News release: “In 2010, there were 22.0 million shared households in the United States, an 11.4 percent increase from 2007, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. This total of shared households accounted for 18.7 percent of all households, up from 17.0 percent in 2007. The report, Sharing a Household: Household Composition and Economic Well-Being: 2007-2010, analyzes data on household composition and income from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey. The report reveals that adults joined or combined their households in greater numbers and in higher proportions following the most recent recession than they did prior to the recession. In spring 2007, there were 19.7 million shared households — defined as a household with at least one “additional” adult. An additional adult is a person 18 or older who is not enrolled in school and is neither the householder, the spouse nor the cohabiting partner of the householder. By spring 2010, the number of shared households had increased to 22.0 million while all households increased by only 1.3 percent. The report compares official poverty rates to personal and household poverty rates. Official poverty rates compare total family income with a threshold that varies with family size and composition. Household poverty rates compare household income with the relevant threshold. Personal poverty rates compare the income of the individual, couple or subfamily with the relevant threshold.”