The Adult Children That Live With Their Parents

Peaking during the pandemic spike, more young adults continue to live with their parents:

However, who, where, and why vary.

Living With Parents

Who

Approximately 33% of all 18- to 34-year-olds live with their parents. While it’s more likely to be a male, under 25, the numbers are also high for women. Then, as the kids grow older and move out, we see a plunge to one in five men and one in seven women:

Where

At 44.1% of all adults between 18 and 34, my own state, New Jersey, tops everywhere, but, Connecticut (41.3%), California (39.1%), and Maryland (38.5%) are close behind. Meanwhile, more parents in North Dakota (12.3%) and Washington D.C. (13.3%) are “empty nesters.”

Rather interestingly, if we look at Europe, the numbers are vastly different between the North and South. In Sweden, Norway, and Finland, most adult children are gone by age 22. By contrast in Spain and Portugal, they stay until they are at least 30.

Why

As we might expect, money is the big reason. With housing costs, student loan debt, inflation, and perhaps an unsuccessful job hunt making independent living unaffordable, the kids return to where they grew up.

As for Europe, the Nordic nations offer more of a social safety net and student support. Compared to the South social norms about leaving also differ,

Our Bottom Line: Spending

Parents give and get financial support from the children that live with them. According to Pew Research, more than half contribute to household expenses:

And finally, I would like to hypothesize the opportunity cost. In addition to not spending on their own apartment, adult “co-residers” avoided the expense of items like furniture, bedding, towels.

My sources and more: Thanks to FinanceBuzz (which I had never heard of but think they are a sufficiently rigorous source) for many of today’s facts. In addition, Pew Research data came in handy as did Eurostat and the analytic insight from this paper.