"I Like Living Alone." Could Home Sharing Still Fit?

Consider an example: an older homeowner might say, "I like my own company. After all these years, I have earned my quiet."

That is an honest answer, and a common one. The point of this guide is not to talk anyone out of living alone. It is to separate two things that often get tangled together, being alone and being lonely, and to show that home sharing can be quieter than most people picture. That way, if you decide against it, you are deciding against the real thing.

What to know

Living alone is common, and for many people it works well. About 26% of adults 65 and older lived alone in 2023¹. Living alone is not the same as being lonely. The U.S. Surgeon General's advisory on social connection treats them as two different things: isolation is having few social contacts, and loneliness is the feeling of being disconnected. A person can live alone and feel well connected, or live with others and feel lonely².

Home sharing does not have to mean constant company. Some matches cook together and watch the evening news side by side. Others are two people with separate schedules who mostly share a front door and a friendly word in the hallway. How much time you spend together is something you choose and write into your agreement, the same way you settle rent and chores. Our guide "You Don't Have to Become Best Friends" describes the range.

If what worries you is less about solitude and more about your habits, the feeling that "nobody could live with me," our guide "Are You Too Set in Your Ways to Share a Home?" takes that question on directly.

Why it exists

For many older adults, a home of one's own was hard won. It may have come after years of raising children, caring for parents or a spouse, or sharing space with people who were not easy to live with. Quiet can feel like a reward.

Some people also carry memories of bad roommates from their twenties: dishes in the sink, noise at 2 a.m., a stranger's friends on the couch. It is natural to assume home sharing would bring all of that back.

Why it deserves respect

Solitude has real value. Knowing that you like it is self-knowledge, not stubbornness. If living alone is working for you, with your money, your health, and your safety in good shape, there is no reason to change it because someone else thinks you should.

Liking your own company is also useful information if you ever do look for a match. A home provider who can say "I value a quiet house" gives the right person a clear reason to say yes, and the wrong person a clear reason to keep looking.

What the evidence tells us

• Most older adults are not lonely, but many are. In 2024, 33% of adults ages 50 to 80 said they felt a lack of companionship some of the time or often³. That means about two in three did not. Liking your own company is the more common experience, not the exception.
• Isolation still carries a health cost, even when it does not feel lonely. The Surgeon General's advisory reports that social isolation raises the risk of premature death by 29%, and loneliness by 26%². Home sharing is one way to stay connected. Friends, family, clubs, faith communities, and volunteering are others.
• Company is often not the main reason. Many people who share a home do it for the rent, for help with the upkeep, or for the comfort of knowing someone would notice a fall. Older adults living alone were far more likely to be in poverty in 2023 than those who did not live alone, one in five compared with 6%¹. A quiet match can answer those needs without asking you to become more social than you are.

Ways to lower the barrier

1. Say that you value quiet, plainly, in your profile. Early bedtime, quiet mornings, few visitors. The right person will read that as a good sign. Our guide "Say What You Do, Not What You Are" shows how.
2. Look for someone who values quiet too. A person with a demanding job, a full social life elsewhere, or their own love of solitude may want exactly the kind of home you want to keep.
3. Write down how much time you will spend together. Shared meals can be optional. You can agree on quiet hours, which rooms are shared, and that a closed door means "not now."
4. Keep spaces that are only yours. Your bedroom, and perhaps a study, a chair, or a corner of the garden, can stay yours alone. Our guide "Your Home, Still Yours" covers privacy in detail.
5. Start with a set term. An agreement for a few months, with a check-in before it renews, lets you find out how sharing feels without committing to it for years.
6. Revisit it honestly. If, after a fair try, you find you would rather live alone, that is a real answer too.

Conversation starters

If you are an adult child or friend raising home sharing with an older adult:

• "I'm not trying to change how you live. I'm wondering whether a quiet arrangement could help with the house or the bills."
• "What would someone have to be like for you to hardly notice they were there?"
• "If you'd rather keep living on your own, I want to understand what would make that easier."

If you are an older adult thinking it over:

• "I like my quiet. If I did this, I'd want someone who likes theirs too."
• "Here is what my ordinary day looks like. Would that work for you?"
• "Can we agree that shared dinners are a treat, not an expectation?"

Living alone is not the same as being lonely, and sharing a home does not have to mean giving up your quiet.

Home sharing and older adults

Home sharing works at any age. Older adults are one of the fastest-growing groups sharing a home with someone who is not family⁴. Many of them are people who lived alone for years first.

Last reviewed September 28, 2026