New York, Sept 5, 2020 — Just over half of young adult Americans live with their parents, an unprecedented proportion that is doubtless linked to the coronavirus but also reflects a deeper trend, researchers said yesterday.

Between February and May, the share of 18-29 year-olds living with at least one parent rose from 47 per cent to 52 per cent and stayed at that level through July.

The data, released by the Pew Research Center, means 26.6 million young adults in the US have their parents for roommates.

The study is based on data gathered by the US Labor Department during its monthly survey of a representative sample of 60,000 people.

The rise was most marked among 18-24 year-olds, with 71 per cent of them living with their parents in July, up from 63 per cent in February.

Among ethnic groups, the breakdown showed that the trend was strongest inside the Hispanic community, with 58 per cent of adults aged between 18 and 29 living with their father, mother or both.

Even though the increase was pushed by the pandemic as young adults struggled to get by, it is part of a longer-term pattern, Pew says.

Despite more than 10 years of economic growth before the Covid-19 outbreak hit the United States, the number of young adults living outside their family circle had diminished in recent years.

The 47 per cent already living with their parents before the pandemic represented the highest rate since the Great Depression in the 1930s, although the figures were collected less frequently then.

In the 1960s, 70s and 80s the proportion of young adults living with parents fell to below 35 per cent.