Relationships February 9, 2017
Forty percent of early 20-somethings – aged 23 to 24 – still have their parents paying their rent.
Surveys that track young people into the beginning of adulthood show that 20-somethings are still borrowing upwards of $3,000 a year from their parents just to get by.
And it gets even worse depending on your career path. For example, 53 percent of 20-somethings working in art and design have to turn to their parents for rent money.
A new study shows that 40 percent of 20-somethings are still borrowing money from their parents to pay rent. Image via New York Times
Twenty-somethings in those fields end up borrowing even more annually from their parents, with it totaling around $3,600.
On the flip side, 20-somethings who work in fields such as farming and construction appear to be borrowing the least.
Of course, they are even more likely to seek financial assistance from their parents if they live in urban centers where housing and necessities are more expensive.
The data comes from a survey by The Upshot, which analyzed a group of more than 2,000 young people from 2007 to 2013.
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The dependence seems to stem, at least in part, from the increasing difficulty of getting into entry-level jobs in fields such as art, education and health.
And now with the increased difficulty of securing a job in such fields, coupled with lower pay and a rising cost of living, it is much harder to relocate for better work opportunities than it has ever been. That American dream of uprooting yourself and getting a fresh start somewhere else doesn’t really exist anymore.
And the numbers show that financial dependence continues to grow at an alarming rate. In the Eighties, fewer than half of 20-somethings borrowed money from their parents.
In comparison, nearly 70 percent of that age group was turning to their parents for financial support come 2010, according to a study called “Historical Trends in Parental Financial Support of Young Adults.”
Looks like it could be a long time before 20-somethings are able to establish themselves and pay their own way.
Sorry, mom and dad.
