Question · Independent living · United Kingdom
Is living with parents becoming more common among young adults in the UK?
People aged 20–34 in UK households · United Kingdom · April–June 2015 compared with April–June 2025
Short answer
Yes, modestly. In 2025, 28.7% of people aged 20 to 34 in UK households lived with their parents, up from 25.4% in 2015.
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Source: Office for National Statistics · released 17 Apr 2026 · source last checked 5 Sept 2026Version 1 · published by World Pulse 6 Sept 2026
That is about 3.8 million people compared with 3.3 million ten years earlier. The Office for National Statistics presents this ten-year rise as statistically significant.
Split by sex, only the rise among young men (30.5% → 34.9%) is statistically significant; the change among young women (20.3% → 22.3%) is not.
Scope
Group
People aged 20 to 34 living in UK households — ONS Labour Force Survey, household dataset. The bulletin also reports the wider 15–34 band; this dossier uses 20–34 as its headline and does not mix the two.
Place
United Kingdom (UK-wide estimates).
Period
April–June 2015 compared with April–June 2025 — the annual second-quarter survey ONS uses for this series. The chart shows every year in between from the same table.
Definition
ONS counts a person as living with their parents only while they are part of their parents’ family. Someone who lives with a partner or has a child of their own is counted as having formed their own family — even if they still live in the parents’ household. “Parent” can include grandparents, step-parents or lone parents. Students in halls of residence during term time are counted as not living with their parents.
What changed since 2015
2015 → 2025: 25.4% → 28.7% (+3.3 percentage points)
- All people
- Men
- Women
| Year | All people, % | Men, % | Women, % | Living with parents, thousands | Group, thousands | Published 95% CI ±, thousands |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25.4% | 30.5% | 20.3% | 3,295 | 12,961 | ±90 |
| 2016 | 25.3% | 30.8% | 19.7% | 3,288 | 13,015 | ±93 |
| 2017 | 25.9% | 31.8% | 19.9% | 3,371 | 13,019 | ±97 |
| 2018 | 25.7% | 31.4% | 19.9% | 3,352 | 13,041 | ±100 |
| 2019 | 26.8% | 32.5% | 20.9% | 3,487 | 13,032 | ±103 |
| 2020 | 27.6% | 32.9% | 22.1% | 3,568 | 12,946 | ±149 |
| 2021 | 28.0% | 33.9% | 21.9% | 3,591 | 12,841 | ±150 |
| 2022 | 26.6% | 31.2% | 21.9% | 3,424 | 12,861 | ±176 |
| 2023 | 27.6% | 33.3% | 21.8% | 3,567 | 12,918 | ±193 |
| 2024 | 28.0% | 33.7% | 22.1% | 3,631 | 12,988 | ±171 |
| 2025 | 28.7% | 34.9% | 22.3% | 3,783 | 13,193 | ±167 |
- Percentages are computed here as ONS does: estimate ÷ total, rounded to one decimal. The published 95% confidence interval applies to the count (2025: ±167 thousand for all 20–34-year-olds; 2015: ±90 thousand). ONS marks every point in this series “a” — precise.
- 2020 and 2021 fieldwork moved to telephone interviewing during the pandemic and was reweighted; ONS also notes lower response rates in recent years, which widens the intervals. Treat single-year movements with caution; the 2015 → 2025 comparison is the one ONS itself makes.
Why it matters
Leaving the parental home is one of the transitions that shape adult life: it changes how households form, where housing demand appears, how savings and family roles are arranged. A rise of about three percentage points across a decade means just under half a million more 20–34-year-olds living with parents in 2025 than in 2015 (3.78 million against 3.30 million).
The pattern is sex-specific: about one in three young men lived with parents in 2025, against fewer than one in four young women. ONS places the rise within a broader trend of reaching adult milestones later and writes that it “may be explained by several factors, including increased housing costs” — that is ONS’s suggestion, not a cause measured in this series.
What the data do not establish
- Whether young adults want to move out, or are unable to. The survey records living arrangements, not intentions.
- Which barrier — housing cost, income, study, care duties, preference — is the decisive one, or whether there is a single “last barrier” at all.
- The causal effect of housing costs. The series is descriptive; ONS’s remark about housing costs is a suggestion, not an estimate.
- The share living independently. The remaining 71.3% is not “living on their own”: it mixes people living with a partner or with their own child (some of them still in the parental home), students in halls, house-sharers and people living alone.
- Anything about a particular person, city or region. These are UK-wide averages; ONS publishes separate regional datasets for England, Scotland and Wales.
What to watch next
- The next “Families and households in the UK” bulletin with 2026 data — release date to be announced; the 2025 edition came out on 17 April 2026.
- Whether the rise among young women becomes statistically significant, and whether the gap between men (34.9%) and women (22.3%) narrows.
- The wider 15–34 series in the same dataset (42.4% in 2025, 39.7% in 2015) and the regional tables, which this dossier does not cover.
Next known signal
Next ONS “Families and households in the UK” bulletin (2026 data): release date to be announced; the series has been annual, and the 2025 edition was released on 17 April 2026.
