More than 15 percent of millennials between the ages of 26 and 41 live at home with their parents as they struggle with rising housing costs.
The latest 2022 Census statistics show that an alarming number of adults are being forced to live with their parents as they struggle to save enough money to achieve the American Dream.
According to Census data, the number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 living at home has increased by more than 87 percent over the past two decades.
This comes as young people struggle to regain their footing after pandemic lockdowns and grapple with decades-high inflation, crushing student debt and job insecurity.
“We’re in an economy where it’s harder to live independently,” Carol Sigelman, a professor of social psychology at George Washington University, told Bloomberg. “Adults realize it’s tough these days.”
Nearly 16 percent of millennials ages 26 to 41 live with one or both parents, according to 2022 Census data
Four of the top five cities where most millennials are returning home are in California (pictured), where the median price for single-family homes hovered around $830,000.
Young people are also struggling with decades of high inflation, crushing student debt and job insecurity
In some metropolitan areas, the percentages are even higher, with a quarter of millennials choosing to live with their parents in some areas. Riverside, California, has the highest percentage of millennials living at home: almost 30 percent.
Brownsville, Texas, came in second, with 27.4 percent. The top five was completed by other California cities: Stockton, Los Angeles and Modesto.
Home prices in the Sunshine State continue to rise, and fewer than one in five Californians can afford an existing median-priced single-family home, data from the California Association of Realtors shows.
While such a description may sound unremarkable, these homes come with an eye-watering price tag of $830,620.
At the other end of the spectrum was Springfield, Missouri, where only 6.2 percent live with parents — a more affordable state with a median home price of around $159,000, according to Redfin.
“Given the collapse in housing affordability, it is not surprising that young people are living at home with their parents longer to manage their expenses, save on rent and save for a down payment so they can buy a home,” says Mark Zandi, head of the company. economist at Moody’s Analytics.
A Harris Poll for Bloomberg found that 40 percent of millennial respondents said they lived at home to save money, while 30 percent said they stayed with relatives because they couldn’t afford to live on their own.
Other factors that emerged included paying off debt (19 percent) and losing a job (10 percent).
A Harris Poll for Bloomberg found that 40 percent of millennial respondents said they lived at home to save money, while 30 percent said they stayed with relatives because they couldn’t afford to live on their own.
The percentage of millennials living at home is significantly lower in states like Colorado and Missouri, between 6 and 8 percent (photo: Fort Collins, Colorado)
Many millennials who graduated during the 2008 financial crisis similarly chose to live at home amid a shaky housing market (photo: Omaha, Nebraska, where 7.7 percent of millennials were living at home in 2022)
There also appears to have been a shift in public perception of young people living at home, as this is no longer seen as a sign of immaturity, but as a necessity.
The circumstances are reminiscent of those of almost twenty years ago. Many millennials who graduated during the 2008 financial crisis similarly chose to live at home amid a shaky housing market.
The Covid-19 lockdowns have only exacerbated this problem. In 2020, the share of young adults living with parents or grandparents rose to a record high of almost 50 percent.
While the labor market continues to make gains, recent graduates are having more difficulty finding work than the rest of the population.
Recent college graduates have fared worse than other job seekers since January 2021, and the gap is only widening.
An analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that the latest unemployment rate for recent college graduates is higher than the overall unemployment rate at 4.4 percent and nearly double the rate for all workers with a college degree.
Part of the problem is that sectors most desperate for workers, such as hospitality and hospitality, are less in demand than the technology, consulting, finance and media sectors, which have been decimated by layoffs.
For them and their slightly older millennial counterparts, there has also been a societal shift, as the perception of young people living at home is much friendlier.
It seems that living at home is no longer considered immature or unsuccessful.
Trysta Barwig, a project manager from Atlanta, told Business Insider that she had experienced a change in her own perspective since returning home.
“I think people used to look down on you for staying home with your parents, like you were some kind of loser, but I have a job, I have a paycheck,” Barwig said. ‘I don’t understand why I have to live on my own.’