Whether you’re a late bloomer or just struggling financially, sometimes it’s difficult to leave the nest.
For a growing number of millennials, living with mom is a great way to save up cash and get a home-cooked meal. That’s especially true in California where it takes an average of eight years to accrue a down payment and where average rents in the largest cities run $1,225 to $1,796 a month.
Real estate website Zillow has taken an in-depth look at this phenomenon and found a steady increase of millennials living with their mothers nationwide. Overall, the website found more than 1 in 5 millennials still live with mom.
Predictably, a number of California metros topped its list, with the highest share of mom-bunking millennials in Riverside (#1 with 35.4%), Miami-Fort Lauderdale (#2 with 34.8%), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (#3 with 32%). The share of adults living with their mothers was 22.5% in San Francisco, 22.7% in Sacramento, 23.2% in San Jose, and 23.8% in San Diego.
“While it might be tempting to stereotype these young adults as lazy millennials bumming off of Mom, the data paints a different picture,” said Zillow senior economist Sarah Mikhitarian. “When the housing market went bust and the economy unraveled into a recession, young adults increasingly returned to their childhood home. And, despite a strong labor market and fairly robust economic recovery, this trend has continued in the face of rising housing costs and deteriorating affordability."
Hey, I love my mom too.