WASHINGTON — A record number of Americans under the age of 35 are now living with their parents, according to data from Realtor.com. The figure, a historic high, has surpassed even the peak levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring the depth of the current housing affordability crisis. The number marks a stark milestone in a trend that has been building for years.
During the pandemic, when lockdowns and economic shutdowns forced millions of young adults to move back home, the figure was already elevated. But the Realtor.com data shows that the post-pandemic recovery, which many had hoped would see young people striking out on their own again, has instead produced a worse outcome.
What the data captures is not a sudden shock but a slow, grinding deterioration of affordability. The detail that matters is that this is not a blip. The figure is a record, period — higher than any point during the pandemic, higher than any point in the modern housing market.
For the cohort under 35, the dream of homeownership, or even independent renting, has receded further than at any time in living memory.
The Mechanics of a Broken Market
The causes are well understood by economists, though the political remedies remain elusive. A combination of soaring home prices, rising mortgage rates, and stagnant wage growth for younger workers has priced a generation out of the market. During the pandemic, a combination of stimulus payments, eviction moratoriums, and low interest rates temporarily cushioned the blow for many.
Those cushions have been removed, and the underlying structural problems have been laid bare. As ever, the numbers tell a story of supply and demand.
The US has been underbuilding homes for years, particularly entry-level homes that first-time buyers could afford. The pandemic-era boom in remote work drove a surge in demand for larger homes in suburban and exurban areas, further pushing up prices. Meanwhile, investors with deep pockets have been buying up single-family homes at a record pace, converting them into rental properties and removing them from the for-sale market entirely.
The result is a market that is fundamentally hostile to young buyers. The median home price in the US has more than doubled over the past decade, while the median income for those under 35 has barely kept pace with inflation.
The down payment, once a hurdle that could be cleared with a few years of disciplined saving, has become an insurmountable barrier for many. The Realtor.com data makes the consequence explicit: a record number of young adults are simply not leaving home.
Beyond the Headline Number
The figure is a national aggregate, but the distribution is not uniform. In high-cost coastal markets — San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston — the share of young adults living with parents is far higher than the national average. In these cities, even six-figure salaries can be insufficient to afford a modest apartment, let alone a home.
The pandemic-era shift to remote work allowed some to decamp for cheaper cities, but the overall effect on the national numbers has been marginal. There is also a demographic dimension that the raw numbers do not capture.
The burden of the housing crisis falls disproportionately on those without family wealth to draw upon. For young adults whose parents own a home in a desirable area, the option of moving back is a safety net. For those whose parents rent, or who live in areas with fewer economic opportunities, the options are far more limited.
The Realtor.com data does not break down the figures by race or income, but the broader economic literature suggests the crisis is deepening existing inequalities. The comparison to the pandemic is instructive.
During COVID-19, the surge in young adults living with parents was widely seen as a temporary emergency measure — a rational response to a once-in-a-century public health crisis. The current surge, by contrast, has no such obvious trigger. It is the product of a market that has simply become unaffordable for a generation.
What Comes Next
The political implications are significant. Housing affordability has become a top-tier issue in American politics, with both parties scrambling to claim ownership of a solution. The Trump administration has focused on deregulation and opening up federal land for development, while Democrats have pushed for subsidies for first-time buyers and increased funding for affordable housing construction.
Neither approach has yet made a dent in the underlying problem. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy adds another layer of complexity.
Higher rates, intended to cool inflation, have made mortgages more expensive, further depressing demand from first-time buyers. But they have also had the perverse effect of locking in existing homeowners, who are reluctant to sell and give up their low-rate mortgages, thus constricting supply even further. For the record number of young Americans living with their parents, the consequences extend beyond the purely financial.
The delay in forming independent households has knock-on effects on marriage rates, fertility, and even career mobility. The conventional markers of adulthood — leaving home, buying a home, starting a family — are being pushed ever further into the future.
The Realtor.com data suggests that, for the foreseeable future, that trend will continue. The detail that matters, looking forward, is whether any policy intervention can shift the trajectory. The US has been here before — the post-war housing boom of the 1950s was itself a response to a severe shortage — but the scale of the current crisis is unprecedented.
The record figure is not a static data point; it is a warning signal. If the market does not correct, the number will only grow. The watchword for policymakers is urgency, though the political system, as ever, moves slowly.
