A recent Federal Reserve survey reveals that 49% of young adults aged 18 to 29 are living at home, a 12-point increase since 2019. Additionally, 47% receive financial assistance from outside their household for expenses such as phone bills or living costs. This trend indicates a shift in household formation patterns, impacting marriage, home-buying, and childbearing ages. Economists note that these changes are influenced by factors such as housing affordability, inflation, and job market challenges. The trend isn't limited to younger adults; over a quarter of individuals aged 30 to 44 also reported receiving financial help. The survey suggests that the term 'living at home' may encompass college students, potentially inflating the reported numbers. Overall, the findings illustrate significant economic implications for households and broader societal trends.

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Economy behavioral economics

49% of young adults live at home, up 12 points since 2019. An economist says the fallout will reshape marriage, kids, and home-buying

Catherina Gioino

By Catherina Gioino Catherina Gioino

News Editor Down Arrow Button Icon

Catherina Gioino

By Catherina Gioino Catherina Gioino

News Editor Down Arrow Button Icon

July 9, 2026, 3:07 PM ET

Nearly half of adults under 30 are living at home.

Nearly half of adults under 30 are living at home.Getty

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A new Federal Reserve survey offers a somber look at how young Americans are getting by: a lot with their parents’ help, from paying a phone bill to even living at home.

A ripple effect through the economy

She said the pattern aligns with what has separately been reported about housing affordability, inflation, and the difficulty young adults are having landing a first job. “Given what you see written about housing affordability and current inflation rates, but also the difficulty young adults are having in finding a first job, it’s not surprising to see that number go up.”

The financial-support trend isn’t confined to the youngest adults. Ullrich pointed to a separate figure in the same survey: 26% of adults ages 30 to 44 also reported receiving financial help from outside their household. “It’s not just these much younger adults,” she said. “That percentage is creeping upwards, even over what we think of as the average just-out-of-college fresh adult.” The pattern echoes what Fortune found in a separate Wells Fargo survey this year, where 64% of parents with Gen Z children ages 18 to 28 said their kids still rely on them financially, with support concentrated in essentials like rent and cell phone bills rather than discretionary spending.

Ullrich cautioned that the survey’s wording may be inflating the “living at home” figure for one group in particular: college students. The SHED survey asks respondents simply whether their adult children, age 18 or older, live with them.

“I have a son in college who lives in Virginia most of the year, and I’m thinking, would I say yes or no about him?” Ullrich questioned. “Right now he’s here, so if somebody asked me, I’d probably say yes, but in September I’d probably say no. I do wonder a little bit about how college-age kids are counted.” She noted the underlying trend is real regardless. “This has been going up over time, there’s no doubt about that.”

The same survey also tracks how financially comfortable households say they feel. According to FRED’s series on the measure, the share of households reporting they were “doing okay” or “living comfortably” spiked to 78% in 2021, which Ullrich attributes to pandemic-era stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits rather than any underlying strength. It has held at 72-73% every year since. “I wouldn’t take that as a real signal. To me that’s an outlier,” she said. “What’s actually more amazing to me is that it hasn’t gone down more, given how high inflation has been.”

She added that, in the survey, the decline in financial comfort is concentrated among those without a high school diploma, while those with a diploma have held roughly steady since 2016. This is evidence, she said, of a K-shaped economy playing out generationally as well as by income.

Ullrich said this broader trend will structurally alter the economy and is likely to show up for years in migration patterns and lifetime earnings as much as in survey data. Young adults who expected to move to major cities for their first jobs are instead staying closer to home while they search, something she said could be financially sound for individual families even as it reshapes broader economic patterns.

“These decisions at the micro level just impact households and family decisions, but at the macro level they do impact more things: home buying, fertility rates, all the things we talked about. When you have that larger percentage living at home, you will see some of those impacts.”

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