--- title: Millennials Have Jobs But Still Live at Home description: A Pew Research Center study says the perplexing pattern has affected the housing industry and may affect future life decisions canonical: https://time.com/3974659/millennials-labor-living/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-29T16:00:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:25.079Z article:section: Health og:title: Millennials Have Jobs But Still Live At Home og:description: They're getting a paycheck, but haven't moved out. Why? og:url: https://time.com/3974659/millennials-labor-living/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3f4347d1af3544/69885ce8524fc0519cdf3ca7/millennial-working-home-living.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 507 og:image:height: 285 og:image:alt: millennial-working-home-living og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Millennials Have Jobs But Still Live At Home twitter:description: They're getting a paycheck, but haven't moved out. Why? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3f4347d1af3544/69885ce8524fc0519cdf3ca7/millennial-working-home-living.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Millennials Now Have Jobs But Still Live With Their Parents > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=91c29270-9282-478c-ba58-c3642bef0d52&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Millennial Money Turnoffs [Watch (HLS stream): Millennial Money Turnoffs](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4gv80AkC.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2015-05-27. Student loan debt is understood and overlooked by our millennials, but credit card debt and lack of responsibility are big no-nos._  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 29, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  Young woman working with laptop at home Young woman working with laptop at home Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 29, 2015 4:00 PM UTC Halfway through this decade and nearly seven years after the Great Recession, Millennials are bouncing back—sort of. In a new study released by Pew, researchers find that while Millennials—people who were born after 1981—are back to the pre-recession era unemployment levels of 7.7%, they haven’t been able to establish themselves as adults in other ways, like owning a home or getting married. Richard Fry, an economist and lead author of the study, describes the situation as Millennials’ “failure to launch.” “I think the core is a bit of a puzzle with one clear consequence,” Fry told TIME. “There’s good news: the group that was hit the hardest—young adults—are now getting full-time jobs and earnings are tracking upwards. But the surprise is that with the recovery in the labor market, there are fewer young adults living independently.” (Living independently here is defined as heading a household; in other words, owning a home.) [When the recession hit](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/06/30/how-the-great-recession-has-changed-life-in-america/), young people moved back into their parents’ house in droves, unemployed and without much hope for any future work. The thought process was that once the economy improved and Millennials returned to work, they’d scoot out of their parents lair. But that hasn’t been the case, and economists aren’t sure why. “Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know,” Fry said. He was also the author of a study three years ago that explored Millennials living and work situations using 2012 data, and he thought then that the explanation was clear. “My thought was, ‘Yeah, that’s true, the job market is crummy,'” he said. “My expectation was that as the labor market improves, more young people will strike out on their own, but that’s not the case.” About 42.2 million 18-to-34 year olds are living away from home this year; 2007 numbers were just above 2015’s independent young adult population at 42.7 million. There are a few common characteristics of these Millennial householders; they are more likely to be women (72% compared to their male counterparts) and college-educated (86% of those with bachelors degrees were living independently compared to 75% of the same peer group holding only a high school education). Fry points to women getting in permanent romantic relationships earlier that either lead to marriage or cohabitation as the cause of this gender difference. The consequences of Millennials still living at home go far beyond the household dynamics of adult children being at home with parents. Consider the housing sector, which has not recovered from the 2008 economic tumble. If more young adults had decided to take on home ownership, the economy may have improved more. So how are Millennials most likely living if they’re not living at home? Probably with a roommate, or doubled up with a fellow adult who is not their spouse or partner, data suggests. But having a roommate or living at home have real demographic effects for the future, Fry says. He goes back to two key facts: that people living independently tend to be better educated and that college educated people tend to delay marriage or not marry at all (though even Millennials with a high school education are not getting married as much as they used to.) That means that less educated Millennials are facing consequences in not just the job market, but beyond. “There’s less sorting—that when the less educated do marry, they marry others who are also less educated,” he said. “That’s going to impact household income and economic wellbeing. That’s going to affect economic outcomes.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:02] A financial [00:06] deal breaker for me would just be dishonesty. One [00:08] thing I think myself and a lot of analysts are willing to [00:11] overlook is student debt. That's sort of become a [00:14] prerequisite to just existing in the world now with the [00:16] price of college. If you have pursued higher education, [00:21] you probably have debt and you probably have a lot of [00:23] it. Then what matters is what you do about it. I'm [00:27] not really cool with just making the minimum payment, [00:29] though. Especially if you can afford to pay a little bit [00:32] more and get it wiped out a little bit more quickly. I [00:34] want to a very expensive, private under- grad school, I [00:37] met met my wife at a very expensive, private [00:40] under- grad school. I think anyone who is not willing to [00:42] at least consider dating a similar student that would [00:44] maybe not have anyone consider them, either- I do not [00:48] think I would be able to deal with instability in terms of [00:52] how you manage your money, in terms of your job. I'm [00:54] very driven in my life, and so I want someone [00:59] who, they don't necessarily have to want to be [01:02] president or like, some top echelon position, but just [01:05] that they have things that they want to achieve and [01:07] they're very motivated to do it. I would not be able to [01:10] be with someone who wouldn't Put away some things [01:14] that they would like in the here and now for that future. [01:18] Obviously financial responsibility is important. But [01:21] materialism is a big turnoff, actually. I really don't like [01:25] debt of any kind if I can help it. And I also think that a [01:28] deal breaker is just not being compatible in how you [01:31] view and spend money. It could potentially be a deal [01:33] breaker. For instance, I value experiences over stuff. [01:37] Things that I would never like, kind of like extravagant [01:39] credit card debt, or just any kind of debt for no [01:42] reason. That's probably kind of a red flag. 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