All By Myself – Illinois a Top State Where More People Live Alone

I find it a bit ironic (and sad) that few states in America have more people that live alone than Illinois. So many people, yet so many that live by themselves and that's a cause for concern.

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I've lived alone a lot of my life and I'm not certain what that says about my personality, but my point is I understand that lifestyle. While it's not all bad and single people do have sole possession of the remote control, it's not a healthy way for some to live long term.

This new 2024 study shared by 24/7 Wall St ranks the states according to how many one-person households they have. The numbers for Illinois are staggering. The state of Illinois has 1,569,519 households consist of one lonely person. 

Illinois is 6th in America for number of households where people live by themselves and 9th overall in the rankings including other metrics.

One interesting aspect of this is the fact that Illinois a majority of one-person households are those younger than 65. In other words, it's not just lonely older adults who live by themselves, but younger and middle-age also.

I lived alone for years when I was younger, but that changed when I had my family. Since I don't drink alcohol, going to bars was never an option so I would spend my nights either going to the movies or staying home and watching television. You don't appreciate a good conversation until you have no one around to have one with.

I'm sure there are experts who could chime in about the mental health challenges that go along with a state where so many are isolated. All I know is that Illinois is overrun with lonely people which is an odd dichotomy.