Young Adults Plan to Live With Their Parents Longer Than Ever

Parents who wish their adult children would leave home, and adult children who wish they could, may find food for thought in a new RentCafe report about multigenerational households in the U.S. Parents who want their “kids” to stick around, and “kids” with no desire to leave home, may find the same.

RentCafe’s analysis revealed that large numbers of Millennials and Gen-Zers are taking longer to leave home than previous generations. Some 14 million Millennials – often defined as people born between 1980 and the late 1990s – and 23 million Gen-Zers or Zoomers –defined by RentCafe as people aged 18 or older — shared a household with at least one family member. That comes to 20% of Millennials and 68% of Gen Z. These findings are based on Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) data from 2018 and 2022.

“Digging into the data reveals a tale of generational adaptation, financial pragmatism, and evolving familial structures that are reshaping the American Dream,” the report commented.

There are many reasons these age groups are more likely to stick around, but financial and health-related conditions are the main causes, RentCafe said. “The typical Millennial living with a family member at the age of 32 shares their home with three or four other people. They’re also likely to be employed in food services, construction, or education.” The typical Gen-Zer is 22 years old with similar employment and living patterns.

The report speculates that one reason an adult child may remain in a joint household is to save money on expenses like childcare costs, utility bills, rents or a future down payment. It is also likely that many remain home to care for a family member.

Whatever the reason, many expect their stay to be long. A RentCafe survey found that 47% of Millennials and 41% of Gen Z expect to share their home with someone else for at least another two years. And 14% of Millennials expect to live in a shared household for at least 10 years. Only 6% of Gen Z have the same expectation. These figures are higher than for previous generations.

The West Coast metros hold the nation’s largest share of multigenerational households. In Los Angeles, 35% of three million Millennials and 81% of 1.3 million Gen Z live in shared homes, mainly because of the high cost of living, which is 51% above the national average. Raleigh, NC comes out on top for Gen Z.

Baltimore and Washington, DC each have high concentrations of both Millennials and Gen Z. Even though housing is abundant, the cost of living is likely a factor. In contrast, a lack of housing in Buffalo, NY has caused 26% of the metro’s Millennials to share housing.

Nevertheless, the trend is not universal. “Contrary to the belief that the pandemic has increased the number of adults living with their parents, the data we collected shows a different reality. More precisely, in more than 20 of the largest U.S. metros, the number of [Millennials] and Gen Z-ers living in multigenerational households has been decreasing over the past five years, with many of them beginning to move out on their own,” RentCafe noted.