Priced-Out Generation Packs Childhood Rooms

A record 25.2 million adults under 35 now live with their parents, more than at the height of the pandemic, according to new housing data.

Story Snapshot

25.2 million adults under 35 lived with their parents in 2025, the highest number ever recorded.
That’s 33.0% of young adults, just below the all-time high of 33.6% set in 2020.
Seven in 10 of these adults have jobs, suggesting housing costs, not unemployment, are the main driver.
The median home now lists at $430,000, up 34% since 2019, while median rent has jumped 18%.
Researchers say if early-2000s living patterns had held, 4.86 million fewer adults would be at home today.

Record Numbers Surpass Pandemic Peak

A new Realtor.com analysis found 25.2 million adults under 35 lived with their parents in 2025. That beats every year on record, including 2020, when COVID-19 lockdowns pushed millions of young people back home. The share sits at 33.0%, just under the 2020 peak of 33.6%, but the raw number is higher because the young adult population has grown since then.

The pandemic spike was widely seen as temporary, tied to shut-down campuses and layoffs. This time, the numbers have climbed even as the job market stayed steady, according to the New York Post, which called the trend a sign that housing costs, not a health crisis, are now the driving force.

Housing Costs, Not Jobs, Drive the Trend

Realtor.com’s data show 70% of adults ages 25 to 34 living at home have jobs. That detail matters because it undercuts the idea that laziness or a weak job market explains the trend. Instead, the report points to housing prices that have outrun paychecks, calling this “a housing cost story, not a jobs story” for most of the people affected.

The math behind that claim is stark. The median home now lists at $430,000, a 34% jump from 2019 prices. Median asking rent has climbed to $1,673 a month, up 18% over the same stretch, according to USA Today’s review of the data. Wages for young workers have not kept pace with those increases, making a first apartment or starter home a stretch for many.

Location makes a big difference too. Research from the Urban Institute found that young adults are most likely to stay home in places with the highest rents, and that pattern holds at every income level. The effect is strongest for lower earners, showing that high housing costs push people to stay put no matter where they live.

A Decades-Long Pattern With Deeper Roots

This is not a brand-new problem. A Census Bureau study covering 45 years found the long-term rise in adults living with parents was mostly tied to population growth and people marrying later, not swings in unemployment or rent alone. That history matters because it shows today’s numbers are the latest chapter in a much longer story, one that predates any single president or policy.

For most young adults, living with their parents is now the sensible choice. Rent has skyrocketed, so it makes much more sense to save that money to put towards a deposit on a house in the future.

That’s not even mentioning how many young people can’t afford to move out, either… https://t.co/zOPPiXcE6G

— Madeleine (@JournoMaddie) August 10, 2026

Still, more recent research points to affordability playing a bigger role than it once did. A Population Reference Bureau study found young adults living at home were more likely to earn below the median income for their age group, struggle to pay bills, and have little or no emergency savings. That combination points to financial strain sitting underneath the housing numbers, not just personal choice.

The arrangement carries costs for parents, too. A CNBC report on the financial risks of supporting adult children found that economic pressure is the main reason more parents are stepping in to help, often stretching their own retirement savings and budgets thin. For many families, the crowded nest is less a lifestyle choice than a shared response to prices that have outpaced what a paycheck can cover.