How the Pandemic Will Change How and Where We Live

Washington, DC, February 12, 2021 – Despite the upheaval of 2020 that forced many Americans to move, or work and learn from home, the housing and migration macrotrends haven’t changed. What has changed is how we live in and use our homes. Those shifts have powerful implications for housing, home improvement, household goods, retailers and brands.

Those are the revelations of Ipsos’ What the Future issue on Housing. Housing data have barely budged since Ipsos’ inaugural 2017 issue that also focused on housing. Back then and today, Ipsos surveyed U.S. adults about their aspirations for home ownership, where they want to live and what factors they value in a community. While the numbers show an acceleration of long-standing trends, Americans now are living at home in ways they weren’t before. More than ever, home is a sanctuary inside and out, and people are moving or investing to make their spaces more functional, flexible and less cluttered.

In this issue of What the Future, Ipsos asks four major questions of the nation’s foremost experts on home organization, demography, labor and housing, and outdoor entertainment: Can our new homes support our newly flexible needs, will the pandemic permanently shift where we live, will we ever go back to our offices and has the pandemic expanded our definition of home?

The issue also features Ipsos researchers’ guidance on what these questions mean for consumers, society and brands. The full issue is here. Below are a few research highlights followed by a topline of the survey results:

• 49% of adults ages 18-34 have moved or considered moving since March 2020 due to COVID-19 and other events, while 18% of adults with incomes at $125,000-plus have moved.

• 78% want a detached home and 44% of those who have moved or want to move are heading away from the city.

• 3x as many households with kids (60%) than those without (21%) have someone e-learning at home, while 46% of Americans are decluttering and organizing in their homes more today than they were a year ago. Among them, 57% of adults 18-34 are decluttering more.

• 50% of Americans consider the process of homebuying difficult. For 47% overall, the most important factor is finding an affordable home to meet their needs.

• People are less likely to think their commutes will change as the pandemic has worn on, but of those who do, 45% expect to drive more.

• 2x as many people with kids at home (24%) than those that don’t (10%) are entertaining friends and family more outdoors.

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 11-12, 2021. For this survey, a sample of 1,111 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English. The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for all respondents.

For full results, please refer to the following annotated questionnaire here.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 11-12, 2021. For this survey, a sample of 1,111 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English.

The sample for this study was randomly drawn from Ipsos’ online panel (see link below for more info on “Access Panels and Recruitment”), partner online panel sources, and “river” sampling (see link below for more info on the Ipsos “Ampario Overview” sample method) and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. Ipsos uses fixed sample targets, unique to each study, in drawing a sample. After a sample has been obtained from the Ipsos panel, Ipsos calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. Population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2018 American Community Survey data. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on demographics. Posthoc weights were made to the population characteristics on gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and education. 

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=1,111, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-4.9 percentage points).

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Mallory Newall
Director, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2014
[email protected]

Matt Carmichael
Editor, What the Future and
Vice President, Editorial Strategy
Ipsos North America
+1 312 218 7922
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

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