(NewsNation) — About 50% of young adults are still living at home with their parents, a new Harris Poll for Bloomberg News revealed.
Nearly 90% of survey participants said their peers shouldn’t be judged for moving back home, especially when inflation has rocked the economy.
In addition to inflation, the pandemic set Americans back in multiple areas, creating ripple effects on the job market and income. As a result, millions of young adults have been calling their parents roommates.
“This younger generation, young adults have seen real highs and real lows in their lifetime,” financial coach Lisa Chastain said.
Becca Samuels, who lives at home with her dad, said that while she got a new job, she has decided to live at home so that she could save money.
Right now, about 23 million Americans ages 18 to 29 are living with family. That’s the highest number since the 1940s, following the great depression.
About 75% of participants said living with their family is a financial decision. Top factors include pandemic-era setbacks, record-high inflation rates, sky-high student debt and an unsettling job market.
Krisi Weidauer’s 19-year-old daughter moved back home, and so far, all is good.
“She is my mini-me,” Weidauer said. “So a lot of time, we can butt heads and things like that.”
And Weidauer said her daughter has taken on additional responsibilities that a teenager or child wouldn’t normally take on.
“These young men and women are having to do more with less, and they’re having to make some really hard decisions about their living situations. And that includes moving back home,” Bradley Schurman, the author of “The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny,” said.
Financial experts believe Gen Z has been impacted the most. However, it’s still too early to tell how much of an impact the current economic situation will have long-term.
Living at home with parents or other family members has given the opportunity for young adults to save money at a time when Americans really need it.
This is something that’s changed, along with the stigma that comes along with living at home with mom and dad.