Canada less % multigenerational households than US? Or is it just survey differences?

[Capsicum]

Both the US and Canada have trends of increasing multigenerational households because of increased cost of living (e.g. housing etc.) plus immigrants from cultures where it's the norm, and overall later age of first job, independence, leaving home etc.

But what struck me is that I saw stats for the US and Canada that showed Canada had less multigenerational living.

https://vanierinstitute.ca/sharing-a...census-update/

According to the 2021 Census, there were nearly 442,000 multigenerational households in Canada. These only account for 2.9% of all private households but are now home to 2.4 million people, or 6.4% of the total population.2 Multigenerational households have increased in number by 50% since 2001 – much higher than the overall increase of 30%.

A growing number of children aged 14 and under are living with grandparents. In 2021, 9% of children aged 14 and under (517,000) lived with at least one grandparent, up from 3.3% in 2001. More than 9 in 10 of these children (93%) are living in multigenerational households.

According to the 2017 General Social Survey (GSS) – the most recent Family cycle of the GSS – 5% of grandparents lived in the same household as their grandchildren, up slightly from 4% in 1995.3

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-t...%20was%2018%25.

In March 2021, there were 59.7 million U.S. residents who lived with multiple generations under one roof, compared with 58.4 million in 2019, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data. The share of the U.S. population living in multigenerational households in 2021 was 18%.

That is a bit surprising to me, considering that modern Canada has higher cost of living in terms of housing, is more concentrated in more urban areas, plus has more first-generational immigrants? True, the US has a higher percentage of some racial/ethnic groups that have family oriented norms (e.g. Hispanic/Black) but so does Canada (e.g. with Asian/Indigenous).

And a greater percentage of Canada probably lives in an expensive metro area, right, and there's less of a "go leave your parents to go to college at 18" culture in Canada, right? More Americans probably move out of state or out of their city for work (e.g. it's more common I'm guessing for Americans to have family scattered in different states all over than Canada in different provinces, I'm supposing. Maybe I'm wrong?).

A difference of a bit over 6% vs. 18% is kind of big.

What's the explanation for this? Does it reflect the real situation on the ground or data/survey/definition differences?

[James Bond Agent 007]

I think maybe the kind of immigrants the two countries have probably makes a difference.

Canada has more college-educated Asians, proportionately. Those probably don't co-habit with other generations of their families as much as Hispanics do in the US, who tend to make less money anyway, and thus need to co-habit even though the cost of housing might be lower.

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Both the US and Canada have trends of increasing multigenerational households because of increased cost of living (e.g. housing etc.) plus immigrants from cultures where it's the norm, and overall later age of first job, independence, leaving home etc.

But what struck me is that I saw stats for the US and Canada that showed Canada had less multigenerational living.

https://vanierinstitute.ca/sharing-a...census-update/



https://www.pewresearch.org/social-t...%20was%2018%25.



That is a bit surprising to me, considering that modern Canada has higher cost of living in terms of housing, is more concentrated in more urban areas, plus has more first-generational immigrants? True, the US has a higher percentage of some racial/ethnic groups that have family oriented norms (e.g. Hispanic/Black) but so does Canada (e.g. with Asian/Indigenous).

And a greater percentage of Canada probably lives in an expensive metro area, right, and there's less of a "go leave your parents to go to college at 18" culture in Canada, right? More Americans probably move out of state or out of their city for work (e.g. it's more common I'm guessing for Americans to have family scattered in different states all over than Canada in different provinces, I'm supposing. Maybe I'm wrong?).

A difference of a bit over 6% vs. 18% is kind of big.

What's the explanation for this? Does it reflect the real situation on the ground or data/survey/definition differences?

For your perusal:

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-t...al-households/

Still seeing if I can find something comparable for Canada.

[Crawford]

I don't believe it. There must be some difference in the cross-national definitions.

With relatives in metropolitan Canada, my experience is that Canadians are much more likely to live in intergenerational households, largely due to differences in housing costs and higher share of immigrants. Grandparent(s) living with family is really common in places like Toronto and Vancouver.

And Canadians are less likely to just randomly move to some far-off corner of the country like Americans, largely bc there aren't that many options. There aren't really sunshine or tax-avoidance locales.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't believe it. There must be some difference in the cross-national definitions.

With relatives in metropolitan Canada, my experience is that Canadians are much more likely to live in intergenerational households, largely due to differences in housing costs and higher share of immigrants. Grandparent(s) living with family is really common in places like Toronto and Vancouver.

And Canadians are less likely to just randomly move to some far-off corner of the country like Americans, largely bc there aren't that many options. There aren't really sunshine or tax-avoidance locales.

South Asian families, that's typical.
East Asian (Chinese, etc) much less common. There's quite a few Seniors buildings for Chinese. Even downtown Calgary has a couple of them in their small Chinatown.

Italian families sometimes buy two semi-detached houses where the grandparents live beside or in a small bungalow or apartment nearby.

Sometimes basements are renovated for full granny suites.

The younger generations of East Asians typically live out in the suburbs (or were raised there) while the grandparents still have an inner city lifestyle as long as they're physically mobile and of sound mind.

Anecdotally, at least.

[Docere]

Looking at the GTA quickly, Brampton really stands out.

% of families that are multigenerational

Brampton 18.7%
Markham 12.3%
Ajax 11.8%
Vaughan 9.6%
Richmond Hill 9.1%
Mississauga 9%
Toronto 6.1%
Oakville 5.8%

[WhipperSnapper]

One thing for sure. There are more white families in the US that live in homes their great grandparents built than in Canada. The Atlantic States are full of them.

Maybe this isn't about recent immigration.