Trend Intel: In this economy?! Why young Filipinos choose to live alone

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For a lot of us Filipinos, moving out of our parents’ house is basically an achievement unlocked by marriage — and sometimes, not even then. Staying in our childhood homes well into adulthood has long been the norm, whether it’s for practical, financial, or very Filipino-family reasons. But something’s shifting. More young Filipinos are getting curious about what it actually means to live on their own — paying their own bills, making their own rules, and figuring out adulthood.

In this Trend Intel piece, we find out who these young people are and what’s making them rethink what being an adult is supposed to look like.

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies in 2024 reported that the percentage of one-person households in the country more than doubled within three decades — from 2.9% in 1990 to 9.1% in 2020.

A 2023 study in the Journal of Population Research also cited an increase in separation between couples, an increase in marriage delays or non-marriage, and a rise in internal migration in the country due to employment.

This particular rise in solo living among younger age groups reflected a similar phenomenon online: the rise of vloggers who romanticized solo living and created its accompanying aesthetic.

If you’ve scrolled through TikTok, chances are you’ve been hit by videos of young professionals restocking their pantries, bringing you along to their mid-day coffee runs or “get ready with me” morning routines. This kind of content has proven to be effective as more creators are riding the trend.

Data consultancy The Nerve analyzed TikTok videos related to solo living from 2020 to 2026 through its video content and narrative analysis solution, Probe Video — observing a spike in 2023 and a continued rise since 2025.

What did these videos tackle? The Nerve found three key themes in solo living content on TikTok: vlogs, expenses, and guides.

Vlogs took up more than half of solo living content on TikTok at 61%. There’s a sense of comfort seeing what living alone can look like, based on the videos I’ve watched online.

Steph Ambroce, for example, started posting user-generated content on TikTok in 2023. She shifted to solo living content in 2025, documenting her escape from chaotic households and her journey living alone. She pursued the content niche full-time after one of her videos garnered more than a million views shortly after it was published. 

“It’s so easy to make,” she said. “You only need to take videos of your everyday life and upload them to social media, then viewers will flock to your videos not long after.”

Insurance manager Clark Macasio also saw the potential of posting solo living vlogs.

“When I put out something on social media, I want to be real with my audience. I didn’t want to continue posting engineering content even when it was doing really well because if I want my content creation to be sustainable, I have to be true to what I post,” he shared. 

Now based in Metro Manila, Macasio shared guides on solo living. Similar guides took up 15% of solo living content on TikTok, according to The Nerve’s analysis.

“I think audiences appreciate when we don’t sugarcoat the reality of living alone. It’s not just going out on solo dates drinking matcha — it’s also buying groceries, paying the bills, and taking out the trash,” Macasio said.

Writer and editor Angelu Zafe became renowned on TikTok also for her solo living guides. “There was so much aesthetic, aspirational solo living content, but there was an absence of practical information you need to live alone,” she said. 

Zafe’s solo living guides include what those planning to live alone need to prepare before taking the leap, how much to save, and what to ask landlords when hunting solo living spaces, among others.

While transparent guides and honest takes were appreciated, talking about money and expenses had mixed reactions, as the topic is still taboo in the Philippines.

She was met initially with so much backlash, with comments calling her out for sharing something too “personal.” This was disappointing to find out, as it was actually the content that tackled expenses that was most helpful to me in my upcoming solo living journey.

Zafe thought the same, saying these posts made living alone doable. 

“You get to have action steps, unlike before when there were no posts like this,” she expounded. “But now that there are more people generous enough to share what they know, people now have a point of reference to rely on.”

With all three creators forecasting continued growth for this niche, it is clear that this trend is more than just a passing algorithm spike. It is a shared survival guide. And in the pursuit of solo living, this just goes to show that you’ll never be alone.

Godspeed and good luck with your journey!

All quotes in this story were translated to English for brevity.