More US millennials are living with their parents for the first time in history

Factors are tied to marital status, race, gender, and economic situation

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Millennials are now more likely to live at home with their parents over any other living arrangement - a first for the age group in modern history, according to a new study.

The latest Pew Research Centre report shows that 32.1 per cent of young adults - defined as between the ages of 18 and 34 - live in their parents’ home.

Much of this, the report says, has to do with shifts in marital statuses of young adults, as fewer choose to find a spouse before the age of 35. The most common living arrangement for the age group since 1880 had been with a spouse. That figure peaked in 1960, when 62 per cent of young adults had this living situation.

In 2014, only 31.6 per cent of young adults lived with a spouse or partner.

“For earlier generations of young Americans, one of the major activities that they were focused on was partnering, forming a new family, maybe with children,” Richard Fry, who authored the study, told the Washington Post. “For the first time, instead, what we see is they’re not focused on family and forming a household.”

Instead, many young adults are focusing more on school or work, working towards moving to their own places. The 2008 economic collapse played a major part in where young adults can afford living. More young adults attended college, and came out to a job market where wages were stagnant, but the cost of living still went up.

The report notes, however, that the number of young adults living in a parent’s home is not a record high. In 1940, 35 per cent of 18 to 34 year-olds lived with a parent.

Factors such as race, gender, education, and employment status also played into the living situations of young adults in 2014.

A record number of black and Latino Americans lived with their parents - 36 per cent - and Native American young adults at 35 per cent.

Young men led the trend at 35 per cent - and has been the dominant living arrangement for them since 2009. Women are still more likely to be living with a spouse or partner, and only 29 per cent live in their parents’ home.

“For the typical young man over the last few decades the job market has worked against them,” Mr Fry said, adding that the unemployed young men are more likely to live in their parents’ home.

Sociologist Philip Cohen told the Post that families are more likely to support each other across generations, as the financial crisis led to great instability in US homes.

“The care and support flows up and down the generations, especially among poorer people,” Mr Cohen said. “Now it’s more likely that both generations are economically insecure and they’re taking care of each other.”