For the first time since demographers began keeping tabs on such data, more young American adults are living with their parents than in any other living arrangement.
A report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center shows 32.1 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds are living at home with their parents, outnumbering the 31.6 percent of young adults who are married or cohabiting in their own households.
An additional 14 percent live alone or are single heads of household, and 22 percent identified different living arrangements.
The contrast in living arrangements between the America of today and that of a bygone era is stark.
In 1960, 20 percent of young adults lived in their parents’ homes, compared with 62 percent who were married or cohabiting in their own households.
The difference is less dramatic when looking at household configurations after the Great Depression. In 1940, 35 percent of young adults lived with their parents, compared with 46 percent who were out on their own.
The phenomenon can largely be attributed to men’s “failure to launch,” said researchers, citing the title of a Hollywood movie.
About 35 percent of young women are living in the homes of their partners, and 28 percent are living in their parents’ homes. Those numbers are flipped for men, with 28 percent living with their partners and 35 percent with their parents.
Researchers speculated that an anemic economic climate, especially in the wake of the Great Recession, may be driving some young adults, particularly men, back to the nest.
“Employed young men are much less likely to live at home than young men without a job, and employment among young men has fallen significantly in recent decades,” Pew’s Richard Fry writes. “The share of young men with jobs peaked around 1960 at 84%. In 2014, only 71% of 18- to 34-year-old men were employed.”
Cultural factors also have contributed to the return of prodigal sons. Researchers pointed to a correlation between declining marriage rates and rising rates of living with parents.
In 1960, 56 percent of young men were married or cohabiting, compared with 23 percent living with their parents. Women in 1960 were also much more likely to live with their partners than with their parents, by a 68 percent to 17 percent margin.
The most recent data are based on the 2014 American Community Survey, while previous data were tabulated from U.S. decennial censuses.
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