Overview
- A Federal Reserve report released in May found 49% of adults under 30 lived with a parent last year, up 12 percentage points since 2019.
- Rising housing costs are a central driver: average rents climbed about 30% over five years and the median existing-home sales price reached $429,300 in May while mortgage rates remain elevated.
- Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reported household growth fell to 1.1 million in 2025 and projects it will average about 700,000 annually over the next decade, signaling a durable slowdown in new household formation.
- Interviews and expert commentary show many young adults who live at home still work and often pay rent or share expenses, and personal-finance advisers say the arrangement can be used to save for a down payment if households treat it as a deliberate strategy.
- Analysts warn the pattern reduces geographic mobility, delays first-time homebuying and wealth building, and reflects a longer-term supply shortfall in entry-level housing that predates the pandemic.