More Than 25% of Graduates Live With Parents as Recent-Grad Unemployment Hits 5.6%
Updated
Updated · The Seattle Times · Aug 2
More Than 25% of Graduates Live With Parents as Recent-Grad Unemployment Hits 5.6%
3 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Aug 2
Summary
More than one-quarter of 23-to-27-year-old college graduates were living with parents last year, matching the pandemic peak and up from about 18% in 2001.
A 5.6% unemployment rate for recent graduates in the first quarter helps explain the shift, with high housing costs adding pressure even as the broader economy remains fairly strong.
Some fields have worsened sharply: unemployment for recent chemical engineers more than doubled to 4.7% from 2022 to 2024, while computer engineers' rate more than tripled to 7.8%.
Economists and therapists say the move home is no longer seen mainly as failure, as pandemic-era disruptions, closer parent-child ties and lower stigma make graduates more willing to search from home.
That mix of weak entry-level hiring and changing norms is reshaping who lives at home after college—from aimless strugglers to graduates delaying worse jobs while holding out for better fits.