Over a third of young living with parents

Pew Research - In 2012, 36% of the nation’s young adults ages 18 to 31 were living in their parents’ home, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. This is the highest share in at least four decades.

Of these, at least a third and perhaps as many as half are college students. (In the census data used for this analysis, college students who live in dormitories during the academic year are counted as living with their parents).

Younger Millennials (ages 18 to 24) are much more likely than older ones (ages 25 to 31) to be living with their parents—56% versus 16%. Since the onset of the 2007-2009 recession, both age groups have experienced a rise in this living arrangement.

The men of the Millennial generation are more likely than the women to be living with their parents—40% versus 32%—continuing a long-term gender gap in the share of young adults who do so.

 The gender gap partly reflects that young women attain certain milestones faster than young men. Females tend to finish college faster than males. They also tend to form intimate partnerships earlier than young men. Median age at first marriage in 2012 was 26.6 for women and 28.6 for men. Estimated age at first cohabitation is 21.8 for women and 23.5 for men Both cohabitation and marriage were very strongly related to living independently and not living with one’s parents in 2012.