Historically, senior citizens were the largest demographic to live at home with family. Now millennials are the group mostly likely to live at home, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
In 2012, twice as many people lived in multigenerational households as compared to 1980, when a record 57 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population, lived in a multigenerational homes. A multigenerational household consists of at least two adult generations. And millennials between the ages of 25 to 34 are the ones driving the increase of these homes.
According to the study, released on July 17, 23.6% of young adults live with their parents or grandparents. This is an increase from 18.7% in 2007, just before the most recent recession, and from 11% in 1980. The number of adults 85 and older living in multigenerational homes has also increased throughout the years. But with 22.7% of the elderly living at home, that group is just shy of the 23.6% of millennials living in the same multigenerational situation.
The poor job market is thought to be one of the causes of the boomerang trend, with the number of multigenerational families increasing dramatically during the recession and rising at a slower pace since then. Although the millennial trend of delayed adulthood should also be taken into account, the Pew Research Study Center says (PDF). Studies have shown that young adults are marrying later and staying in school longer, which could be a contributing factor to the rise of young adults living with their parents.
Interestingly, young adult males are more likely to live with family than young adult women. In 2012, 26 percent of males were living at home compared with 21 percent of young adult females. But this statistic does not necessarily imply that young men suffered greater job losses since the recession compared with their female counterparts. It might simply be that millennial men's living arrangements are more sensitive to employment changes.
