Genevieve Moore, a retiree who lives just south of Atlanta, is one such poll participant.

“I wouldn’t want to be a young person today,” she said. Though Moore has owned her house for more than three decades, she says that things have changed so much in recent years that she doesn’t think that buying is in the best interest of most young people—and as a mother and grandmother several times over, she’s seen, and helped, plenty of young adults trying to strike out on their own.

Moore says that some of her kids went to college and some didn’t, but they’ve all had good jobs over the years and worked hard. Still, stable gigs have often been hard to come by and that makes planting roots difficult. “Not having a job is bad by itself, but imagine having a mortgage to pay, too,” she says. Moore reasons that at least with a rental, you have the option of freeing yourself of the financial burden more easily than if you owned a home outright.

The poll also asked Americans about what community attributes made a place a good place to live. There was consensus across age groups that safety and good schools were most important. About the same share of younger and older adults rated highly the value of a walkable community with good access to public transportation.

There was more differentiation between generations when it came to feelings about geographic mobility. When asked what would be best for their career and family life, the majority of older Americans, about two-thirds, said that staying put was the best option. Conversely, younger Americans were evenly split on the question, with about 50 percent saying that moving would be a smart choice.

Moore says that she understands the desire to move and look for better opportunities elsewhere, but from what she’s seen it often doesn’t pan out that way. One of her kids moved farther south for work, and while he was able to find steady employment, he’s not exactly thriving she said, plus now he’s removed from his family and support network. “It’s not like he’s doing great.”

According to Moore, things are just generally less stable now and that means people should think twice before buying into old traditions, “Before you had one job that you could stay at your whole career. You knew you could buy a home, and have a car and a family. All that’s changed now.”