“Living with parents into your late twenties or early thirties has become a new normal for young adults in the GTA,” said Nancy Worth, a geography professor at the University of Waterloo. She wrote a new report on the subject, titled GenY at Home.
The numbers behind her statement are large. Census data the report builds on show that 47.4 per cent of millennials in the Greater Toronto Area live with their parents.
Saving money comes first
Why do they stay? Mostly for money. Worth found that 79.2 per cent of young adults living at home do it to save. “In the face of precarious work and widespread economic insecurity,” she said, “parental help offers a chance to save for a house or take on an unpaid internship, which gives people living at home an advantage over those who are living on their own.”
The report also looks at culture. Many young people in the GTA come from traditions in which grown children at home is nothing new, and some boomerang back for a few months after school or between jobs. For some households, co-residence means little more than sharing space. For others it means being part of a close family that splits housework and spends time together.
The report also names relief from isolation and mutual support among the reasons young people stay, and says multiculturalism is wearing away the idea that living with parents is something to be embarrassed about.
Worth said living at home is increasingly seen as “smart, strategic and lucky, as not everyone has this opportunity.” In the report’s view, it can work as a safety net and a way of passing resources from one generation to the next, and it can put some young adults ahead of their peers.
A U.S. figure, and the cost pressures behind it
American numbers point the same way. The Tech Edvocate, citing Federal Reserve data released on July 9, 2026, said 49% of adults under 30 now live with their parents, a jump of 12 percentage points since 2019.
That outlet blamed a mix of housing costs, student loan debt and wages that have not kept pace with inflation, even though the job market has rebounded since the pandemic. It pointed to San Francisco and New York, where a one-bedroom apartment has averaged more than $3,000 a month in rent. Student loan debt for U.S. borrowers averaged over $30,000 as of 2023, it said, and the National Association of Realtors reported in 2022 that the typical first-time buyer had reached 33.
The same piece said the arrangement can strain family life. Some young adults feel embarrassed about it, and parents who are themselves short of money may find it hard to adjust. Its advice was blunt and practical: talk early about expectations, chores and boundaries.
It also quoted figures from a University of California study, which it said found that 68% of millennials view living at home positively.
Sources
- Housing prices and debt push millennials to live with their parents | Waterloo News | University of Waterloo
- Why 49% of Young Adults Live at Home: Economic Pressures in 2026
