Getting a job is hard enough. But one in four working 20 to 34-year-olds are forced to live with their parents because of rising costs. How does your area compare? Check out our clickable heatmap.

Earlier this month, we heard that 22 to 30-year-olds had been hit hardest by the recession compared to previous generations in terms of wages, employment and housing costs.

Now a new report from Shelter has found that one in four 20 to 34-year-olds in England are in work but living back home with their parents. In total that is 1.97 million.

The housing charity also looked into the reasons why young people have moved home: it commissioned a YouGov survey which found that nearly half (48 per cent) were living at home because they could not afford to rent or buy.

Zoom in and out on the map above, and click on individual regions for a breakdown of the stats. Courtesy: Shelter

Castle Point in Essex was top of the list of hotspots, where 45 per cent of working 20 to 34-year-olds live with their parents. Knowsley in Merseyside came second at 42 per cent, with Solihull, west Midlands, coming in third place at 38 per cent.

And at just 8 per cent, London’s borough of Wansworth had the lowest number of young people living at home in England.

Castle Point: 45.1%

Rochford: 42.3%

South Staffordshire: 41.9%

Knowsley; 41.7%

Sefton: 41.4%

East Dorset: 41.3%

Havering: 39.2%

Oadby and Wigston: 38.6%

South Bucks: 38.2%

The areas with the highest number of the “boomerang” generation in work did not correlate with low wages or high rents, Shelter said. For example, most of London has a very low proportion of young people in work and living with their parents – just 21 per cent, compared with 28 per cent in the West Midlands.

Instead, the local areas with the highest proportion of this group were those with the highest number of parents with children in their 20s: “In other words, a larger proportion of young adults live with their parents where there is the opportunity to do so (and escape high housing costs),” wrote Pete Jefferys on the Shelter blog.

‘Clipped wing’ generation

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The ‘clipped wing generation’ are finding themselves with no choice but to remain living with mum and dad well into adulthood, as they struggle to find a home of their own. Rather than pumping more money into schemes like ‘help to buy’, we need bolder action that will meet the demand for affordable homes and not inflate prices further.

He added: “From helping small local builders find the finance they need, to investing in a new generation of part rent, part buy homes, the solutions to our housing shortage are there for the taking.

“Politicians of all parties must now put stable homes for the next generation at the top of the agenda.”