The empty nest is filling back up.
Millions of young adults are delaying life on their own as high housing costs keep them living with mom and dad. In 2025, 25.2 million adults under 35 lived with a parent, according to new data from Realtor.com. That amounts to roughly one in three people in that age group.
The numbers point to a housing market that remains difficult to break into, even for young adults with jobs and college degrees, the outlet reported.
“The adults living with their parents today are largely employed, and many hold college degrees,” Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “What’s holding them back isn’t a lack of qualifications, but rather, at least in part, a lack of housing they can actually afford. This is a supply story, not an employment story.”
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That supply problem has been years in the making. The U.S. is short of roughly 4 million homes, with entry-level properties especially scarce. The gap has widened since construction slowed following the 2008 financial crisis, Realtor.com reported.
About 70% of 25- to 34-year-olds living with their parents have jobs. In 2000, about one in nine employed adults in their late 20s lived at home. By 2025, that share had climbed to nearly one in seven.
For many young Americans, moving out has become increasingly expensive.
The national median home listing price is $430,000, up 34.4% from 2019, while the median asking rent has climbed to $1,673, up 17.9% over the same period, according to Realtor.com.
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The delayed move into independent living could eventually translate into a wave of future housing demand.
As affordability improves or more homes are built, millions of young adults who postponed renting or buying could enter the market, Realtor.com reported.
“Twenty-five million adults living with their parents represents a generation of latent demand the market hasn’t absorbed,” Jones said. “Every adult still in a childhood bedroom is a household not formed, a lease unsigned, a starter home unpurchased. The typical first-time buyer is now 40 — that’s not a coincidence, it’s the math of a market that hasn’t built enough.”
The delay can also have long-term financial consequences.
Each year spent living at home can delay a young adult’s ability to build housing equity, Realtor.com noted.
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The outlook is not getting easier. According to new projections from National Association of Realtors (NAR) chief economist Lawrence Yun, the national median home price is on track to hit $1 million by 2050 — just as millennials reach the traditional retirement age.
“Essentially, in about 25 years the national median home price will be a million dollars,” Yun said at a conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. “It may be hard to envision that, but back in 1990, the national median price was $90,000.”
FOX Business’ Kristen Altus contributed to this report.
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