Thursday, June 23, 2011

Adult Children in the Home

The Census Bureau is now releasing 2010 census data on a state-by-state basis revealing, among other things, those all-important household relationships. Data for 12 states have been released so far, including the nation's most populous state, California. This morning's Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story about how nontraditional households in California--such as households headed by unmarried partners--are growing.

The Times missed the bigger story: the doubling in the percentage of adults living in a very traditional way--with their parents.

Buried in the 2010 census table QT-P12, and requiring a minor calculation to determine the result, is this astounding fact: 9.5 percent of California's household population are adult children living with their parents. If you add in adults living in the home of a grandparent, the figure rises to a full 10 percent. Ten percent!

Adults who live with a parent (or grandparent) is the 4th most common household relationship in California after householder (35 percent), spouse of householder (17 percent), and child of householder under age 18 (22 percent). It far surpasses the percentage of people who are unmarried partners (2 percent).

That's not all. The percentage of people who are adult children of the householder has more than doubled since 2000. The number of adults in California who live with their parents grew from 1.5 million in 2000 to 3.5 million in 2010.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

These folks won't form households until jobs are created. What will drive California job growth over the next 36 months?

JeanneWeier said...

Thanks for presenting these numbers. We knew it was high, but had no idea it was THAT high. The increase from 2000 to 2010 is astonishing. Unfortunately, these living arrangements can have a negative impact on the family unit. Hopefully, more resources will become available for family's to navigate these tough times. Often, much stress can be avoided just by clear and open communication and well defined boundaries and expectations.

We'll be citing this information on our blog. Thanks again for posting it.

Jeanne @
A Sane Approach>