Atlantans are likelier to live alone than residents of virtually any other major U.S. city, with nearly half of Atlanta's households having just one person, according to a census analysis released this week. A decade ago, Atlanta wasn't even in the Top 10; now it shares the No. 1 spot with Washington.

The change -- from 38.5 percent of Atlanta households in 2000 to 44 percent in 2010 -- is significant, demographers say. They attribute it to a number of factors, namely: the mobility of single professionals seeking work in the city; the plethora of new condo and apartment homes for people who want to live alone; and the declining marriage rate.

"Atlanta has been a magnet for young professionals, black and white, for many years," said Harvey Newman, professor of public policy at Georgia State University. "[Many] come here as young adults to go to school, they come here for job opportunities and they stay … and don’t get married until later, if at all."

The recession slowed that trend, but didn't stop it, he said.

The phenomenon includes more than the young and restless. The data on 1-person households includes people who are divorced or widowed, older people who have never married, and even married people living apart.

Atlanta's increase -- nearly 17,000 new solo-dwellers -- was evenly split between men and women. Every age group saw an increase. And it wasn't all renters, although they slightly outnumbered owners among the new solo-dwellers, according to the analysis of 2010 census data.

In raw numbers, Atlanta's steepest increase was among men aged 35 to 64 who own their homes. In percentage terms, the biggest surge was among women homeowners aged 15 to 34.

That's no surprise to Mike Alexander, chief of the Atlanta Regional Commission's research arm, who suggested that the numbers of women enrolling in Atlanta-area colleges could be a factor. Women outnumber men on most area campuses.

"It's all anecdotal at this point, but it has to do something with college enrollment," he said.

College is what brought Alix Jones, 31, to Atlanta more than a decade ago. Jones earned a degree at Georgia State University, and except for a two-year stint away, has lived in Atlanta since. She said many of her friends decided to ditch roommates in recent years in response to the first-time homebuyer tax credit, which the federal government offered as a means to stimulate the housing market.

She wanted an investment, she said, but didn't want to live in the suburbs -- silos for singles, she said.

"Living in the suburbs [as a] single is not smart, because then you’re just playing house by yourself," said Jones, a producer for Turner Sports. Of course, living alone can be self-perpetuating, she noted.

"At 9:30 [at night] I’ll open up a bottle of wine and say ‘Wow, this is my life. I am wining myself, and I am going to mow my own lawn tomorrow," she said, laughing. "The sad thing is, that is what I choose to do."

Women account for just over half of Atlantans living alone. Of the city's 81,555 1-person households, 42,435 are female.

Another factor in the shift is a dramatic change in housing options from 2000 to 2010, experts say. Atlanta was a hotbed for condo and apartment development for much of the decade. That's given buyers and renters alike increased options if they're inclined to have their own space rather than sharing.

Dwanda Farmer, a 45-year-old economic development consultant in southwest Atlanta, recalls moving to Atlanta in the late 1980s and finding few options for singles who wanted domestic solitude.

"When I went looking for apartments, I found most of them were set up in a roommate-style. It was expected that people would not live alone, that we’d have this roommates situation," said Farmer, who has always lived by herself.

Amanda Brown, a 31-year-old executive assistant, rents a place, on her own, in Midtown.

"I would say that most of my friends live a similar lifestyle. Actually, I can't think of one single friend that has a roommate," Brown said. She used to have roommates, she said, but didn't want to share space in her 30s.

Tim Michaels, 32, Midday radio host on 94.9 The Bull, said the data confirm his experience as a single in Atlanta, and that of his callers, too. Many of them, he has observed, moved to Atlanta in the past decade to strike out on their own. And that means moving to where the action is.

"A lot of young professionals are moving here for their careers and a lot of them are moving here alone," said Michaels, who also lives alone in Midtown. "They don’t know anybody, so they live in the city."