The share of young adults living with their parents edged up last year despite improvements in the economy—a sign that the effects of the recession are lingering.
In a report on the status of families, the Census Bureau on Tuesday said 13.6% of Americans ages 25 to 34 were living with their parents in 2012, up slightly from 13.4% in 2011. Though the trend began before the recession, it accelerated sharply during the downturn. In the early 2000s, about 10% of people in this age group lived at home.
The figures are the latest evidence of the recession's continuing impact on young Americans, who are finding it harder to land jobs and take on the costs of setting up their own homes.
Vivien Tsuong, 28, has a job as a marketing specialist, but is living at home in San Gabriel, Calif., to save money. In 2010, after returning from Japan, where she taught English for two years, Ms. Tsuong struggled for a year to find work. After landing a position in 2012, she moved into her current job at a company that sells computer and Internet products this spring. Now that she is stable professionally, she wants to build savings, just in case she encounters more job turbulence, she said.
Ms. Tsuong said many of her friends are spending $700 or $800 a month on rent. "I can move out if I really wanted to, but given the situation with rent and gas, I feel like I can save more living at home," she said. "If you can save now, you're sort of investing in your future."
Demographers say joblessness during the recession and in its aftermath has fueled the trend of young adults living at home. The percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds living with parents climbed from 10.6% early in the 2000s to 11.8% in 2007, when the recession officially began. But after that the figure jumped sharply.
Richard Fry, an economist at Pew Research Center, said the rising share of young adults at home reflects changing attitudes about the phenomenon as well as economic pressures.
Recent surveys by Pew found over 60% of people ages 18 to 34 knew someone who had moved back in with their parents because of the economy, he said, and that four of five people ages 25 to 34 who were living with their parents were satisfied with the arrangement.
That may suggest there is less stigma attached to living at home, said Mr. Fry. "Living with your parents may not be what it once was," he said.
Other trends also are playing a role: Young adults are marrying later, putting off having children and finding it harder to establish stable careers.
The latest findings have important implications for the nation's housing market and broader recovery, since they suggest fewer young Americans are buying houses, furniture and appliances—purchases that fuel much of the country's economic growth.
While Americans are spending much more than they did during the throes of the recession, overall consumption growth has remained much weaker than in past recoveries.
