Despite earning degrees and maintaining steady employment, a significant share of Americans under 35 continue to live in their childhood homes, according to Realtor.com.
A record 25.2 million adults under 35 lived with their parents last year, surpassing even the pandemic peak, according to the Realtor.com report. The co-residence rate sits at 33%, just below the all-time high of 33.6% recorded during the pandemic shutdowns of 2020.
The data challenge a persistent narrative that frames these adults as unmotivated. Among those aged 25 to 34 who live with their parents, about 70% hold jobs, while roughly one in three of those aged 25 to 29 has earned a four-year college degree.
The national housing shortage is keeping young adults stuck at home
Had early-2000s living patterns continued, about 4.86 million fewer young adults would share a roof with their parents today, the Realtor.com report found.
That gap widened through two successive economic crises, first after the 2008 financial downturn and again during the pandemic, each leaving a new, higher floor of co-residence.
The median national home listing price reached $430,000 in 2025, a 34.4% increase from 2019 levels, the analysis showed.
Median asking rent climbed to $1,673 over the same period, a 17.9% jump that has made independent living beyond the financial reach of millions of households.
The country currently faces a housing deficit of about 4 million homes, a shortfall rooted in the construction slowdown that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the report noted.
Government regulations now add $131,734 to the price of a typical new single-family home, the National Association of Home Builders found in a June 2026 study.
That figure equals 26.4% of the average $499,500 sale price and has jumped 40% from $93,870 in 2021, the NAHB reported.
The regulatory burden grew more than twice as fast as the 18.3% increase in U.S. disposable income over the same five-year period, widening the gap between building costs and buying power, the study showed.
A frozen job market compounds housing squeeze for young workers
Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis describe the current job market as a “low-hire, low-fire” cycle, in which employers hold on to existing workers but create few new positions.
Firms prioritize efficiency over expansion, leaving fewer openings for new entrants, researchers William Rodgers III and Alice Kassens wrote in the June 2026 analysis.
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Young workers absorb the impact first because they depend on new job openings to enter the workforce or advance in their careers, the researchers noted.
Employment among 18- to 24-year-olds has declined since April 2023, while the same measure for prime-age workers (25 to 64) has remained essentially flat, the analysis showed.
New-entrant college graduates also saw their employment-to-population ratio fall 3.2 percentage points nationally since that April 2023 labor market peak.
In a Dec. 15, 2025, analysis, Rodgers and Kassens reported that unemployment among new-entrant college graduates exceeded 8% as of August 2025, up from 4.2% at the April 2023 labor market peak.
“This is a supply story, not an employment story,” said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com, noting that the adults living with their parents today are largely employed and college-educated.
With home prices up 34.4% and rents up 17.9% since 2019, while entry-level hiring has stalled, the Realtor.com analysis attributes the trend to housing costs outpacing earnings for educated young adults rather than weak employment.
Parents bear the cost as adult children put independence on hold
About 64% of parents with Gen Z children ages 18 to 28 say their kids still depend on them for money, housing, or other assistance, a 2026 Wells Fargo Money Study found.
The survey showed that many young adults reported delaying major decisions such as relocating, getting married, or changing careers due to persistent financial pressure.
“It’s not surprising that young adults are leaning on both family and nontraditional sources for support, but these dynamics are also putting pressure on parents,” Emily Irwin, head of Private Wealth Planning at Wells Fargo, said in the press release.
Open communication, clear expectations, and shared planning can help families navigate this stage together.
Some 46% of Gen Z respondents described their finances as “messy,” and 31% feared losing their jobs within the next year, Wells Fargo reported.
That job-loss anxiety ran nearly double the 17% rate found among all full-time workers in the same survey, underscoring the generation’s economic vulnerability.
The typical first-time homebuyer in the United States is now 40 years old, Jones noted in the Realtor.com report.
Every year a young adult stays home instead of building equity is a year of deferred wealth accumulation, the Realtor.com research on generational wealth showed.
What the delay of 25 million households means for the housing market
The 25.2 million adults sharing a home with their parents represent a pool of housing demand that the current market has been unable to absorb.
As Jones described it in the Realtor.com report, every adult still in a childhood bedroom represents a household not formed, a lease unsigned, and a starter home unpurchased.
That demand will not convert into independent living until supply catches up with population growth and entry-level hiring expands.
The generation that earned its degrees and found jobs is still waiting for a housing market that can accommodate its next step.
Related: Bank of America reveals surprising housing market shift
