Nearly half of young adults under age 30 live with their parents, according to recent data. However, that doesn’t mean that these young Americans are stereotypical “burnouts” who are “failing to launch” – in fact, most are employed.
According to the “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 – May 2026” from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sysyem, 49% of adults under age 30 lived with a parent as of 2025. That’s up 6% compared to 2022 and 12% compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, Realtor.com released its own research that indicated one in three adults under age 35 lived with their parents as of last year –around 25.2 million young Americans in total. According to that data, 70% of the 25-to 34-year-olds living with their parents were employed, said senior Realtor.com economist Hannah Jones.
“The growth is coming from working adults, not people waiting to find jobs,” she explained.
So, why are working grown-ups choosing to live with mom and/or dad? Realtor.com said this cohort faces a “complicated reality” where having a steady paycheck doesn’t mean an individual can afford to be independent.
“Something about their income level, debt load, or the cost of housing in their market is keeping them home despite steady employment,” Jones said.
Let’s start with income levels. Research shows that wages have not kept place with inflation for decades, and Democratic lawmakers even proposed legislation to increase the national minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $25 per hour earlier this year.
Inflation has been particularly sticky in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates it increased just last month. When it comes to debt, Realtor.com also noted that the rise in college attendance over the past 25 years means that many young Americans’ incomes don’t have as much buying power as it might seem since they are tied to debt obligations.
Furthermore, young adults (18 to 29) carry less total debt than older generations but their balances are more heavily concentrated in student loans, auto loans, and credit cards, more obligations that can eat into career earnings. Meanwhile, older generations’ debt often comes from mortgages (which are also investments) according to New York Fed data.
Pew Research Center data from 2024 indicated that 72% of young adults who lived with their parents say they contribute financially to the household in some way. Of that group, 46% said they contributed toward rent or the mortgage.
“Depending on the family situation, it can actually be a really good way to keep wealth in the family, having multiple members contribute to the mortgage,” said Jim Chamberlin, a real estate agent at Vulcan7 cited by Realtor.com.
Buying a house of their own might seem like an unreachable goal for some young Americans. Realtor.com noted that the median home price last year was $430,000, up 34.4% from 2019. Last December, Audacy reported on research that indicated 75% of U.S. houses were unaffordable to the middle class.
Even renting is more expensive than it was just a few years ago. Realtor.com said that the median asking rent in 2025 was $1,673, up 17.9% compared to 2019.
“At the same time, Realtor.com research estimates a roughly 4-million-unit housing supply gap – a shortage that leaves many young adults with fewer realistic ways to form independent households,” the site added.
As Jones indicated, it seems like income, inflation, debt, housing costs and housing availability are all factors keeping many Americans at home through their 20s and even into their 30s. Right now, there are an estimated 4.86 million more adults under 35 living with their parents than there would have been if early 2000s co-residence patterns continued.
While the living-at-home arrangement can save younger Americans money in some situations, Chamberlain said that it’s actually “a huge misconception that living at home automatically means someone is saving a fortune,” as many of these adults are employed and contibute to household expenses.
