Young Adults Are Leaving Home Much Later. And No – It Is Not Laziness.
Why are so many young adults still living with their parents? It’s a global shift.
Speak Your Mind! 🎯 “The path to young adult independence is getting longer” by Dejan Trpkovic
22–JAN–2026 | For a long time, moving out of the parental home followed very different patterns across countries. In parts of Northern Europe, early independence was the norm. In Southern and Eastern Europe — and many emerging economies — staying longer with parents was already common, shaped by culture, housing markets, and family expectations.
What’s changed is this: even in countries where moving out early used to be standard, young adults are now staying home longer. And in places where living with parents was already widespread, the trend has intensified.
In the EU, young people leave home at 26.2 years on average, but in some countries it is 30+. In the US, 18% of adults aged 25–34 lived with a parent in 2023.
What the data shows
The slides below compare two things:
In Europe: the average age at which young people leave the parental home
Globally: the share of adults aged 25–34 who still live with their parents
These are different measures — but together they tell the same story.
Leaving home now happens at very different life stages across countries. In Europe, the gap between the earliest and latest averages is more than 10 years, with some young people moving out around 21–22, while others do so in their early-to-mid 30s.
In the Western Balkans, delayed independence is especially pronounced. Average leaving-home ages are already above 31 in Serbia and Croatia, and even higher in Montenegro, while globally a majority of 25–34-year-olds in the region still live with their parents.
Taken together, the data points to a structural delay, not a lifestyle choice. When large shares of people are still at home well into their late 20s and early 30s, independence is shaped less by personal preference and more by housing, income stability, and the length of the education-to-work transition.
So what’s driving it?
Housing costs are the big one (but not the whole story)
Rent and home prices have outpaced wage growth, especially in opportunity cities. Moving out is no longer just a milestone. It’s a budget decision.
Education keeps people “in transition” longer
More young adults are:
staying in education longer
doing master’s degrees
chasing certifications
taking internships or early-career jobs that don’t fully support independent living
Living at home becomes a way to fund the future.
Career progress is slower and less linear
The old path was: graduate → job → apartment
Now it’s: graduate → job search → short contracts → reskill → job hop → maybe move out → sometimes move back
Even in Europe, the share of employed young adults living with parents has been growing — a signal that this is not only about unemployment.
Culture still matters (developed vs. emerging economies)
In many emerging economies — and across Southern and Eastern Europe — living with parents longer is often normal, linked to marriage timing, family ties, and housing access.
In Nordic countries, early independence is culturally supported, and it clearly shows in the data. But even there, young adults are leaving later than they used to.
Sometimes it is simply rational
For many families, multigenerational living is a savings plan, a source of emotional support, a practical way to manage caregiving, and a way to reduce financial risk, especially when rent is unpredictable, jobs are less secure, and the cost of living can change faster than a paycheck. In many cases, it is not a step backward; it is a way to stay stable while planning the next step forward.
Young adults aren’t “failing to launch.” They’re adapting to a world where adulthood is more expensive — and takes longer to stabilize.
💬 Question: If the “launch” into adulthood is being delayed, what should education systems and employers do differently to support earlier independence?
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