I can find information of how many adult children (early 20s specifically but any number will help) live with their parents, and tons of advice on whether or not it’s a good idea to make them pay rent and when and how. But I can’t seem to find out how many actually do live with their parents rent-free. (I’m looking for US numbers, but any culturally similar country would be useful). SDMB is my go-to source when I’m stumped. Thanks for any help.
It’s probably possible to get numbers from the Census of related adult children living in their parents’ home.
But I can’t imagine where you would figure out if that is “rent-free”. I don’t know of any way that would be reported in any government statistics. Possibly the parents would report the rent they receive as income on their tax returns, but those are very confidential. And that is the opposite of what you want, rent-payers.
I think the best you might get is some “expert’s” estimate of this – then the accuracy of that depends on your evaluation of the trustworthiness of that expert.
Best way to get a count is for us to list 'em.
- My friend C. who lives with his mom rent free.
Ok who’s next?
Sorry I wish I could be more help but I just don’t think this is the kind of thing that people are going to be able to answer easily.
I found this: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323699704578326583020869940
There is no indication as to what proportion of those do pay rent, but the article is aimed at convincing parents that it is a good idea.
This study/survey says 10% of adult children living at home pay rent:
http://www.bankingmyway.com/home/the-high-cost-of-having-young-adults-live-at-home
That’s what I was looking for. It’s not a huge deal. Just needed some sort of quasi authoritative source.
And for this purpose, I am not sure if the OP would count young adults, 18-21 who are still in school. I wouldn’t.
They could be over 21 and still in school. My father had an undergraduate degree and two graduate degrees in three separate fields. He lived at home until he was 36. Reminds me of that old joke: how do we know that Jesus was Jewish? He stayed single until he was 35, went into his father’s business, and lived with a mother who thought he was God.
If one of my kids lived at home I would not charge them rent and declare it as income. I would ask them to pay a share of the household expenses. I don’t see any way they could tax that.
I probably won’t charge them rent while they’re in college, but I definitely will if they want to stay with me afterward. I think it’s important; I have an acquaintance whose parents constantly gave him money and never made him repay them or pay rent, and as a result he’s absolutely useless. He’s never held a job long-term and now that they’re dead, once he sold the house his mom bought him and squandered a couple hundred grand in less than a year, he lives in a basement studio apartment. In college, he never accepted any internship opportunities, even paid ones, because “once he graduated he was going to be worth $200k/year, why would he work for $12/hr?”
Never got a job in that field, needless to say. I know an anecdote is not especially convincing evidence, but I think that letting adult kids live with you rent-free ruins them because it bypasses the developmental stage at which they need to be learning financial responsibility and consequences. That 18-25 age is when the forebrain completes adult-stage development that helps us foresee long-term consequences and make decisions accordingly; personally, I think it’s very important to make sure that people start assuming financial responsibility for their basic survival needs at that point, and if they miss that experience they are permanently stunted in that area.
Oh, and if they’re living with you and in school full-time, you can claim them as dependents until they’re 24, unless they’re married and filing jointly. It gets a little complicated, though, and you do have to report their income if they have any, so it’s best to have a good accountant who can walk you through the options.
I lived with my parents rent free when I was unemployed and when I was employed (in a temp job with no benefits, a lot of which was part time). because I didn’t pay rent I was able to pay off my student loans 17 years ahead of time (3 years instead of 20), save up enough to buy a used car, remove all debt, and have a nice cushion in case I have unpredicted expenses. If I hadn’t done those things I would be in much worse financial situation, with various kinds of debt that I would be paying interest on. Instead I am debt free and earning interest on various investments.
So I totally disagree. My parents rent/utilities would’ve been almost exactly the same whether I lived there or not.
And with us being in a long term mild depression people are going to have to start shacking up to save money. Roommates, kids/parents living at home, etc. is going to have to become normal. Another effect of the economy is the barter economy. Its how people are going to survive.
I agree. Of the four of us, I (the oldest) was the only one required to pay rent once I left school but still lived at home. Reasoning that if I was spending the money I should have the privacy, freedom, ability to have overnight guests and other perks, I moved out. Unfortunately, the backlash was that they stopped charging rent - my siblings still live at home, and attempts to live on their own have been disasters to various degrees.
Depends on exactly what you mean by “rent”. If you mean a separate payment strictly for rent (and maybe utilities) and the adult child buys his or own separate food, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, etc. then it will probably be a very small number and mostly those who live in a separate apartment in their parents’ house. If you mean any contribution to household expenses, whether it’s paying some or all of the utility bills or a set payment to cover “room and board” it will be a much higher number.
I live in NYC and know lots of people who lived with their parents as adults. Few of them contributed nothing - even the ones with student loans or who were saving for a wedding or to buy a house contributed something. The ones who contributed nothing? Let’s just say their parents didn’t do them any favors. All through their 20’s and 30s and even into their 40s, they were able to work at the low-paying , low stress jobs they loved, and could afford to take three or four week-long vacations and a few long weekends a year. They didn’t have any student loans as they went to the super-inexpensive public university which charged under $1000 a year at the time they attended and their paychecks were spent strictly on their own personal needs and wants. And then their parents died, and the pension and social security checks stopped and they found out a few things:
- You can’t live by yourself even in a cheap (by NYC standards) apartment on $25,000 a year - forget vacations and the newest electronic gadgets.And the apartment is rent-controlled, so moving to a smaller one is not an option. (the rent would be higher)
- When you have spent the 20 years since college working in a low-level clerical or retail job, no one cares that you have a degree. You’re not going to get the same sort of jobs you had a chance at 20 years ago right after you graduated.
They had to either get roommates or better paying jobs , and the better paying jobs they were finally able to get were physically harder, offered less vacation time (which was OK 'cause they couldn’t afford vacations anymore) and often involved shift work rather than the M-F, 9-5 they were used to. It was a very difficult adjustment for them to make in their mid-forties. I’m not sure which was worse-giving up their standard of living or the flip-flop when they compared themselves to the rest of us. Because this happened to them right about the time the rest of us started to be able to afford more luxuries.