Millennials Twice as Likely to Live With Parents Compared With Boomers at the Same Age

Millennials are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as baby boomers were when they were younger adults, government statistics show.

A new report from Statistics Canada looks at data from three census cycles to investigate the housing market outcomes of millennials compared to Gen-Xers and baby boomers. Gen X includes people born between 1965 and 1980, while baby boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964.

It found that 16.3 percent of millennials aged 25 to 39 were living with a parent in 2021, compared to 12.2 percent of Gen X Canadians in 2006, and 8.2 percent of baby boomers in 1991.

Living at home as an adult is a trend that “has occurred gradually over time and is common to the large cities studied,” StatCan said, noting that 26 percent of millennials residing in Toronto in 2021, and 19.3 percent of millennials in Vancouver, lived with a parent.

“The increase in younger adults living with their parents was most pronounced in Toronto and Vancouver, the two [census metropolitan areas] with the highest rents and house prices,” StatCan added.

The report indicated that in other large cities, the number of individuals aged 25 to 39 living with their parents nearly doubled from 1991 to 2021, mirroring the situation in Toronto and Vancouver.

Halifax and Montreal were the lone exceptions. While the number of young adults living at home increased over time in these regions, it didn’t double. This was likely because both cities had relatively low rents compared to the other urban areas, the report said.

StatCan found that the largest share of adults living with their parents were those 29 or younger. That trend was consistent across all three generations, but the number of those doing so grew substantially between 1991 and 2021.

The percentage of 25- to 29-year-olds living with their parents in a census family has almost doubled nationally, from 15.7 percent in 1991 to 31.1 percent in 2021. However, in Vancouver, this figure increased from 16.7 percent to 36.9 percent, while in Toronto, it rose from 21.8 percent to 48.6 percent, surpassing the national average.

Meanwhile, the number of people in the 25 to 39 age bracket living with a spouse or child declined sharply, the report said.

Nearly 63 percent of millennials were living with a spouse or child in 2021 compared to nearly 70 percent of Gen Xers in 2006 and 74 percent of boomers in 1991.

Millennials between the ages of 25 and 39 also had the lowest homeownership rate—49.9 percent—compared to Gen-Xers at 56.2 percent and baby boomers at 55.9 percent when they were the same age.

Family Formation Changes

The cost of housing in Canada, which has dramatically outpaced wage growth, is contributing to these trends, but StatCan identified family formation changes as another reason.

“There is evidence that housing affordability conditions and delayed family formation—the latter, which itself has multiple and complex causes—have played a significant role in these varied homeownership outcomes,” the report said, noting the declining rates of marriages and common-law unions with each passing generation.

The number of singles is increasing and the stats suggest they are less inclined to buy a home and are more likely to live with parents longer. The trend is especially apparent in Canada’s largest cities. The share of urban adults aged 25 to 39 who are raising families, either as couples or single parents, has declined by 20 percent or more, StatCan said.

Homeownership remains stable among married and common-law couples across the three generations, however.

“The rate of homeownership among those who are married with children is nearly identical between the baby boomers in 1991 and millennials in 2021,” StatCan said. “However, the rate of marriage has declined rapidly among young adults between the generations.”

In 1991, for example, 58 percent of boomers between 25 and 39 were married. That rate decreased to 44.4 percent for Gen-Xers in 2006 and 35.3 percent for millennials in 2021.

StatCan said it plans to examine these trends more fully in the future with a focus on how affordability challenges faced by the different generations affect household trends and incomes over time.