Record Number of Adults Moving in with their Parents

Record numbers of young adults are staying in the family home as housing costs keep rising faster than paychecks.

Quick Take

Realtor.com data shows **25.2 million adults under 35** lived with their parents in 2025.
CBS said that total was higher than the COVID-era peak and the highest on record.
Reporting ties the shift to **affordability pressure**, including rents, home prices, loans, and higher borrowing costs.
The trend affects both people who moved back home and those who never left home.

A Record-Breaking Shift in Household Formation

CBS News reported that 25.2 million adults under 35 were living with their parents in 2025, a record that topped the pandemic-era peak. Realtor.com, which produced the estimate, said the share of adults under 35 at home reached about one in three. The size of the number matters because it shows a change in how many young adults are able to form separate households, not just a few isolated family stories.

The headline is not only about delayed independence. It reflects a wider strain on household budgets that has made moving out harder for many working adults. CBS quoted a young adult describing the pressure from student loans, car payments, and the income needed to live alone. Realtor.com also said seven in ten adults ages 25 to 34 living at home were employed, which points away from a simple jobs problem and toward a cost-of-living problem.

Why the Numbers Keep Rising

Several sources point to housing costs as the main pressure. The Urban Institute said its analysis found a clear link between high rents and young adults staying in parents’ homes, and it said the pattern holds across income levels. Realtor.com said the median home listing price in 2025 was 34.4% above 2019 levels, while the typical asking rent was 17.9% higher. Those price jumps make entry-level housing much harder to afford.

Inflation and borrowing costs add more strain. CBS said consumer prices were up nearly 4% over the prior year through June, and its report framed the trend as part of a broader affordability crisis. Realtor.com said the country still faced a housing shortage of about 4 million homes, which limits both rental and ownership options. That mix leaves young adults with fewer paths to move out, even when they have jobs.

What the Trend Says About the Economy

The rise in adults living with parents points to a larger failure in the housing market and the broader economy. The American Economic Association paper cited in the research found that the increase in parental co-residence is larger where housing costs are high relative to income. That matches the current pattern seen in national reporting: more education, more work, but still not enough room in the budget for independent living in many places.

The politics of the issue are broad because the pain is broad. Younger adults see higher rents and home prices. Parents see adult children staying longer than expected. Taxpayers see a government that has not fixed a housing system that keeps pushing the start of adulthood farther out. The strongest evidence in the reporting points to affordability, not a lack of effort, as the main reason this trend has become so large.