For the first time in more than 130 years, adults aged 18 to 34 are slightly more likely to be living with their parents than with a significant other in their own home.
An analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center found that in 2014, 32 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds lived in their parents’ home. That’s slightly more than the 31.6 percent who said they were married or cohabiting with a partner in their own household.
Another 14 percent said they either lived in their own homes by themselves, were a single parent, or lived with roommates. Twenty-two percent lived in another type of household, such as someone else’s home or a college dormitory.
In 1960, 62 percent of the nation’s 18 to 34-year-olds were living with a significant other in their own home, and only 20 percent were living with their parents.
The percentage of young adults living at home hit a record high 35 percent in 1950. But 2014 was the first time they were more likely to be living at home than in their own place.
“What has changed, instead, is the relative share adopting different ways of living in early adulthood, with the decline of romantic coupling pushing living at home to the top of a much less uniform list of living arrangements,” Pew’s Richard Fry explained.
Pew attributed the way young adults are living now to shifts in marital status, education and employment.
