I thought a thread dedicated to this topic might be less off topic. I’ll start.
Our first apartments had one bathroom, and that was fine for just the two of us. Our first house had 1 1/2 and that was fine too. The full bath was on the bedroom upstairs level and the 1/2 was in the lower level (this was a split level…so no bathroom on the main living level where the kitchen and living room were located). This was fine too.
Our current house has 2 1/2 baths…but all of the full baths are on the upper level. I really wish we had a full bath on the main level instead of a 1/2 bath. It would have made recovery from my knee surgery and DHs bunion surgery so much easier as no going up and downstairs for showers for a bit would have been nice. We also have a finished lower level, and often when we have a lot of family here, some sleep down there…and a full bath on the main level would really be nice!
If I were building again…I’d have a full bath on the main level, as well as the 2 on the upper level. All it would be adding is a shower situation on the main level.
Now…having said all that, I survived being one of 4 daughters in a small 3 bedroom bungalow. We made it work.
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I have four siblings. The first couple houses my parents rented had one bathroom. They bought a house after my youngest brother was born, and it had a full bath on each floor. When I was in high school, they built a house with three full bathrooms, one on the first floor & two on the second. H had a house when we got married. It was one floor, one bathroom. We looked for a house with 2.5 bathrooms - the one we bought (and still live in) has 2.5, with the half bath on the first floor. When my parents were alive, they stayed at my brother’s house, 5 minutes from mine … his house is on one floor, and they had their own bathroom, so I never felt like I needed to have a set up that accommodated them when they visited. My in laws very rarely visited our house (we had to visit them); the last time they did was many years ago, before stairs were an issue for them. As H & I age, we know that we’ll either have to move to one floor eventually or install a chairlift on the stairs. We actually like having to walk up & down the stairs at this point, but we’re well aware that that could change, and we’re willing to do what is necessary to deal with it when/if the time comes.
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Minimum 1 1/2 for two people. Recently returned from a vacation rental with six people (two couples, two singles) that had 3 1/2 baths, and that worked out nicely.
Thinking that we will probably want to retire to a single level place (and looking forward to not lugging the laundry up and down the basement stairs).
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I have a wife and two daughters. Do I need to say any more?
We do have the master bedroom and one full bathroom plus a half bath on the main floor. This was very helpful way back when I had knee surgery (which went very well – 27 years later I have trouble remembering which knee was operated on).
And there is another full bath upstairs. 2 1/2 baths seems to be enough.
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Hahaha. Ha. Ha…
~100 year old bungalow, 2 parents and 2 teenagers, 1 tiny old bathroom that fits 1 person at a time (literally we can’t even cram two people in there at a time). That is one good thing about S23 going off to college because he is the biggest bathroom hog!!! It’s not uncommon that we have a line of 2 family members waiting outside the door for S23 to finish whatever he is doing in there.
Anyway, one more bathroom would be nice. But it’s not such a BIG deal that we want to deal with remodeling.
Note that our house is 1 1/2 stories with the bedrooms on the upper level, and bathroom on the main floor. When my husband and I are older, I expect we’ll move to a single story home.
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As I mentioned in the other thread, I grew up in a family of 6 with 1 bathroom. Probably lower water bills because you couldn’t dawdle in the bathroom!
Our current 1925 house that our kids grew up in has 1 full bath up, 1/2 bath main level, “scary” shower/toilet bathroom in the basement that only H uses (he liked showering down there when he came home from his job which entailed lots of outdoor work).
We are looking to move and a main floor bedroom option and a full bath (ok if no tub) on the main floor are a must. My daughter who is an OT insists and I agree!
If I’m talking “ideal” situation I guess it would be full bath for us, full bath for guests. Another 1/2 bath if there is more than one level to the home.
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We have 3 1/2 baths, 3 full on 2nd floor. I agree a main floor master bed/bath plus a powder room would be ideal. Both H and I grew up with 1 1/2.
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I have a few coworkers who grew up with out houses. One bath would have been great!
For me it’s more about the number of toilets per person ratio. Showers can be coordinated. For short term purposes I want no more than 4 people to 1 toilet Long term I want a second toilet.
Our first rental was a 2 story townhouse. It had 1.5 baths. The 0.5 on the ground floor. Our first house had 3 full baths but the 3rd was in the finished basement. Only time that shower ever got used in 10 years was when both showers were broken at once. Current house has 2.5 baths. With the 0.5 on the ground floor.
