Traditional Households in State Drop, Census Finds : Statistics: Report shows 27% hew to the norm of a married couple with children. Divorce rate is still rising.

California’s notion of family is continuing to move away from the traditional American nuclear unit mythologized on television by Ozzie and Harriet or Beaver Cleaver, according to 1990 census numbers made available Thursday.

Only 27% of California households conform to the conventional image of a married couple with children, a drop from what the census found a decade ago. The rate of divorce continues to nudge upward, adults are less likely to be married than a decade ago, and they are more likely to live alone or in some form of non-traditional household.

Barely two-thirds of the 7.7 million children in California live with both of their parents, and about 960,000 youngsters live with neither their father nor mother, according to a computer analysis of last year’s census.

Of the state’s 22 million adults, slightly more than half--54.5%--were married when the count was conducted in April, 1990. But only half of married couples had children, and more than 2.1 million Californians were divorced and another 612,000 were separated at the time they filled out census questionnaires.

This first glimpse at what the census learned of the lifestyles of California’s 29.7 million people--more than one-tenth of all Americans--also found they are increasingly likely to rent rather than own a home.

For the first time since 1950, males outnumber females in California. The male advantage was slight, but unlike the other census findings--which have mostly been predicted--this took the experts by surprise.

“It had us buzzing around here,” said Linda Gage of the Demographic Research Unit of the state Department of Finance.

Females had outnumbered males in California since 1950, and in the United States since 1940, mainly because women tend to outlive men. But the change may reflect California’s rising birth rate--more boys are born than girls--and the likelihood that foreign immigrants tend to be young men, Gage said.

Only a relative handful of the Census Bureau’s billions of data tidbits about Californians were released, but they carry a strong message about the way the family is being redefined here.

About 1.2 million children live in a single-parent household headed by a woman, and another 347,000 children with a single male parent. In all, 20% of children live in one-parent homes, compared to 18% a decade earlier.

Another 673,000 children are living with a relative other than parents, and about 287,000 children reside in homes where no relatives by blood or adoption are present.

Of California’s 7.1 million family households, more than 1.1 million are headed by a woman with no husband present.

Throughout the state, more than 2.4 million people, or 11% of adults, live alone. For people age 65 or older the percentage more than doubles. More than 818,000 seniors, one-quarter of all people 65 or older, live by themselves.

About 1.3 million seniors live together as husband and wife, and 283,000 live with another relative. People under age 65 who live alone are overwhelmingly apt to be women, the census found.

Another sign of Californians customizing their home life is evident in the numbers about unrelated people living together.

About 1.4 million households include at least one person who is unrelated to the other residents. In more than 800,000 households, none of the residents are related by blood, marriage or adoption. Population experts say this is a varied group that includes unmarried partners, gay couples and single adults who have taken in roommates to help pay the mortgage or for companionship.

Foreign immigrants may also help explain some of the non-traditional living arrangements. Immigrant families sometimes share a single apartment or house, and in many cases several men who have left their families in their native country pool their incomes to rent together.

The census found about 1.2 million of all the housing units in California accommodate more than one person per room. Based on previous censuses, that suggests about 6.7 million people living in crowded home situations.

A national summary of the lifestyle information will not be distributed for at least a month, census officials say. But a separate sampling of Americans, released by the Census Bureau last year, found that California households are more likely than the nation as a whole to live in non-traditional home settings.

Population experts said the lifestyle numbers bear the strong stamp of California’s millions of foreign immigrants, who have arrived at an annual pace estimated at 250,000 in recent years. Because immigrants tend to be young and family-oriented, California’s population is aging more slowly than the rest of the nation.

The California median age, while climbing, still is about two years younger than the national midpoint, said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. Half of all residents are now older than 31 1/2 and half are younger, compared to a national median of about 33 years old.

“We are younger because of the immigrants,” said Levy, whose group is based in Palo Alto.

About 10.3 million, or more than one-third of all Californians, are between the ages of 25 and 44, the demographic niche filled by offspring of the postwar baby boom. The slice of the population that is under 18 years old shrank slightly during the 1980s. But last year’s tally found 2.4 million children under age 5, about 8.1% of the entire state population. It was the first time since 1960 that the share of youngsters under age 5 rose.

The data also charted the remarkable rise in the cost of homes through the 1980s. Ten years ago, more than 1 million California homes were priced under $100,000. Last year, about 755,000 homes were valued under $100,000, based on estimates made by the resident who filled out the census questionnaire. At the high end, a decade ago the Census Bureau found 275,000 homes valued at more than $200,000, the highest price category the census recognized then. This time the census counted 2.2 million homes valued at more than $200,000--including 1.1 million homes higher than $300,000, the revised cutoff.

The median home value last year, based on residents’ estimates, more than doubled from 1980 to $195,500.

“There is no state anywhere close to a median of $195,000,” said Levy.

Not that renters have it any easier. The median rent also doubled in the decade to $561. Instead of 1.3 million apartments and other housing going for under $250 a month, as in 1980, there were only 330,000 at that price last year.

In 1980, the Census Bureau found 302,329 units renting for $500 or more, but the 1990 count found 2.6 million units priced at $500 or more a month.

Census Snapshot

Here is a look at some numbers for the state of California from the 1990 census: POPULATION A total of 29,760,021, up from 23,667,902 a decade ago. Male: 14,897,627 Female: 14,862,394 AGE The median is 31.5 years, up from 29.9 a decade ago. Under 18 years: 7,750,725 or 26% of the state’s population From 18 to 24: 3,412,257 or 11.5% of the state’s population From 25 to 44: 10,325,692 or 34.7% of the state’s population From 45 to 64: 5,135,795 or 17.3% of the state’s population Age 65 and up: 3,135,552 or 10.5% of the state’s population HOUSEHOLDS A total of 10,381,206 occupied units. Families that include married couples: 5,469,522 Families that do not include a married couple: 1,669,872 Households in which no one is related: 811,945 People living alone: 2,429,867 (of these, 818,520 are over 65) RENTALS A total of 4,400,105 renter-occupied units. Rent under $250: 330,342 From $250 to $499: 1,385,013 From $500 to $749: 1,692,456 From $750 and up: 992,294 Source: U.S. Census Bureau