More millennials age 24-36 live with their moms than at any time in the past decade, according to the latest Zillow® analysis[i]. Nearly a quarter of U.S. millennials are living at home with their mom, which translates to about 12 million young adults nationwide.
Despite a strong economic recovery, the share of millennials living with their moms has been increasing since 2005, when just 13.5 percent lived with their moms. The combination of rapidly rising rents and slow income growth over the past half-decade drove many young adults to either move back in or never move out of their parents’ home, but the trend has been persistent even as the U.S. labor market has improved.
Among the millennials living with their moms, almost 12 percent are unemployed[ii] and, according to a new Zillow analysis released earlier this week, 28 percent of recent college grads live with their parents, up from 19 percent in 2005.
“As rents outpaced incomes over the past decade, young people turned to their families in large numbers to ease the housing cost crunch,” said Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas. “But even as the labor market has improved, the family safety net has yet to unwind. Living with parents may allow young adults to pursue work or a passion that may not be especially lucrative, or save enough money for first and last month’s rent or a down payment on a home of their own. In booming Western markets, relatively few young adults live with parents, not because rents are cheap but because family is far away. There is also a small slice of this young adult population that has mom living with them instead. Perhaps mom needs extra care as she ages, or has moved in with an adult child to help raise her grandchildren.”
More millennials live with their moms in areas where housing costs consume a larger share of income. For example, in Miami, New York, Riverside, Calif. and Los Angeles, more than 30 percent of millennials live at home with their mom. These are also among the country’s pricier rental markets where rents typically consume upwards of 35 percent of the median income.
Austin, Texas has the smallest share of millennials living at home with their mom, at 14 percent. Renters in Austin can expect to put less than 30 percent of their income toward a rental payment. Other markets with a small percentage of millennials living with Mom include Seattle, Denver and Oklahoma City.
The median rent in the U.S. is $1,447 per month, up almost 3 percent over the past year. Zillow forecasts rents to increase about 2 percent over the next 12 months to a Zillow Rent Index[iii] of $1,475.
Metropolitan Area |
Share of |
Share of |
Zillow Rent |
Share of |
Unemployment |
United States |
13.5% |
22.5% |
$ 1,447 |
28.9% |
11.6% |
New York, NY |
20.4% |
30.3% |
$ 2,400 |
38.8% |
11.4% |
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA |
18.4% |
30.2% |
$ 2,753 |
47.3% |
8.5% |
Chicago, IL |
15.8% |
26.1% |
$ 1,654 |
29.0% |
11.5% |
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX |
9.8% |
19.7% |
$ 1,606 |
29.0% |
9.1% |
Philadelphia, PA |
18.4% |
28.5% |
$ 1,581 |
27.7% |
11.0% |
Houston, TX |
12.9% |
22.3% |
$ 1,558 |
29.4% |
12.2% |
Washington, DC |
13.0% |
21.8% |
$ 2,148 |
25.9% |
10.2% |
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL |
15.6% |
33.4% |
$ 1,865 |
42.1% |
10.3% |
Atlanta, GA |
10.7% |
23.3% |
$ 1,397 |
25.9% |
13.0% |
Boston, MA |
14.7% |
23.2% |
$ 2,379 |
33.4% |
9.2% |
San Francisco, CA |
14.1% |
21.1% |
$ 3,420 |
39.9% |
10.0% |
Detroit, MI |
15.4% |
24.2% |
$ 1,208 |
24.6% |
14.7% |
Riverside, CA |
17.6% |
33.0% |
$ 1,885 |
36.7% |
12.7% |
Phoenix, AZ |
9.7% |
21.0% |
$ 1,364 |
26.9% |
12.1% |
Seattle, WA |
9.2% |
14.4% |
$ 2,208 |
30.9% |
8.7% |
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN |
8.5% |
16.5% |
$ 1,643 |
26.1% |
8.2% |
San Diego, CA |
11.8% |
23.3% |
$ 2,550 |
41.2% |
11.8% |
St. Louis, MO |
12.6% |
19.5% |
$ 1,150 |
22.2% |
12.1% |
Tampa, FL |
10.8% |
22.0% |
$ 1,377 |
30.8% |
11.6% |
Baltimore, MD |
15.2% |
24.2% |
$ 1,745 |
26.0% |
11.4% |
Denver, CO |
8.9% |
15.0% |
$ 2,054 |
32.4% |
8.4% |
Pittsburgh, PA |
15.9% |
23.0% |
$ 1,075 |
21.6% |
14.4% |
Portland, OR |
8.0% |
17.0% |
$ 1,860 |
31.3% |
9.3% |
Charlotte, NC |
10.4% |
19.5% |
$ 1,299 |
24.8% |
12.7% |
Sacramento, CA |
12.3% |
22.4% |
$ 1,852 |
33.0% |
8.8% |
San Antonio, TX |
14.3% |
29.2% |
$ 1,345 |
27.7% |
7.7% |
Orlando, FL |
10.1% |
24.0% |
$ 1,442 |
31.1% |
11.0% |
Cincinnati, OH |
10.9% |
18.8% |
$ 1,282 |
24.6% |
11.2% |
Cleveland, OH |
14.7% |
21.3% |
$ 1,149 |
25.5% |
14.7% |
Kansas City, MO |
9.0% |
15.4% |
$ 1,282 |
24.1% |
13.0% |
Las Vegas, NV |
11.2% |
24.1% |
$ 1,302 |
27.4% |
12.5% |
Columbus, OH |
8.8% |
16.8% |
$ 1,324 |
25.5% |
11.0% |
Indianapolis, IN |
7.9% |
16.8% |
$ 1,207 |
24.7% |
12.0% |
San Jose, CA |
14.3% |
21.3% |
$ 3,523 |
36.3% |
9.8% |
Austin, TX |
8.0% |
13.9% |
$ 1,686 |
27.3% |
8.1% |
Virginia Beach, VA |
11.6% |
23.3% |
$ 1,408 |
26.4% |
11.1% |
Nashville, TN |
9.2% |
16.6% |
$ 1,499 |
28.7% |
11.3% |
Providence, RI |
17.5% |
26.2% |
$ 1,664 |
30.5% |
8.6% |
Milwaukee, WI |
11.9% |
17.5% |
$ 1,367 |
27.1% |
11.4% |
Jacksonville, FL |
11.1% |
19.6% |
n/a |
26.3% |
8.4% |
Memphis, TN |
13.4% |
23.7% |
$ 1,088 |
25.0% |
14.8% |
Oklahoma City, OK |
9.6% |
15.2% |
$ 1,100 |
22.9% |
10.5% |
Louisville-Jefferson County, KY |
12.6% |
18.8% |
$ 1,194 |
25.2% |
18.0% |
Hartford, CT |
17.8% |
24.2% |
$ 1,604 |
25.7% |
14.5% |
Richmond, VA |
11.9% |
22.6% |
$ 1,396 |
25.6% |
12.9% |
New Orleans, LA |
19.3% |
26.8% |
$ 1,385 |
33.3% |
14.1% |
Buffalo, NY |
16.2% |
22.2% |
$ 1,216 |
25.9% |
9.1% |
Raleigh, NC |
6.5% |
17.2% |
$ 1,439 |
22.9% |
14.2% |
Birmingham, AL |
13.6% |
22.5% |
$ 1,054 |
23.5% |
16.4% |
Salt Lake City, UT |
10.6% |
19.0% |
$ 1,591 |
26.8% |
9.0% |
According to a statement, “Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with great real estate professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow Group’s Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.”
Click here for the footnotes in this article.
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