Why some couples are happier living apart

For generations, we’ve been taught that if you want to move a relationship forward, you have to follow a specific set of steps: Meet someone, fall in love, and eventually move in. Because moving in is a sign that the relationship is serious.

But a growing number of couples are opting out of that last step. Mike and Susan have been together for 23 years, but they’ve never lived together…and they don’t plan to.

This arrangement has a name: “living apart together” (or LAT), and it’s more common than you might think. Between 2000 and 2019, the number of married couples living separately increased by more than 25 percent. And it’s especially popular with couples later in life, usually people in their 50s or 60s who have retired.

So if sharing a home is the ultimate sign of love and commitment, why do some couples decide not to do it at all? And is cohabitation actually the best model for every relationship? Or is it just the one we have normalized?

Read more about Living Apart Together:

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