We rented a 2 story townhouse near older S last year that had both full baths upstairs. I thought that was odd. It didn’t bother us but I could see many people struggling.
4 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms. We kept the tub on our main floor when gutting the house. It was a converted two flat. We just have a really nice fabric curtain up since we never used it in like 25 years but if we needed to it’s there with shower. It has a look of a half bath with the curtain up.
BTW - I grew up with 3 older sisters and my mother in a very small house with 1 full bathroom. It would take me forever to use the bathroom in the morning since everyone was “putting on their face” 
We have 5 kids (3 girls, 2 boys), our house had 1 full bath upstairs when we moved in (very small), very common in our area of 100+ year old homes, we added a 1/2 bath for the first floor. I’d love to have my own bathroom! My sister lives with her 3 kids, 5 full bathrooms.
With the exception of the time when we lived in Manhattan (1 bathroom only), growing up, there were always at least 2.5 baths where we lived, and that was fine.
Our current residence (the only one DC has ever known) only has 1 bathroom, and there are times that folks are waiting for the restroom to empty. When we move at retirement, we plan to build, and although I think a minimum of 2-bathrooms would be fine, my spouse thinks that 2.5 bathrooms (aka 3 toilets) is a minimum, and preferably 3 full bathrooms. I think it’s a bit of overkill, but the bathroom issue is a bigger deal to my spouse than it is to me. We definitely plan on having most (if not all) of the house on one floor.
Our family does travel with extended family as a group of 9 over the summer. 3 bathrooms is the preferred minimum with that size of group, which always seems to work fine.
We had one of those in the house I grew up with. Along with one regular full bath upstairs (6 people).
Our current house was built in 1924 but was extensively remodeled about 15 years ago. There is a full bath on the first level and a bath with a shower in the finished basement. There are 2 full bathrooms upstairs - one is the ensuite and the other is also reachable through the primary bedroom closet (the closet has a sink with a vanity, too) as well as a hall doorway. Thus H and I actually have 2 ensuites so for the first time in 42 years of marriage I have my own bathroom!
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Our house has 2 full baths upstairs and a half bath downstairs. This worked well for us even when both girls were growing up here. It is more than enough for H and I.
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We have 2. I require my own bathroom. I don’t like sharing it. When D visits I do share with her, but I absolutely hate it when I find out someone else has used my bathroom. 
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Growing up in a family of 5, we had 2 1/2 bathrooms. When my own kids grew up, we lived in two different houses. The first one had two full bathrooms. The second one that we also lived in way longer had 2 1/2 bathrooms. It all was good…one in master bedroom with two sinks, shower, and jacuzzi tub, one kids’ bathroom with two sinks and shower/tub, and a powder room on the main level.
I need my own bathroom. I also survived growing with 4 siblings and one bathroom. Maybe that’s why I don’t share bathroom.
My sister had few homes in NC. Each one had the main master bedroom on the first floor and other bedrooms/bathrooms on the second. I prefer that layout than having the NE traditional layout of having all bedrooms and baths on the second floor.
I live in a 2 bedroom and bath apartment now. One bedroom is my office (I have converted it to be more of a study than bedroom). I use the bathroom by the study during the day and the ensuite bathroom at night. My guests generally use the bathroom by the study.
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Current home has 2 full bathrooms upstairs, powder/laundry on ground, and a very nice shower bath (3/4 bath technically) in the finished basement. We also have a powder in the garage- ugh, one more toilet to remember to scrub, lol. The previous owner replaced the full bath on the ground floor with a powder room and split out a laundry room. We can revert that remodel if necessary.
Our good friends are empty nesters with lots of money. For their “retirement” home, they purchased a 10,000 square foot home with an amazing walkout lower level and two additional living floors. Nine … count ‘em … nine bathrooms. No cleaning service, either. More than I need!!
You mention the laundry room. One thing we did when we had our house designed and built, was to put the laundry room on the bedroom level of the house. We had that in the previous home we had lived in (but did not design) and loved it. Putting clothes away or into the laundry was so much easier when on the same level as the bedrooms. There was also a sink in that room. It was mere steps from the master bedroom walk-in closet.
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We’re a family of 6 with one full bath downstairs, master bath and kids bath upstairs. Having four kids share one bath was a huge pain, it’s still a pain when my daughter visits. During high school my daughter started using the downstairs bath and always left it a mess. I didn’t like having the only guest bath messy with her stuff, humid from her showers, etc… A house this size really needed a 4th bath. I can’t quite envision being an empty nester yet, so I have no idea what we’ll need.