Pew: Majority of Young Americans Live with Parents for First Time Since Great Depression

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center revealed that a majority of young Americans are living with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression. As of July, approximately 52 percent of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 lived with their parents. The number of young adults living with their parents has spiked by 2.6 million since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, a majority of young Americans live with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression. Approximately 48 percent of young Americans lived with their parents in 1940, the earliest year that such data is available. Now, approximately 52 percent of young Americans live with their parents.

The number of young adults that live with their parents spiked at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in February. That number increased by 2.6 million between February and July.

“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,” the report reads. “Growth was sharpest for the youngest adults (ages 18 to 24) and for White young adults.”

The report also revealed that young men are more likely to live with their parents than young women. “Young men are more likely than young women to live with their parents, and both groups experienced increases in the number and share residing with mom, dad or both parents since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak,” the report reads. “Similarly, a higher share of young adults in metropolitan areas compared with rural ones live with their parents now, but the number in both areas grew from February to July.”

Breitbart News reported in April 2017 that more Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 lived with their parents than with a spouse.

“What does it mean to be a young adult? In prior generations, young adults were expected to have finished school, found a job, and set up their own household during their 20s—most often with their spouse and with a child soon to follow,” the U.S. Census Bureau wrote in a study at the time. “Today’s young adults take longer to experience these milestones.”