Failure to Leave

With lower college enrollments, fewer pathways to economic security, and fewer intimate relationships being formed, young adults have less impetus and means to leave home. The share of young adults living with their parents reached its highest level on record in 2020. Prior to that peak, the highest measured value was in the 1940 census, at the end of the Great Depression, when 48% of young adults lived with their parents. By February 2020, the number was 47%, before Covid added accelerant to the trend and took it to 52%.

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U.S. Share of 18- to 29-Year-Olds Living With Parents

Source: Pew Research Center.