A record number of young people are living at home with mom and dad in California even in the midst of a very low unemployment rate and record in the stock market. Millennials in particular are carrying large levels of debt and many are still struggling to get out into a rental, let alone purchasing a home. There is a housing apocalypse for young Americans and in California, many Millennials are simply waiting until their baby boomer parents kick the bucket so they can own a piece of the California Dream. But Taco Tuesday baby boomers are not going away and many are angry that their offspring are unable to buy a home like they did when housing wasn’t consumed by house horny buyers and prices were actually affordable. The numbers are startling because when we brought attention to the issue a few years ago the number was at 2.3 million young adults living at home. Today it is now up to 3.6 million – if we combined these people it would be the third largest city in the U.S.

Young and living at home

There was this “fake news” narrative that many young Americans would be the second wind that would keep the housing market going strong. That never materialized. What did happen is that you had investors, foreign money, and wealthier older households buying the slim inventory available in the market. In California where rent prices are high and housing prices on crap shacks are insane, many are simply living at home.

And yes, this time it is different when it comes to young people living at home:

Source: Cal Matters, Census.gov

Back in 1980 20 percent of young Californians lived at home. It was actually lower than the national number of 22 percent at that time. Even in 2005 the state and national figures were similar. But fast forward to today and you have nearly 40 percent of young Californians living at home versus 34 percent nationwide. Make no mistake though, this is a national trend.

Staying at home and working

The notion that younger Americans are lazy is absurd. You see this being posted on ALL CAPS rants on Facebook where people have a basic clue of the technology powering our new world. Those that largely understand it and code it are the young we talk about.

And most are working:

Most Millennials are working but they simply do not earn enough to pay for sky high rent or to purchase their first starter crap shack. And here is the rub: the median earned income for an older Millennial living at home in California is roughly $21,000 for those with actual earnings.

Of course a lot of this has to do with how many are not marrying:

Many Taco Tuesday baby boomers followed a very prescribed path:

-Get a job -Get married -Pump out a few kids -Slave away on a 30-year mortgage

Yet many of those kids are now those Millennials that are not getting married even though they have jobs (although most pay very little and are transitory positions). There is a major housing crisis for young Californians but many are simply living at home with mom and dad. At least tacos are very affordable!

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