Americans are having fewer people over. A new Data for Progress survey, comparing social habits today with surveys going back to the 1970s, found that the share of Americans who say they host friends or family at home at least monthly has fallen from 42% in 1975 to 12% today. The Census Bureau says 29% of U.S. households now consist of one person, up from 20% in 1975. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 30% of Americans socialized or communicated with other people on an average day in 2024, down from 38% a decade earlier.
Travel enters this story carefully. A week with strangers in Peru is not a substitute for close friends, family, neighbors or community, and solo travel is not evidence of loneliness. The dinner party is useful for a different reason: it shows how much work now goes into getting people into the same place at the same time. Someone has to invite everyone, compare calendars, pick the night, choose the place and give people enough of a reason to show up. Th