“You again?”
The number of adult children living with their parents has hit a record high, as the coronavirus outbreak has pushed millions of Americans, especially young adults, to move in with family members.
Pew Research finds that the share of 18- to 29-year-olds living with their parents has “become a majority since U.S. coronavirus cases began spreading early this year, surpassing the previous peak during the Great Depression era.”
“In July, 52% of young adults resided with one or both of their parents, up from 47% in February,” the organization reports. “The number living with parents grew to 26.6 million, an increase of 2.6 million from February. The number and share of young adults living with their parents grew across the board for all major racial and ethnic groups, men and women, and metropolitan and rural residents, as well as in all four main census regions. Growth was sharpest for the youngest adults (ages 18 to 24) and for White young adults.”
The share of young adults living with their parents is higher than in any previous measurement (based on current surveys and decennial censuses).
Depressing stats
Before 2020, 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.
The peak may have been higher during the worst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Pew adds, but there is no data for that period.
“Young adults have been particularly hard hit by this year’s pandemic and economic downturn and have been more likely to move than other age groups,” it notes. “About one-in-ten young adults (9%) say they relocated temporarily or permanently due to the coronavirus outbreak, and about the same share (10%) had somebody move into their household. Among all adults who moved due to the pandemic, 23% said the most important reason was because their college campus had closed, and 18% said it was due to job loss or other financial reasons.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
