30.6% of Montgomery County residents lives in non-family households. There is, however, considerable variation across the county's census tracts. The census tract with the lowest percent of non-family households is 7.6%. The tract with the highest is 74.9%.
So, how does MOCO stack up to the state? The US as a whole? Turns out we have fewer non-family households than either Maryland (32.9%) or the US (57.7%).
Several patterns stand out on today's map. First, the county's non-family households are concentrated along two main roads. The biggest concentration is along I-270, a major interstate and also the county's urban spine. Non-family households are also concentrated along Columbia Pike/US 29. Although the Pike isn't as urbanized as the I-270 corridor, it is urbanizing at a steady clip. These patterns aren't too surprising. Urban areas tend to have more non-family households than rural areas do.
Second, there are also high concentrations of non-family households inside the beltway. In fact, the tract with the highest percentage of non-family households is in the heart of Bethesda, in the Woodmont Triangle area. 74.9% of households in this tract are non-family. In a lot of ways, this part of Bethesda looks a lot like gentrifying neighborhoods in DC where a flood of millennials have moved in. However, it is worth noting that the tract (7032.18) with the second highest percentage of non-family households is well north of the beltway. It contains Leisure World, an age-restricted (i.e. adults only) community.
