AUSTIN – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – A record 25.2 million adults under 35 remain in their childhood bedrooms, unable to afford homes of their own, says a just-released Realtor.com report. The figure outpaces even the pandemic peak as housing costs continue to price young adults out of the residential market, says the report.
A breakout of that figure shows a staggering one in three adults under age 35 now shares a dwelling with a parent or parents, a rate that has held at or near its 2020 all-time high of 33.6% since 2022 — and shows no signs of abating.
Actually, more American adults live with their parents today than at any point on record. The number reflects the constant upward pressure that more than a decade of house underproduction has applied to housing costs. Had early-2000s co-residence numbers held steady, 4.86 million fewer young adults would be sharing space with mom and dad.
Instead, a national median home listing price of $430,000 — 34.4% above 2019 levels — and a median asking rent of $1,673 — 17.9% above 2019 levels — have made independent living financially out of reach for millions. The U.S. currently faces a shortage of some four million homes, a gap that has widened since the construction slowdown that followed the 2008 financial crisis.
“Adults living with their parents today are largely employed, and many hold college degrees,” said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com. “This is a supply story, not an employment story. What’s holding them back isn’t a lack of qualifications, but rather, at least in part, a lack of housing they can afford.”
Record High Keeps Climbing
The 33.0% co-residence rate among adults under 35 in 2025 comes in just below the 2020 all-time high of 33.6% — and the definitive count of 25.2 million has now surpassed it.
The Realtor.com report says the first major hike in co-residence rates came during the Great Recession when the number of residents returning to the family homestead rose sharply but did not recover when the economy did.
The second wave came with the COVID pandemic as the overall share jumped to 33.6% in 2020. A brief retreat in 2022 allowed a small group to grab historically low mortgage rates before the window closed. Everyone afterward had to deal with increased home loan fees, limited inventory and elevated rents. By 2025, the count had climbed to a new record, says the Realtor.com report.
Who Is Living at Home?
Adults living with their parents in 2025 do not fit the stereotype of homebodies uninterested in improving their personal lot. Just the opposite is true.
Realtor.com notes that among those aged 25 to 34, some 70% are currently employed. In 2000, roughly one in nine individuals in their late 20s was both employed and living at home. By 2025, this ratio had increased to nearly one in seven.
“The relative stability of employment rates within this demographic over the past 25 years… indicates that this trend is likely primarily fueled by a housing affordability crisis rather than employment challenges. The divergence points directly at housing costs, not labor market conditions,” the report says.
Roughly nine in 10 adults aged 25 to 34 living with parents have never been married, up from 79% in 2000, and about one in three aged 25 to 29 holds a four-year degree, up from fewer than one in four at the start of the century. “The growth in co-residence is a story of delayed household formation” and not an analysis of personal ambition.
Men make up the majority of live-at-home adults at every age, though the gap is narrowing at younger ages. Among 18 to 24-year-olds the split is now nearly even at 51.5% male, compared to 55/45 in 2000.
Age group findings
Age 18 to 24:
17.67 million live with parents. 51.9% are employed. 98.1% unmarried. 9.6% have a BA degree or higher. 51.5% are male.
Age 25 to 29:
4.53 million live with parents. 71.1% are employed. 93.6% unmarried. 31.5% have a BA or higher. 57.4% are male.
Age 30 to 34:
Three million live with parents. 68.4% are employed. 88.8% unmarried. 26.8% have a BA or higher. 60.6% are male.
The Generational Divide
Among adults aged 25 to 29, co-residence has seen a modest retreat from recent highs, driven by adults now 28 to 29 who were in their early 20s during the 2020 to 2021 low-rate window – and found footing before conditions tightened. The 25 to 26-year-olds behind them hit peak renting age just as rates and prices surged – and they missed the improvement.
The 30-to-34 age group tells the other half of the same story. At 12.7% co-residence in 2025, nearly double the 7.1% in 2000, this group largely consists of adults age 25 to 29 during the pandemic who “never fully launched,” says the report. “The improvement at 25 to 29 and the increase at 30 to 34 are the same cohort at different stages of the same delayed exit.”
Impact on Housing Market
Jones says this data indicate that “25 million adults living with their parents represents a generation of latent demand the market hasn’t absorbed.”
“Every adult still in a childhood bedroom is a household not formed, a lease unsigned, a starter home unpurchased. The typical first-time buyer is now 40 — that’s not a coincidence, it’s the math of a market that hasn’t built enough.”
“The delay carries a real financial cost. Realtor.com has shown that each year spent at home rather than building equity is a year of wealth accumulation deferred.”
“Until affordability improves and entry-level supply expands,” Jones says, “that latent demand will continue to build.”
June 23, 2026, Realty News Report Copyright 2026
Photo credit: Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report Copyright 2026
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File: 1 in 3 Adults Under 35 Live with Parents