For the First Time in 130 Years, More Young Americans Live With Their Parents

By Quentin Fottrell
May 25, 2016

Young adults in the U.S. appear to like the comforts of home.

For the first time in more than 130 years, American adults aged 18 to 34 were more likely to be living in their parents’ home than living with a spouse or partner in their own household, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

“Broad demographic shifts in marital status, educational attainment and employment have transformed the way young adults in the U.S. are living,” the report found. (It was based on Census figures dating back to 1880.)

By 2014, 31.6% of young adults were living with a spouse or partner in their own household, marginally below the share living in the home of their parents (32.1%). Some 14% of young adults lived alone, were a single parent or lived with one or more roommates during the same period. The remaining 22% lived in the home of another family member (such as a grandparent, in-law or sibling), a non-relative, or in group quarters (including college dormitories). Young men are more likely to live with a parent than a spouse or partner.

“This turn of events is fueled primarily by the dramatic drop in the share of young Americans who are choosing to settle down romantically before age 35,” Pew senior economist Richard Fry wrote. “Dating back to 1880, the most common living arrangement among young adults has been living with a romantic partner, whether a spouse or a significant other.” In 1960, 62% of 18- to 34-year-olds were living with a spouse or partner in their own household — the highest on record — but that percentage has steadily fallen since then.
A stronger economy and a drop in the unemployment rate over the last five years have not led to more millennials leaving home because of a higher joblessness rate among young people, low or stagnant wages and housing costs that have risen since the 2008 recession, Pew says. Living with mom and dad also allows them to save for a down payment on a home of their own, says Sheldon Garon, a professor of history at Princeton University and author of “Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves.”