A recent report from the Census Bureau shows that young adults prioritize marriage and financial security with children. These shift priorities reflect the burden of rising costs of living, such as housing, food, and travel.
In 1975, approximately 45% of young adults aged 25-34 moved from their parents’ homes, worked, married and had children. Fifty years later, less than 25% of adults of this age did the same thing.
“For decades, the most common milestone has shifted from family to economic milestones. They live independently in the workforce, but are not married or have children,” Paul Hemez and Jonathan Vespa are census statisticians and authors of the paper.
As of 2024, approximately 28% of young adults were working on their own. This is the most common milestone pattern among people aged 25-34. The combination of going out, having children, and getting married is no longer the most common milestone of young adulthood.
“Experience of important milestones related to economic independence and family formation can affect how young men and women develop their adult identity,” added Hemes and Vespa.
Young adults with children
Over 20 years ago, the average age of first-time mothers was 24.9. Currently, the average woman or birther is giving birth to her first child at the age of 27.5. This is a record high for the US based on census data.
Over the past decades, especially since the Great Recession of 2008, economic factors and social expectations have concluded that it is normal for more people to have children in their 30s.
Young adult getting married
According to Census Bureau data, the average age for first marriage in 2024 was 30.2 years old for men and 28.6 years old for women. Fifty years ago, the average age for first marriage was 23.5 for men and 21.3 for women. Whether these shifts are temporary or permanent is not fully explained. Factors such as increased student debt, remote work, and changing views on parents could affect these cultural milestones in the coming decades.
Young adults living at home
Rising inflation, increased student debt, unmanageable housing and rent prices are indicators of why youths chose to live with their parents.
“Young adults experience traditional markers of adults, such as leaving their parents’ homes, starting a family, establishing a stable career, or establishing a career for a later generation than the previous generation,” according to a report by the Census Bureau.
Despite the challenging market conditions, the youngest adult generation in the United States has been able to invade the housing market with an increasing number.
Generation Z members, ages 13 to 28, have grown older during the economic upheavals of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, housing prices have skyrocketed, deepening the country’s housing shortage. It is a condition in which some young people risk giving up on their homeownership dreams completely.
According to data from financial services firm Intercontinental Exchange, homeownership is elusive for many, regardless of age, but accounts for one in four loans issued to first-time home buyers. A January 2024 Redfin report found that Gen Z homeownership rates exceed millennials and Gen Xers homeownership rates at the same age.
