Nests are taking longer to get empty as the number of young adults living with their parents increased between 2005 and 2011, U.S. Census Bureau data shows, with about 15% more 25- to 34-year-olds staying at home.
The percentage of men in that age group who remained living in their parent’s homes rose from 14% in 2005 to 19% in 2011, and from 8% to 10% for females during that same period. These statistics come from America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2011.
“The increase in 25- to 34-year-olds living in their parents’ home began before the recent recession, and has continued beyond it,” said the author, Rose Kreider, a family demographer with the Fertility and Family Statistics Branch.
In a similar trend, 59% of men age 18 to 24, and 50% of women that age were shown to reside with their parents in 2011, up from 53% and 46%, respectively, in 2005. However, the Census Bureau notes that these figures encompass young adults in college who live in dormitories.
Other study findings include a rise in the number of one-person households, from 13% in 1960 to 28% in 2011. While this has been an overall upward trend, the percentage of one-person households decreased from 2008 to 2010.
While most children under age 18, at 96%, lived with at least one parent, 57% of those who didn’t live with their parents lived instead with at least one grandparent. In 2011, 10% of children under age 18 lived with at least one grandparent, but most of these, at 78%, also lived with at least one parent.
Written by Alyssa Gerace
