More than 15% of millennials are living back home with their parents with some metro areas seeing more than a quarter of 26- to 41-year-olds living with mom and dad

Young people continue to struggle to regain their footing following the COVID-19 pandemic Other factors include decades-high inflation and crushing student debt Four of the top five cities where millennials still lived with their parents were in California, where median single-family housing prices hover around $830,000

More than 15 percent of millennials aged 26 to 41 are living back home with their parents as they grapple with rising housing costs.

The most recent Census statistics from 2022 show an alarming number of adults are forced to live with their parents as they struggle to save enough money to achieve the American Dream.

The number of Americans aged 25 to 34 living at home has jumped over 87 percent in the past two decades, according to Census data.

This comes as young people struggle to regain their footing following pandemic lockdowns and grapple with decades-high inflation, crushing student debt and job insecurity.

‘We’re in an economy where it’s harder to live independently,’ Carol Sigelman, professor of social psychology at George Washington University, told Bloomberg. ‘Adults recognize that it’s tough these days.’

According to 2022 Census data, nearly 16 percent of millennials aged 26-41 are living with one or both parents

Four of the top five cities seeing the most millennials returning home are located in California (pictured), where the median single-family home price hovered around $830,000

Young people are also grappling with decades-high inflation, crushing student debt and job insecurity

Some metro areas see even higher percentages, with some having a quarter of millennials opting to live with their parents. Riverside, California, saw the highest share of millennials living at home – at nearly 30 percent.

Brownsville, Texas, came in second place, with 27.4 percent. Rounding out the top five were other cities in California: Stockton, Los Angeles and Modesto.

Housing prices in the Sunshine State continue to rise, and fewer than one in five Californians can afford a median-priced existing single-family home, according to data from the California Association of Realtors.

While such a description may sound unremarkable, these homes come with an eye-watering price tag of $830,620.

On the other end of the spectrum, was Springfield, Missouri, where just 6.2 percent live with parents – a more affordable state with a median home price around $159,000, according to Redfin.

‘Given the collapse in housing affordability, it’s not surprising that young people would stay in their parents’ homes longer to manage their expenses, to save on rent and save for a down payment so they could purchase a home,’ said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

A Harris Poll for Bloomberg saw 40 percent of millennial respondents say they were living at home to save money, while 30 percent said they were staying with family members because they couldn’t afford to live on their own.

Other factors that cropped up included paying down debt, at 19 percent, and losing a job, at 10 percent.

A Harris Poll for Bloomberg saw 40 percent of millennial respondents say they were living at home to save money, while 30 percent said they were staying with family members because they couldn’t afford to live on their own

The percentage of millennials living at home is significantly lower in states like states such as Colorado and Missouri, between 6 and 8 percent (pictured: Fort Collins, Colorado)

Many millennials who graduated into the 2008 financial crisis similarly opted to live at home amid a shaky housing market (pictured: Omaha, Nebraska, where 7.7 percent of millennials lived at home in 2022)

There also appears to have been a shift in the public perception of young people living at home, as it is no longer considered a sign of immaturity, but a necessity

Conditions are reminiscent of those nearly two decades ago. Many millennials who graduated into the 2008 financial crisis similarly opted to live at home amid a shaky housing market.

Covid-19 lockdowns only compounded this issue. In 2020, the share of young adults living with parents or grandparents surged to a record high of nearly 50 percent.

While the job market continues to see gains, recent college graduates struggle to find work more than the rest of the population.

New graduates have fared worse than other jobseekers since January 2021, and the gap only continues to widen.

An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows the latest unemployment rate for recent graduates at 4.4 percent is higher than the overall joblessness rate and nearly double the rate for all workers with a college degree.

Part of the issue is that industries most desperate for workers, like food service and hospitality, are less desired than tech, consulting, finance and media, which have been decimated by layoffs.

For them and their slightly older millennial counterparts, there has also been a societal shift, as the perception of young people living at home is much friendlier.

No longer, it seems, is it considered immature or unsuccessful to live at home.

Trysta Barwig, a project manager based in Atlanta, told Business Insider that she’d experienced a shift in her own perspective since returning home.

‘I think back in the day people used to look down on you for staying at home with your parents like you’re some kind of loser, but I’ve got a job, I’ve got a salary,’ Barwig said. ‘I don’t see why I need to live on my own.’