates, live-in nannies or caregivers. Not included in the household counts are group quarters such as college dorms, nursing facilities, military barracks, and prisons.
Attached is the detailed household information by zip code. Neighborhoods with the lowest proportion of traditional (husband-wife) households are downtown, Mission Beach/Pacific Beach and Hillcrest/Mission Hills. These are also neighborhoods with the least proportion of families with related children.
Neighborhoods with the highest proportion of traditional families are Rancho Santa Fe, Chula Vista and Scripps Ranch. San Ysidro and Chula Vista have the highest proportion of families with children. Chula Vista also has a significant number of non-traditional families with a female householder, but no husband present. Similarly, over one-in-five households in Nestor, City Heights and National City consist of single-women-led-families.
About a third of all San Diego households consist of families with children. There was a small decline (2 percent) in the proportion of families with related children. A decreasing proportion of kids under 15 relative to the whole population, from 21.8 percent in 2000 to 19.3 percent in 2010 resulted in pushing up the median age of San Diegans from 33.2 in 2000 to 34.6 years in 2010.
Even as the population grows, San Diego is gradually seeing a changing family structure with more female households and a decreasing share of children. Traditional families are now in minority.
Murtaza Baxamusa is the Director of Planning and Development for the San Diego Building Trades Family Housing Corporation. He lives in Bird Rock.