More adults living with their parents

In 2021, around 1 in every 4.5 families (22.4%) had an adult child, up from around 1 in 5 (21.2%) in 2011.

The total number of adult children living with their parents increased 14.7% in the same period from around 4.2 million in the 2011 Census to around 4.9 million in Census 2021.

In this article, the term “adult children” is used to refer to everyone who is considered a “non-dependent child”.

This term refers to a person aged over 18 years who is living with their parent(s) and does not have a spouse, partner or child living with them. It also includes anyone aged 16 to 18 years who is not in full-time education and does not have a spouse, child or partner living with them.

The average age of adult children has risen across England and Wales in the decade to 2021. Most people in their early 20s were living with their parents by the time of Census 2021.

There are many factors that may cause a person to live with their parents as an adult. Adults were more likely to live with their parents in areas where housing is less affordable. Adult children were also more likely to be unemployed, or providing unpaid care.

Male adult children outnumbered female adult children in 2021 at a ratio of about 3 to 2 (60.8% and 39.2%, respectively). This is a similar split to 2011 (61.6% and 38.4%).

Despite Census 2021 being conducted during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and associated lockdowns, the rise in numbers of adults living with their parents appears to be a continuing trend rather than a result of the pandemic.

Children living with their parents at older ages

The average (median) age of adult children living with their parents in England and Wales in 2021 was 24 years, one year older than in 2011.

Adult children were oldest in London, where the average age was 25 years. The median age in every other English region and that of Wales was 24 years.

This varied at local authority level. In five London boroughs adult children’s average age had risen to 26 years. These include the neighbouring boroughs of Harrow (up from 24 years), Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Brent (all up from 25 years). Haringey also saw the average age of adult children rise to 26 years from 24 years. Selby, in Yorkshire and The Humber, had the lowest average age of all local authorities at 23 years. This was unchanged from 2011.

The number of adult children at older ages rose in the decade between 2011 and 2021. Across England and Wales, the share of 20- to 24-year-olds living with their parents rose from 44.5% to just over half (51.2%). Similarly, the share of 25- to 29-year-olds living with their parents rose from around one in five (20.1%) in 2011 to more than one in four (26.7%).

The proportion of adult children rose at every age above 19 years between 2011 and 2021

Individuals in each age cohort classified as adult children as a share of all usual residents, England and Wales

More than 1 in 10 (11.6%) of those aged 30 to 34 years were living with their parents in Census 2021, up from 8.6% a decade earlier.

At the same time, the number of adult children aged 16 to 18 years fell, as reported in our People’s living arrangements in England and Wales: Census 2021 article.

While 15.6% of those aged 16 to 18 years were adult children in 2011, only 12.0% were adult children in Census 2021. This decline was larger in England, from 15.5% in 2011 to 11.9% in 2021, compared with that in Wales (16.9% to 14.3%).

The larger decline may be a result of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which raised the age at which people must remain in education or training in England to 17 years in 2013 and to 18 years in 2015.

One in four London families had adult children in the home

More than one in four (26.8%) London families had at least one adult child in the home, the largest proportion of any English region. The smallest number was in the South West at around one in five (19.3%) families. In Wales, 23.2% of families had at least one adult child.

Six of the ten local authorities with the highest proportion of families with adult children were in London. The highest was in Brent, where almost one in three (32.4%) families had adult children living with them.

Other areas where families with adult children were most common include Leicester (30.4%), Knowsley (30.2%) and Birmingham (29.9%).

The lowest proportions were in Rutland (16.4%), Cotswold (16.9%) and Rushcliffe (16.9%). Cities in England and Wales with some of the lowest proportions of families with adult children include Cambridge (17.2%) and Winchester (17.3%).