More Renters Are Living With Roommates

An analysis of American Community Survey data reveals telling trends in rental housing—specifically about the number of renters sharing their homes with roommates or their parents.

Lauren Brentz shares insight into the findings of the analysis by the team at Zillow. The three headlining findings are as follows:

• 30 percent of working-age adults—aged 23 to 65—live in doubled-up households, up from a low of 21 percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 1990.
• Adults living with roommates or family members earn 67 cents for every dollar made by adults who live on their own (or with a partner).
• More than half (54 percent) of young adults aged 23-29 live in doubled-up households, with either roommates or family members.

According to Brentz, these findings indicate renters looking for new ways to offset housing prices. Also of note from the findings: great variation in rates of doubling up depending on metro areas. New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, two of the most expensive rental markets in the country, have the highest rates of doubling up.