For millennials there’s no place like home with mom

More millennials in Phoenix are choosing to live with their mothers, mirroring a national trend as a slow job market is not keeping pace with higher rents, according to an analysis of housing data by Zillow, a real estate data company. 

In 2005, about 9 percent of Phoenix millennials, ages 24-34, lived with their moms. That increased to 18.3 percent in 2014. 

Nationally, 13.1 percent of millennials lived with their moms in 2005 and that jumped to 21.4 percent in 2014.


The median rent in Phoenix for the first quarter was $1,264, up 2.7 percent from a year ago. The U.S. median rent for the quarter was $1,389, also up 2.7 percent. Zillow forecasts rents to increase about 3 percent over the next 12 months to $1,426.

“With today’s high rents and lagging income growth, many young people are having trouble setting aside enough money to buy their own home, delaying home ownership,” said Svenja Gudell, Zillow chief economist. “Living with their parents may allow young people to continue to do things like continue their education, save enough money for first and last month’s rent or save for a down payment.”

U.S. rents are on the rise and incomes have not kept up, especially for young adults, who have faced a sluggish job market over the last decade. Over the past year, rents have increased almost 3 percent, while incomes have increased just 1.8 percent.

 The decision to stay with mom could be driven by affordability or culture. In general, Hispanic families are more likely to live in multigenerational households, and many of the places with a large share of young adults living with their mothers also have large Hispanic communities.

El Paso has the biggest percentage of millennials living with mom, almost 34 percent, a 12 percentage point increase since 2005. Other places with a large percentage of millennials crashing with their moms are Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Ventura, Calif.

Omaha, which made Zillow’s recent list of hot housing markets to watch in 2016, has the smallest percentage of millennials living with Mom, 11 percent. Other markets with a small percentage of millennials living with mom include Seattle, Denver and Portland.