As the number of young Americans living with their parents continues to rise significantly, a culture is spreading that views living with parents not as a "failure to launch," but as an economically rational choice, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on July 4 (local time).

According to the latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking by the U.S. Federal Reserve, 49% of adults under 30 said they lived with their parents last year.

This figure represents a 12 percentage point (p) increase compared to 2019.

About one-third of these individuals were 25 years of age or older.

Analysts suggest that soaring home prices, rising rents, and the burden of student loans are delaying the timing of independence for young Americans and changing the culture of adulthood.

The WSJ diagnosed that "living at home in your 20s was once seen as a sign of failure to launch and a source of shame, but that is no longer the case."

It further reported, "Living with parents is now accepted as a sign of a financially savvy choice, and for some, it is becoming a long-term lifestyle."

In a survey conducted this spring by the financial services firm Thrivent, about 55% of young Americans who moved back in with their parents cited economic reasons.

Some are not hiding this fact at all, instead introducing themselves as a "stay-at-home daughter" or "stay-at-home son" and sharing their daily lives on social media.

For instance, Samantha Stobo, 33, who used to live in Manhattan, New York, is currently living in her mother's home in Miami, Florida, after being unable to afford rent on her own following a breakup.

When she moved out of her Manhattan apartment at age 29, she planned to stay at her mother's house for only a few months, but she is still living there three years later.

Stobo, who posts about her daily life living with her mother on TikTok, told the WSJ, "Nobody judges me," adding, "Most people say, 'That’s so great. You must be saving so much money.'"

Casey Wright, 28, from Michigan, also returned to her parents' home after losing her job twice in a row.

Although she does not pay rent to her parents, she takes on household chores such as grocery shopping, cooking, and mowing the lawn.

However, she confessed, "If I could, I would move out tomorrow," citing high housing costs as a realistic obstacle.

The WSJ reported that many young people who returned to their parents' homes during the COVID-19 pandemic have ended up staying much longer than expected due to record-high inflation and surging rents.

Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University, said, "Living with parents has become the most common living arrangement for Americans in this age group."

This shift is also influencing housing structures and related regulations in the United States.

Recently, some U.S. states have eased regulations to make it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)—small, separate living spaces—on parents' properties, and homebuilders are increasing the number of multi-generational housing designs that can accommodate adult children or parents.

Kevin Grolig, a real estate agent in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, noted, "Because adult children continue to live at home, more clients are delaying the time they downsize their homes."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)