We recently wrapped up our Golden Girls Housing Survey, and the results made me smile — and think — in equal measure. It turns out that Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia weren’t just sitcom characters; they were early prototypes for what many of us now crave: intentional community with a dash of sass and soul.
Here’s the headline: 88% of respondents said they’d consider living with friends in later life, and more than half said they’d actively prefer it to aging alone or in a traditional retirement setup. The reasons weren’t just financial (though shared expenses ranked high); they were emotional and spiritual. Words like connection, belonging, and laughter kept showing up. It seems that the soundtrack to our later years isn’t “Silence is golden” — it’s “Thank you for being a friend.”
But not everyone wants the same flavor of community. Roughly 40% said they’d prefer an all-female household, while another 45% said they’re open to co-ed living — as long as the men are emotionally intelligent and can handle their share of the dishes. A few even mentioned they’d love intergenerational households, where younger residents could exchange tech savvy for mentorship and meaning. The through-line: curiosity about creative companionship, not nostalgia for 1950s domesticity.
Of course, there are hesitations. The top concerns were conflicts over cleanliness, finances, and health issues, followed closely by “What if someone doesn’t pull their weight?” (Fair question — even the Golden Girls had their drama.) One respondent summed it up perfectly: “I want a sense of community, not a commune.”
Still, what impressed me most was the optimism. A full 70% said they’re willing to experiment — with housemate “trial runs,” shared meals, or short-term stays. There’s a new willingness to treat aging not as a slow fade but as a design challenge: How can we make home feel like us again?
To me, this is the heart of the Modern Elder Academy ethos — curiosity, courage, and community in action. We’re not retreating from life; we’re redesigning it. Aging doesn’t have to mean isolation. It can mean rediscovery — of self, of friendship, of laughter at the breakfast table.
The data reinforces this. More than 16 million people aged 65 and older in the U.S. live alone. That represents 28% of that age group, almost triple the share in 1950. Among the reasons: increased longevity, higher divorce rates among older adults and children more scattered than previous generations.
Most people are unprepared to age alone. Only one-fourth of those living alone have someone who helps or would help with cooking, cleaning and getting groceries, and more than 80% haven’t planned for ongoing living assistance, according to an AARP 2023 report.
Here’s a Wall Street Journal story that shows many people aren’t ready to grow old alone. And, here’s a WSJ story from this past weekend reporting that 990,000 older adults were living with unrelated housemates or roommates in 2023, which is up 8.8% since 2021, and more than double the number two decades ago, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The Golden Girls survey didn’t just tell me what people want; it revealed something deeper. We’re hungry for dignity and delight in our later years. We want to live near people who can borrow an egg, listen to our stories, and occasionally tell us to stop talking about our cholesterol.
Maybe the next great wave of longevity innovation won’t be a biotech breakthrough — it’ll be a living room with mismatched mugs, shared meals, and the sound of laughter echoing down the hall.
Quick update: we currently have four homes near our ranch in Santa Fe in escrow and we’re doing our maintenance inspections so we’re serious about moving forward with this. We have more than enough survey participants interested to fill the 16 bedrooms in these four homes, but we’ll likely be getting more homes in Santa Fe so we’ll keep you updated on availability.
-Chip