Austin Ranks Low Among Cities With Adults Living With Parents

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Austin really stood out in a recent study titled "Cities With the Most Adults Still Living With Their Parents," but not for the reason you might immediately think.

Researchers at LendingTree, an online lending exchange, studied the nation's 50 largest metro to learn where the most young adults still living with their parents were located. Austin distinguished itself as being among the nation's biggest cities that have the least number of people between the ages of 25-40 still live at home.

Analysts zeroed in on men as part of their study, and they reported: "Men between the ages of 25 and 40 are more likely to live with their parents in every metro we reviewed," analysts wrote in a summary. "Except Austin, Texas," they added parenthetically.

Way to go, guys. Keep handling your business.

The capital city ranked low in the reckoning, sliding into the 43rd spot between Portland and Nashville, respectively. In Austin, 12.8 percent of adults between the ages of 25-40 were living with the parental units, 30.1 percent of them with their own children living at home and 5.4 percent unemployed.

Within the studied group in Austin, 22.5 percent were reported as not participating in the work force. The segment was almost evenly split between men and woman, with 48.9 percent men and 51.1 percent women, researchers found.

Neighboring San Antonio didn't fare as well, making the top 10 list of cities with the most young adults still living at home — the only major Texas city making the dubious short list. San Antonio was sandwiched between New York and New Orleans on the list of cities with the most young adults living with their parents, according to the study.

In the Alamo City, 23.2 percent of the studied group still lived with mom and/or dad, researchers found. Of those, 29.5 percent were found to have children of their own living with them, with 7.6 percent of them finding themselves unemployed. More than half, 54.5 percent, of those living with parents are men and 45.5 percent are women.

Back in Austin, the city also was found to have the highest share of adults participating in the labor force at 22.5 percent.

Moving out of our parents' home is a time-honored rite of passage, marking a person's entry into full-fledged adulthood. Those prolonging an exit from the nest (a "failure to launch as termed by analysts) offered myriad reasons for their extended stay at their parents homes — from a desire to prolong adolescence to an aversion to marriage and commitment.

Yet the overriding reason was rooted in economics: "While these factors might play some role, the reality for most adults ages 25 to 40 living with their parents is that they lack the money to move out and establish their own households," analysts wrote. "Some might be unemployed and looking for work, while some have left the labor force altogether. Other young adults have their own children and live with parents out of a need for child care and support."

Among the study's other findings:

• San Antonio, Orlando and Riverside had the highest rates of parenthood among young adults living with parents, out of the top 10 cities overall. In these cities, nearly three in 10 young adults who live at home with parents also live with a child of their own.
• Of the top 10 cities where more adults are living with parents, the highest unemployment rates among this cohort are found in New Orleans (11.2 percent), Riverside (10.8 percent) and Baltimore (10.6 percent). In these cities, more than 1 in 10 of these adults living under their parents’ roofs are unemployed and actively seeking work.
• The cities among the top 10 with the highest rates of nonparticipation in the labor force among adults living with their parents are San Antonio (25.3 percent), New Orleans (24.1 percent) and Orlando (19.5 percent).
• Across the board, men make up the bigger share of adults who live with their parents, but the difference was more pronounced in some of the top 10 cities. In both Providence and Philadelphia, men make up a larger majority (56.7 percent) of adults living with parents. New York follows close behind, with a 56.2 percent male majority of adults living with their parents.

The findings were compiled by a team at MagnifyMoney, a LendingTree brand. To see the full study, click here.