Millennials Just as Likely to Live at Home as Move Out

Bad news for parents: millennials are just as likely to stay at home, even in their thirties, then go out and buy a place of their own. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center revealed that in the 18-34 age group, 26% live with their families, and 26% own a home.

The number of millennials living at home has risen since 2007, according to the report, called “More Millennials Living with Family Despite Improved Job Market.” The report stated that in 2007, 71% of millennials lived apart from their parents, but by 2007, 67% lived at home. From 2011 to 2015, the percentage of young people living at their parents’ home rose from 24% to 26%.

The Census Bureau stated that the 14.7% of the 25-34 age group lived with their parents in 2015, the highest percentage since the Census Bureau started collecting statistics on that subject in 1960.

The decline in the number of independent millennials may be due to their unwillingness to get married; Americans as a whole are waiting five years longer to get married than in 1970, and four years later to bear children.

One ostensible reason for the decline in home buying by young people is the debt they incur from student loans, but that could be debunked by a Goldman Sachs study from 2014 that showed graduates with average college loan debt of roughly $30,000 bought property at the same rate as others their age. Among graduate students who owe over $100,000, though, home buying slows considerably.

The top-level millennial unemployment rate, near 7.5%, may be crippling efforts by some young people to move out; the millennial labor participation rate has plummeted.

According to FiveThirtyEight.com, millennials who graduated during the recession are making far less than their predecessors; they earn 36% less than those who graduated in 2007.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in late 2014 that workers 25 to 34 had an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent in October, more than double the 4.4% rate among workers 35-44. Forbes reported in May 2015, “44% of college grads in their 20’s are stuck in low-wage, dead-end jobs, the highest rate in decades, and the number of young people making less than $25,000 has also spiked to the highest level since the 1990s.”