Your Adult Children Moved Back Home, Or Never Left? What About House Rules
Children moving back in with their parents. This is a tough one, for both the parents and their children, but unfortunately not so uncommon this day and age.
The pandemic turned back time for many empty nesters, as their homes were suddenly filled with the pitter-patter – or thud-thud – of their adult children’s feet returning to the safety and financial security of their parents’ homes. But in the two-plus years since the pandemic’s onset, only a third of those who returned home during the pandemic have spread their wings and flown their parents’ coop again. Two-thirds are still in the coop.
Lending Tree surveyed more than 1,300 U.S. parents and/or Gen Zers or millennials to get their thoughts on post-pandemic living arrangements.
Young adults who moved in with their parents during the pandemic are focusing on paying down debt and saving for a home. Of those, 39% say they’ve been able to pay down debt, while 31% are focusing on saving for a down payment. And of those who’ve since moved out, nearly 3 in 10 bought a home. But whether they bought or rented, 71% would only return home if they had no other option.
Is living at home with parents a dating deal breaker? 45% of millennials and Gen Zers say it is NOT a deal breaker. They’d date someone while living with their parents, and an additional 38% would consider it. Only 17% flat-out refuse. Many of us who have lived on our own for a while understand that 17%!
85% of parents would let their children move back in as adults or have previously done so, and most (73%) wouldn’t charge them rent. However – more than half say their kids would need to get a job, help pay for groceries, household bills, and help with chores like cooking and cleaning.
Adult children living with parents is most common in Hawaii, New Jersey, and Florida. The percentage of adults ages 24 to 40 who live with their parents in those states is above 20%. At the opposite end, in North Dakota, just 5.3% of these adults live with their parents.
As you saw above, many parents would let their adult children move back in if they needed to. Ten percent of parents said they wouldn’t have ANY rules.
These are the “house rules” and conditions that came up most often:
1. They’d have to help with cooking and cleaning. 58% would enforce that one.
2. Help pay for groceries and other household bills, 56%.
3. They’d have to have a job or get one, 53%.
4. Pay rent. Only 27% would charge their kids rent.
5. Have a set timeframe for when they’ll move out, 11%.
6. Have a curfew, 10%.
-Carla Rea
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