How this dossier is updated
Manually updated. World Pulse editors check the ONS release and publish a new version only when something changes in the published data or in our reading of it. There is no automatic monitoring of the source. Version 1 was prepared on 5 September 2026 after checking the release of 17 April 2026 and first became publicly available on 6 September 2026.
No validated forecast: this dossier records an observation and does not estimate what will happen next.
Sources and versions
Source extract — check it yourself
Every figure above maps to a row here. Quotations are verbatim from the source.
- Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Office for National Statisticsreleased 17 Apr 2026 · retrieved 5 Sept, 20:09 UTCSection 4 “Young adults living with parents”; Section 8 “Glossary”; Section 9 “Data sources and quality”.
- Young adults living with their parents (dataset, edition youngadults2025.xlsx)Office for National Statisticsreleased 17 Apr 2026 · retrieved 5 Sept, 20:09 UTCDirect file (xlsx)sha256 e40e8c61d93fc68a96efdcc660e8d923ba5c4ff5e855b09f1cb11513d58dff1cWorksheets People / Males / Females, rows “Total 20 to 34” and “Total 15 to 34”; worksheet Notes.
| Figure | Value | Where in the source | Verbatim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of 20–34-year-olds living with parents, 2025 and 2015 | 28.7% (2025) · 25.4% (2015) | Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Section 1 “Main points”; Section 4 | Young adults aged 20 to 34 years were more likely to live with parents in 2025 compared with 2015 (28.7% and 25.4% of young adults, respectively); the main contribution to this increase was among young males (34.9%) rather than young females (22.3%) in 2025. |
| Counts behind the 20–34 shares (thousands) | 2025: 3,783 of 13,193 (CI ±167) · 2015: 3,295 of 12,961 (CI ±90) | Young adults living with their parents (dataset, edition youngadults2025.xlsx)Worksheet People, row “Total 20 to 34”, columns 2025 and 2015 | — |
| Men aged 20–34, 2025 and 2015 | 34.9% (2,328 of 6,678, CI ±110) · 30.5% (1,977 of 6,477, CI ±68) | Young adults living with their parents (dataset, edition youngadults2025.xlsx)Worksheet Males, row “Total 20 to 34”; bulletin Section 4 quotes 34.9% and 30.5% | However, this increase is only statistically significant in young adult males in 2025 (34.9% of all males aged 20 to 34 years in households) compared with 2015 (30.5%). |
| Women aged 20–34, 2025 and 2015 | 22.3% (1,455 of 6,515, CI ±99) · 20.3% (1,319 of 6,484, CI ±52) | Young adults living with their parents (dataset, edition youngadults2025.xlsx)Worksheet Females, row “Total 20 to 34”; the bulletin prints only the 2025 figure (22.3%) | — |
| Wider 15–34 band | 42.4% / 7.2 million (2025) · 39.7% / 6.6 million (2015) | Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Section 4; dataset worksheet People, row “Total 15 to 34” (7,202 of 16,968; 6,625 of 16,697) | In 2025, 7.2 million young adults (aged 15 to 34 years) lived with their parents compared with 6.6 million people in 2015 (42.4% and 39.7% of all young adults, respectively). |
| Definition: partner or child means “own family” | exclusion rule | Young adults living with their parents (dataset, edition youngadults2025.xlsx)Worksheet Notes, notes 2–4; bulletin Figure 3 notes | Once a person either lives with a partner or has a child, they are considered to have formed their own family and are no longer counted as being part of their parents’ family even if they still live in the same household. Therefore such people are deemed to be not living with their parents here. |
| Statistical significance convention | 95% confidence intervals; significant unless stated otherwise | Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Section 8 “Glossary”; Section 9 | In this bulletin, we have made comparisons of 2025 estimates and/or percentages against earlier points in time and between different groups. Such comparisons are statistically significant, unless we have stated otherwise. |
| Survey and sample | Labour Force Survey, April–June 2025, 33,235 households | Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Section 9 “Data sources and quality” | For this release, the Quarter 2 2025 survey was used to produce data that achieved a sample of 33,235 households (including imputed). |
| ONS remark on causes | suggestion, not a measured cause | Families and households in the UK: 2025 (statistical bulletin)Section 4 | The increase in young adults living with their parents at older ages in recent years is part of a trend of adults reaching milestones later in life. It may be explained by several factors, including increased housing costs. |
Version history
- Version 1 (current)published by World Pulse 6 Sept, 11:08 UTC · prepared 5 Sept, 20:51 UTCFirst publication
First publication: 2015 → 2025 comparison from the ONS release of 17 April 2026.
ONS bulletin “Families and households in the UK: 2025” and the dataset “Young adults living with their parents” (youngadults2025.xlsx), both released 17 April 2026; checked 5 September 2026.
Publication time corrected 6 Sept, 12:50 UTC. Previously recorded as 5 Sept, 20:51 UTC. The earlier value was the time this version was prepared and checked in the editor’s working copy, before any public release. The first production deployment serving this page was ready at 11:08:40 UTC on 6 September 2026 and confirmed publicly reachable at 11:08:59 UTC. No ONS figure, source date or reference period changed.
First published by World Pulse on 6 Sept 2026. Historical years in the chart are the source’s reference periods, not earlier World Pulse publications.