Are young adults really moving back home at record rates? When they do move back home, what drives that decision? This interesting WSJ article argues that it’s less about the economy and more about student debt. A few highlights:
“The proportion of young adults aged 18 to 31 living with parents has hit 36% from 31% in 2005, and indebtedness—especially rising student debt—explains roughly 30% of this increase.”
“Some 40% of young adults had student debt in 2010, up from 26% in 2001.”
“The share of 18-to-24-year-old men in the U.S. living with their parents was actually higher in 1983 than 2013, Vespa says. Increases in living with parents have been driven by 25-to-34-year-olds. Yet even this group hasn’t fueled a real pop in the overall numbers: Vespa’s figures show that 31% of young adults 18 to 34 live in parental homes, up from 28% in 1967.”
Read the whole thing.