More adult children live at home now than during the pandemic

A record number of adult children under 35 are moving back in with their parents, either because they can't afford homes of their own or to save money amid the rising cost of living, according to a recent study.

In 2025, 25.2 million adults under 35 lived at home, according to Realtor.com, which found that the share of adult kids living with their moms and dads was higher than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Many of these adult children are not unemployed, but their wages aren't keeping up with inflation. Among the 25- to 34-year-olds living at home, roughly seven in 10 have jobs, according to the report.

Karleigh Gaudreau, a 34-year-old business coach and online content creator, is among the Americans who recently moved back home because she couldn't afford to live on her own after breaking up with a boyfriend with whom she had lived in South Carolina. 

Gaudreau, who earns about $60,000 a year, could afford to split rent, but couldn't cover costs on her own after she and her boyfriend broke up, she told CBS News. 

Wanted: Income of at least $85,000

"To be able to afford that on top of your student loans or car payment, it's really hard to function off of anything, I believe, less than $85,000," she said. 

She's hardly alone in her financial struggle, as the dream of homeownership slips further out of reach for many Americans amid rising home prices and higher mortgage rates. For example, fewer than 4 in 10 non-homeowner households can afford a typical starter home, according to a recent LendingTree analysis.

"Society as a whole has to respond," Wharton School of Business real estate professor Susan Wachter told CBS News. "It's affordability across the board. It's not just price of the home and the mortgage."

Gaudreau's plan worked. After saving money on rent by living with her parents, she plans to move into a place of her own in November.