The Truth About Cat Ladies: Not Childless, Not Lonely, and Above Politics

A few weeks ago, who knew that cat ladies would become a political force? All because of one misguided comment by a vice presidential candidate sneering at “childless cat ladies.”

The only thing is that we know quite a few cat people (childless and not) who belong to the same party as that person, and they were just as annoyed by this remark as the people on the other side of the political spectrum. And when the guy recently tried to walk back his comment (which he actually made in 2021), he just made it worse.

It was such a stupid and divisive thing to say in the first place — and unnecessary. It feeds into a cliche that isn’t even true. I dug into the demographics behind who cat ladies really are. And you know what? “Cat ladies” are such a broad group of people that other than the fact that they like cats, they can’t really be labeled.

Let’s look at some of the stats.

According to data-axle.com:

64% of cat owners are female. However, 60% of dog owners are also female! So there’s not that huge of a difference between cat and dog ownership.

Only 3% more dog owners are married than cat owners. So no, not all cat ladies are single. And while hard statistics are scarce around how many single cat owners there are, it ranges from just 30 to 50%. That’s right, somewhere between 50 and 70% of cat owners are married or living with a partner.

Here are some additional numbers, according to Forbes.com:

40% of cat owners have incomes over 100K, and 36% of cat owners also own their own home.

81% of Gen Z pet owners (you know, our future) have cats.

Are cat people lonely? Actually, that’s totally a myth. A lot of people are familiar with the Psychology Today story from a few years back that pointed out that cat people tend to be more introverted than dog people. And there’s the reality: introverted people don’t want to be around people all that much. They’re not lonely, they’re just more comfortable keeping their own company. Or keeping company with their cats and no other humans. That’s not lonely, that’s their own personal preference.

And what about political leaning? Don’t think that cats belong to just one side of the political spectrum. According to statistics from Cramer-Krasselt, 40% of Democrats are cat owners, while 35% of Republicans own cats. So while cat ownership may lean blue, it’s not by all that much. And 77% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans consider their cats part of the family. So while there’s a wider difference here, it’s still a majority in both cases.

I think it’s safe to say that there are millions of cat owners across the political spectrum, and they all love their feline overlords. We may disagree about a lot of things, but never let it get in the way of what really matters: cats, of course!