The Empty Nest Is on Hold: 1 in 3 Adults Under 35 Lives With Their Parents, Realtor.com® Finds

The Empty Nest Is on Hold: 1 in 3 Adults Under 35 Lives With Their Parents, Realtor.com® Finds

Most Young Adults Living With Parents Are Employed: Data Points to Housing Affordability, Not Jobs

AUSTIN, Texas, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A record 25.2 million adults under 35 lived with their parents in 2025, surpassing even the pandemic peak, as housing costs continue to price young adults out of independent living, according to a new Realtor.com^® report released today. One in 3 adults under 35 now shares a roof with a parent, a rate that has held near its 2020 record high with little sign of easing.

The numbers reflect the accumulated weight of more than a decade of housing underproduction, which has kept persistent upward pressure on housing costs. Had early-2000s co-residence patterns held, 4.86 million fewer young adults would be living with their parents today. Instead, a national median home listing price of $430,000 — 34.4% above 2019 levels — and a median asking rent of $1,673 — 17.9% above 2019 levels — have made independent living financially out of reach for millions. The United States currently faces a deficit of approximately 4 million homes, a gap that has widened since the construction slowdown following the 2008 financial crisis.

"The adults living with their parents today are largely employed, and many hold college degrees. What's holding them back isn't a lack of qualifications, but rather, at least in part, a lack of housing they can actually afford," said Hannah Jones, Senior Economist at Realtor.com^®. "This is a supply story, not an employment story."

A Record High That Keeps Climbing
The 33.0% co-residence rate among adults under 35 in 2025 sits just below the 2020 all-time high of 33.6%, and the absolute count of 25.2 million has now surpassed it. The share has held at or near its pandemic peak since 2022. The pattern across the last two decades follows the same arc: crisis, spike, partial retreat, and a new, higher floor.

The first major increase came during the Great Recession, when co-residence rates rose sharply and did not recover when the economy did. The second came with COVID, as the overall share jumped to 33.6% in 2020. A brief retreat in 2022 reflected a narrow cohort that caught historically low mortgage rates before the window closed. Everyone behind them faced elevated rates, limited inventory, and elevated rents, and by 2025 the count had climbed to a new record.

Excess Co-Residence: Actual vs. Expected, 2000–2025

Who Is Living at Home
The adults living with their parents in 2025 do not fit the stereotype. Among those aged 25 to 34, approximately 70% are employed. In 2000, roughly 1 in 9 adults in their late 20s were both employed and living at home; by 2025, that ratio had grown to nearly 1 in 7, even as employment rates within the group held steady. The divergence points directly at housing costs, not labor market conditions.

Roughly 9 in 10 adults aged 25 to 34 living with parents have never been married, up from 79% in 2000, and about 1 in 3 aged 25 to 29 holds a four-year degree, up from fewer than 1 in 4 at the start of the century. The growth in co-residence is a story of delayed household formation.

Adults Living With Parents, by Age Group, 2025

Men make up the majority of at-home adults at every age, though the gap is narrowing at younger ages. Among 18 to 24-year-olds the split is now nearly even at 51.5% male, compared to 55/45 in 2000.

The Generational Divide Within the Data
The data splits differently depending on cohort. Among adults aged 25 to 29, co-residence has seen a modest retreat from recent highs, driven by adults now 28 to 29 who were in their early 20s during the 2020 to 2021 low-rate window and found footing before conditions tightened. The 25 to 26-year-olds behind them hit peak renting age just as rates and prices surged in 2022 to 2023, and show no such improvement.

The 30 to 34 group tells the other half of the same story. At 12.7% co-residence in 2025, nearly double the 7.1% recorded in 2000, this group largely consists of adults who were 25 to 29 during the pandemic and never fully launched. The improvement at 25 to 29 and the rise at 30 to 34 are the same cohort at different stages of the same delayed exit.

What This Means for the Housing Market
"Twenty-five million adults living with their parents represents a generation of latent demand the market hasn't absorbed," said Jones. "Every adult still in a childhood bedroom is a household not formed, a lease unsigned, a starter home unpurchased. The typical first-time buyer is now 40 — that's not a coincidence, it's the math of a market that hasn't built enough."

The delay carries a real financial cost. As Realtor.com^® research on generational wealth has shown, each year spent at home rather than building equity is a year of wealth accumulation deferred. Until affordability improves and entry-level supply expands, that latent demand will continue to build.

Methodology
Co-residence data in this report are drawn from the IPUMS Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), covering survey years 2000–2025. The CPS ASEC is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and represents the largest annual household survey in the United States. All population estimates use CPS person-level weights (ASECWT) to produce nationally representative figures. Adults are defined as individuals aged 18 and above. Co-residence is defined as living as "child of head" of household, based on the RELATE variable in the IPUMS extract. The 2014 survey year is excluded from all trend analyses due to a CPS sample expansion that year which creates a discontinuity in absolute population counts; percentage shares are unaffected but the year is omitted for consistency.

The counterfactual analysis in the Trends section applies the average co-residence rate at each single year of age (18–34) from 2000–2003 to the actual adult population in each subsequent year. The resulting figures represent how many adults would be living with parents had early-2000s co-residence patterns persisted, holding age structure and population growth constant.

Employment, marital status, educational attainment, and sex breakdowns are drawn from the same IPUMS CPS extract using EMPSTAT, MARST, EDUC, and SEX variables respectively.

About Realtor.com^®
For over 30 years, Realtor.com^® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR® agents recommend, Realtor.com^® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.

Media contact: Emily Do, press@realtor.com

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SOURCE Realtor.com