“Co-habiting is becoming more and more a stage in dating, rather than a stage in marriage,” says Rhoades. Her research also shows millennials are less concerned about co-habitation as a path to marriage; often, younger generations report that they just started living together out of happenstance. “It's not really seeing [co-habitation] as a decision or a commitment event in a relationship. And I think that's become more and more true over time.”
