Rise of the Roommate

Living with housemates, roommates, and non-relatives is getting more popular among younger households. In 2016, 7.5 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 lived in shared households.

The rising share of individuals living in this household type has gone up 3.5 percent since 1990. More than 3.3 million young adults in this age range are sharing their homes with non-relative roommates. More young adults are choosing to share a home with parents, parents-in-law, and non-parent family members as well. The National Association of Home Builders' data show that roughly 33 percent of these young adults now live in such shared housing.

The share of young adults living with parents or other relatives remained relatively stable from 1990 to 2000, fluctuating around 15 percent. The persistent and rising trend emerged a few years later. By 2006, 19 percent of young adults ages 25 to 34 lived with their parents or relatives. The trend continued its steady climb through the housing bust, a period of declining home prices, economic downturn and showed no sign of reversing even as an economic recovery took place. By 2016, the share of young adults ages 25 to 34 living with parents or relatives exceeded 26 percent. Out of these, more than 21 percent, or 9.4 million, lived in homes of their parents or parents-in-law and additional 5.2 percent (2.3 million) lived with other relatives.

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