BACK IN 2023, The Pew Research Center reported that a striking 20 percent of men ages 25 to 34 were living with their parents. That number is down from peak-pandemic levels, but still as high as it’s been since the 1940s.
You might have thoughts about this. We all know the stereotype: That guys who live at home are under-employed, immature basement dwellers. Maybe you’re even aware of what it means to be a “hub-son”—and have opinions on that, too.
But those tropes are off, says Dru Johnston, a Florida-based psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker. “The arrangements I see are usually very clearly parent-adult relationships, with far less enmeshment or codependence than the stereotype suggests,” Johnston says.
In fact, returning home might become even more of a thing. As homeownership continues to decline among millennials, researchers predict an explosion of aging-related medical needs for Baby Boomers over the next decade.
We talked to three guys who are currently living with their parents and asked them to share how it’s playing out in their lives. (We said we'd only use their first names so they could speak freely.)
Michael has moved back into his parents’ house in DeKalb, Illinois on two separate occasions.
The first was in 2012. His cost of living had skyrocketed and his father received a diagnosis of early-onset dementia. While living at home and helping out his mom and dad, Michael earned a degree in education and secured a stable job teaching at a middle school. He and his wife saved up to buy a house, and moved out in 2018.
The second time was in 2025, after the pandemic, a separation from his wife, and his mom’s death. Financial strain and grief led Michael to move back home again, a decision that has enabled him to continue to support his family financially and amicably co-parent his six-year-old daughter.
Despite everything, Michael says he sees his current living situation as a bright spot.
“I was always close to my dad. But now I'm able to support him,” he says. They lean on each other. Michael’s father, a retired therapist, usually has dinner ready by the time Michael gets home from work. When Michael doesn’t have to grade papers, they talk about their days, his daughter, and how the entire family is coping with the significant changes. “He's able to support me in this transition, and I'm grateful for that.”
When he moved back into his family’s multi-generational home Suffield, Connecticut, in 2021, Zach says he got lucky.
He had to move because the restaurant and construction industries were unstable during the pandemic. But the change meant that he could spend quality time with his grandmother before she died last year, shortly after her 100th birthday.
One of the many pieces of wisdom she shared with Zach was the importance of community. “Her dad died when she was really young and people in the town brought her up," says Zach. Nearly five years into living with his mom, uncle, brother, and girlfriend, Zach is carrying on his grandmother’s wisdom.
He manages a deli full-time, and contributes by doing handy work to maintain their home. Everyone takes turns with groceries and cooking, including many recipes from his grandmother. As economic survival becomes more difficult for many, Zach says he hopes that people will start to let go of any shame about leaning on others. “You can’t build generational wealth without generational wisdom or generational support.”
Moving back to his parents’ Brooklyn home in 2020 was a sensible decision that Lawson says still made him feel self-critical. “I could have done more to be more independent,” he says. Instead of choosing a reliable career track, the 36-year-old pursued professional baseball after high school, and then stand-up comedy after that. He supported himself as a dog-walker and lived with roommates in Queens, close to Chinese and Puerto Rican family members.
When the COVID shutdown hit, Lawson opted to shelter-in-place with his parents in Brooklyn. It allowed him to help take care of his aging grandmother and a nearby aunt who lives with disabilities.
Lawson says the move gave him the breathing room to pivot from stand-up to podcasting, where he was able to create a modest income stream. While he considers moving back to Queens, the presence of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in U.S. cities presents another challenge. Lawson coaches his mom and dad through what to do if agents knock on the door, but he feels safer protecting them under the same roof. That said, he’s conflicted about his independence. “I can't let the world being bad control my life.”
ADULTS WHO LIVE with their parents are not a monolith, says Johnston, and not everyone lives with their family for the same reason. Caring for aging or sick parents, job loss, continued education or training, recovery after a separation or divorce, or some other type of financial disruption—he's seen them all.
Johnston has even been there himself—once in his early thirties, with his pregnant spouse and toddler, while he completed graduate school, and again in his fifties, when he was going through a divorce and recovering from an illness.
What all these men had in common was that they used their support systems during a time of uncertainty. Guys like Michael, who grew up in the economic fallout of the Great Recession, know how to adapt.
One thing he's realized is that sharing a meal and asking how his dad’s day went isn't a failure—it's simply another way to provide for his family, even if it looks different from what was expected. “I owe my dad a lot,” Michael says. “He’s always been there for me. I want to be there for him in this later stage in life.”
Although he's reached many traditional milestones in adulthood—a spouse, a child, a mortgage—none of that has protected him from life's curveballs. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” he says.
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