Homes built today are larger than homes of the past, but their yards are markedly smaller. Homes also have more bedrooms and bathrooms, but house fewer people, U.S. Census data shows.

According to the Census Bureau's 2005 survey of new housing, released this summer, the average size of new single-family homes grew by 48 percent between 1975 and 2005. Meanwhile, the typical household has gotten smaller, declining from 2.94 people in 1975 to 2.6 people in 2004, the latest figure available. At the same time, the lots that the houses stand on have shrunk by about 13 percent.