It was a phenomenon 12 years ago that ended with a huge decline in homeownership among Millennials, and now it is happening, for the same reason to Gen Zas a huge surge in unemployment sends young adults home to live with their parents. The root cause this time, of course, is vastly different; a deadly virus rather than a general slowdown in the economy coupled with mortgage defaults and delinquency.
The Pew Research Center has found that the share of 18- to 29-year-olds living with their parents now constitutes a majority of that age group, surpassing the share in the Great Recession and even topping the previous peak during the Great Depression.
Three Pew Center analysts, Richard Fry, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn found, using Census Bureau data, that in July 26.6 million or 52 percent of young adults resided with one or both of their parents, up from 24 million or 47 percent in February. The increase was evident for all major racial and ethnic groups, men and women, and metropolitan and rural residents, as well as in all four main census regions. Growth was sharpest among the youngest age group, ages 18 to 24, and White young adults.
