Although it varies according to different cultures, in the US, children moving in with their parents is considered a strange choice by others. However, it is observed that this understanding is slowly changing.

According to the information compiled by Finansgundem.com, moving in with your parents in the US is now so common that it is almost no longer a scorned behavior.

23 million young adults

In the months after the pandemic emerged in 2020, almost 50 percent of young adults aged 18 to 29 began living at home with their parents, the largest number recorded since the Great Depression, Fortune's Jane Thier reports. A third of them still live with their parents, although some have managed to make their own way since then. In the US today, about 23 million young adults live with their parents. According to the US Census, that's about 45 percent of that age group.

In many cultures, children are expected to live with their parents and save money into adulthood, but in the US, doing so can lead to scorn. The research also proves personal finance guru Dave Ramsey wrong, who said earlier this year that this was due to poor money management.

According to an August survey of more than 4,100 adults by Bloomberg News and Harris Poll, most adults who move back in with their families do so intentionally to pay off debt and eventually buy property or achieve other financial goals. Ramsey may indeed be wrong; nearly 70 percent of young adults living with their parents say their finances would not be as strong if they had not chosen to live with their parents, according to a Harris Poll survey. According to the survey, the number one reason for moving home is to save money, followed by caring for elderly family members or to stave off immediate financial constraints.

Student loan burdens and housing costs

One worker living with his family in Texas, who first reported the trend in May, told Fortune's Alicia Adamczyk, "It's really allowed me to invest my money in my goals in terms of quality of life. My costs are very low. I'm very lucky to have them."

It is not surprising that such arrangements are becoming more common in today's economy. As Adamczyk points out, 'rising student loan burdens and housing costs, especially in big cities' are big reasons for this. These challenges are leading to greater acceptance of this method.

According to Bloomberg, almost 90 percent of Americans don't think people should be frowned upon for moving back in with their parents. Carol Sigelman, a psychology professor at George Washington University, told the press, "We're in an economy where it's harder to live independently. Adults realize that it's hard these days."

Cohabitation is no longer taboo

Years ago, moving back in with one's parents was portrayed as a millennial problem. The generation that graduated during the Great Recession and its aftermath faced a crushing job market, student loan debt, and the free fall of the global financial system, leaving them struggling to build a career and independent life as a graduate student. Today, many of these young people reach traditional milestones such as getting married, buying a house, buying a car, etc. much later than their parents, or not at all.

A similar situation occurred when the pandemic broke out and a record number of young adults, from university students to people in their mid-twenties, returned home. The difference today is that many have still not left their parents' side, even though the pandemic recession was much shorter-lived than the financial crisis and the job market for young adults has greatly improved. This is largely due to the fact that life has become more and more expensive. When rents are skyrocketing in all major cities, inflation is once again on the rise and salaries rarely keep pace, it is more understandable for young adults to stay with their parents.

Average rent increases of 25 percent

It seems that living with parents has become less of an anomaly due to life circumstances and more of a way of doing things in the spirit of the times, and given how expensive everyday life has become, there is little reason to believe that things will be much different any time soon. Young adults certainly feel this way and unfortunately few believe they will be able to retire or become homeowners.