
Where Is the Roommate Capital of the United States? - ryan_j_naughton
http://priceonomics.com/where-is-the-roommate-capital-of-the-united-states/
======
dalke
> The living situations of the characters on “Big Bang Theory” and “Friends”
> would have seemed peculiar to mid-20th century audiences.

Three's Company (1977-1984) centered around three non-related, non-college
students in the same household. The two female characters shared the same
room.

The Odd Couple (1970–1975) had two non-related men in the same apartment. It
was based on the 1965 play.

I don't know shows of the 1950s to know if any of them had roommates, vs. a
generation later.

> Fifty years ago a person would typically go straight from living with his or
> her family to living with a spouse

My knowledge of mid-20th century series isn't that good, but I think this
reflects a different cultural shift. That is, boarding houses used to be a
common thing, not roommates. See
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=roommate%2Cboa...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=roommate%2Cboarding+house&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Croommate%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cboarding%20house%3B%2Cc0)
for an ngram comparison.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson shared an apartment. ("In 1881, Watson is
introduced by his friend Stamford to Sherlock Holmes, who is looking for
someone to share rent at a flat in 221B Baker Street. Concluding that they are
compatible, they subsequently move into the flat." \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Watson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Watson)
)

The lead characters of Amos 'n' Andy, "which was popular from the 1920s
through the 1950s", "lived in a State Street rooming house" in Chicago when it
started -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_'n'_Andy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_'n'_Andy)
.

My suspicion is that "roommate" would have been a peculiar term but the
underlying social reason would be well understood. Perhaps like how "condo"
would have been a peculiar term to our 1950s viewer, where there is little
social difference between condo and apartment living even though there is an
important legal difference.

I suspect it's the 1950s which is the odd decade, with its new zoning laws
restricting boarding houses, combined with the post-war economic boom. A 1930s
viewer - or I should say "listener" \- may find it less peculiar.

