Sorry, Mom and Dad: Millennials still moving in

Hadley Malcolm | USA TODAY

Despite continued signs of economic recovery, a growing number of Millennials are moving back in with Mom and Dad.



The percentage of Millennials living with their parents increased from 24% in 2010 to 26% in the first third of 2015, according to a Pew Research Center report, which is based on Census data. The study, which was released last week, compared figures to 2010 because it was the beginning of the economic recovery and one of the worst years for the labor market, said Richard Fry, senior economist at Pew.

This is despite a lower unemployment rate. In 2010, that rate was 12.4%; it has fallen to 7.7% so far in 2015, according to Pew.

Pew defines Millennials as young adults ages 18 to 34.

Roughly the same number of Millennials — 25 million — head their own households today since before the recession in 2007, said the report.

The data are bad news for the housing industry, which is looking for a boost from young, first-time buyers.

"The pattern of household formation has become unglued from the job market," Fry says. "This is concerning because ... there’s a lot of spending that goes with setting up households. Young adults are not establishing more households, and that's proving to be one of the drags on the housing recovery and the larger economy."

While Fry's research didn't uncover why more Millennials are living at home, he suspects it may be because living at home in your 20s has become more acceptable. He also says that ballooning student loan debt is likely a cause.

But the share of young adults living independently in 2010 compared to now fell for both college-educated and high school-educated Millennials, who presumably have less student loan debt, Fry says.