More Americans than ever living under multi-generational roofs

The Great Recession ended seven years ago, but one key trend it jump-started shows no signs of stalling: more of us live in multi-generational adult households now than ever before.

At last count, nearly one in five Americans lived in a home with at least two generations of adults. The percentage rose to 19% in 2014, new findings from the Pew Research Center show.

The sheer number of Americans living in multi-generational homes has never been higher: 60.6 million of us live under a multi-generational roof, Pew researchers found in analyzing U.S. Census Bureau data.

Several key demographic and economic trends are driving the rise. For one thing, more Americans than ever are now non-white and foreign-born. Both of these groups are more likely to live in multi-generational households, not just due to cultural reasons but because of economics as well, said Pew’s D’Vera Cohn. Living with family, she said, people “can improve their own economic situation” more quickly than if they were living alone.

Overall, Pew found, Asian, African-American and Hispanic families in the USA in 2014 were much more likely than white families to live in multi-generational households — 28% of Asians lived in such households, nearly twice as many, percentage-wise, as whites.

The other factor driving the trend: millions of adult children moving in with their parents. According to Pew, a greater percentage of adults ages 25 to 29 now live with another generation than do seniors 85 and older — 31% vs. 24%.

That’s a huge shift, Cohn pointed out. In 1940, a whopping 63% of seniors lived with younger family members. By 2014, that had dropped to just 24%, as older Americans saw their health, lifespans and financial security improve, she said.

Meanwhile, economic prospects for young people have grown more uncertain. Living with the parents, Cohn suggested, can help build their financial security.

Looking more broadly, Pew researchers recently found that young people — especially those without college degrees — for the first time were more likely to live with their parents than with a spouse or partner.

“When you start looking under the hood of this, it is much more common for young people without college degrees,” Cohn said.

Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo