If Your Young Adults Still Shack Up With You, You're Not Alone

Young adults are clocking in at work, but then heading back to their childhood bedrooms at night. A Realtor.com analysis finds that a record 25.2 million Americans ages 18 to 34 resided with their parents in 2025, about 1 in 3 in that age group and up 6 percentage points over the past 20 years, reports the Hill. Even among 30- to 34-year-olds, almost 13% now live with parents, nearly two times the share in 2000. These are higher numbers than were seen even during the pandemic, when many young professionals headed back home "to ride out the pandemic with their loved ones," per Fortune.

About 70% of 25- to 34-year-olds living at home have jobs, suggesting housing costs, not unemployment, are the main barrier, per Realtor.com. The median home listing price has jumped 34%, to $430,000, from 2019; median asking rent is up nearly 18%, to $1,673. The real estate portal cites a 4-million-unit housing shortfall and student debt as additional pressures. "Every adult still in a childhood bedroom is a household that didn't form, a lease unsigned, a starter home unpurchased," Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones tells the Hill.