Can't afford to stay away? More young LIers move back with family than national average
Many young adult Long Islanders moved in with their parents or other family members during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and have continued to do so. Living in multigenerational homes is far from uncommon in the region. Here's a closer look at the data to understand what this says about affordability and the state of housing on Long Island.
According to census data from 2023, an estimated 14.3% of all adults on Long Island were between 18 and 34 years of age and lived with their parents in 2023. About 155,058 Nassau residents in the age group, making up 14.5% of the county’s adult population and 58.4% of all 18 to 34-year-olds, were estimated to share living arrangements with a parent who is the head of the household. Similarly, around 167,350 Suffolk 18 to 34-year-olds, or 14.1% of all adults and 54% of Suffolk’s 18 to 34-year-olds, lived in their parents’ homes.
A shared household may include adult children living with their parents or married couples living with a parent. The data counts unmarried students living in on-campus college dorms as being residents of their parents’ households. At a time when the share of first-time homebuyers on Long Island is historically low, the share of 18 to 34-year-olds living separately as a householder or a partner of a householder was 22.6%, or 130,000 individuals.
This trend was more common on Long Island than nationally. A Pew Research Center study estimated the share of young adults living with their parents is at its highest level since the Great Depression era, irrespective of race and ethnicity or geography of residents. Around 52% of young adults in the age group nationally resided with one or both parents since the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with 48% in 1940. In 2023 on Long Island, that rate was about 56%.
The study also found that Asian, Black and Hispanic young adults have been more likely than white young adults to live with their parents in the last decade, likely influenced by economic factors including barriers to homeownership, and cultural norms. Additionally, young men are more likely than young women to move back home with their parents, according to the study. Localized data for Long Island was not available.
