Should You Move Back Home to Save Money? What Experts Say About the Tradeoffs

Housing has never been more expensive in the United States. As of September 2025, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is about $1,640 per month, up nearly 1% from last year. Home prices are also near historic highs, with the median existing-home sale price in the U.S. reaching $429,400 in the second quarter of 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Those high prices put many young Americans in a financial bind. Many are choosing to forgo the cost of housing and live at home with their parents. In fact, according to Pew Research, 57% of Americans aged 18 to 24 are living in a parent’s home, even higher than the 53% who lived at home in 1993.

Living at home can save on rent, but there are other tradeoffs to consider.

The Numbers Behind Moving Back Home

Most people argue that the best reason to move back home is to save massive amounts of money. For most people, this is true—especially if your parents don’t expect you to contribute to the rent, mortgage, or bills.

“Where I’m in Massachusetts, a crummy apartment will go for over $2,000 per month, which means I’m saving at least $24,000 a year,” says Joe Luciano, a 23-year-old broker associate at RE/MAX Bentley’s, a real estate agency in Newburyport, Massachusetts. “ I view it as a short-term trade-off to longer-term financial stability.”

Those savings can help you establish financial independence in the future. “[Living at home] allows me to set money aside for eventually buying my first home,” Luciano explains.

Even if you are expected to contribute to the bills, there’s a good chance that your parents bought their house when prices were lower. That means that your share of the mortgage would be much lower than the cost of renting an equivalent space today.

That doesn’t mean you won’t face financial pressure—especially if your parents are renters in high-priced markets, or if they expect you to shoulder the entire burden. For example, according to Pew Research, 10% of young Americans report experiencing negative financial consequences from living at home.

But while it may be financially smart, there are other things to worry about before you move back home.

When Living With Parents Can Hurt Your Career

For Luciano, living at home allows him to enhance his business — it doesn’t detract from his professional life.

“For me, it allows me to invest in my business instead of covering rent or splitting with roommates,” he explains. “I currently spend around $1,200 a month on business expenses being in real estate, so living at home for free is huge.”

However, living with your parents can also inhibit your professional life—especially if your parents live outside of a major metropolitan area where your professional field tends to congregate. For example, it’s hard to work in tech if you live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alyson Austin, a 56-year-old founder of the media and public relations firm Gaffney Austin, says that she purchased her mother’s home so they could live together. She currently cares for her mother full-time while running her business remotely. 

“It is far less expensive to live in Maine than it was in California. It is better for me to be with her here in this house than to send [my mother] to live in a facility,” says Austin.

But that arrangement might not be possible without the flexibility of being her own boss, Austin acknowledges. “My whole team knows I live with my elderly mother, and they pick up the slack if I tell them I need more time with her from week to week.”

Setting Boundaries That Protect Your Wallet and Your Sanity

The decision to move back home depends heavily on your relationship with your family. Even if you have a good relationship with your parents, it’s common to feel that living at home is somehow “stunting” your development as an adult.

Pew reports that 32% of young adults living at home experience a negative impact on their sense of independence, while 24% feel a negative impact on their social lives. Core life experiences like dating and finding a life partner become a lot more complicated with mom and dad in the next bedroom.

“Being single makes it easier to live at home, but living at home makes it harder to date,” explains Luciano. 

In these situations, setting boundaries is always important. But those boundaries will depend on your situation. If you’re young, exerting your independence might mean being carefree. But if you’re a caretaker, make sure you do exercise that freedom responsibly.

“My mother does have a life-alert device that she can use if I am out of the house for any reason,” Austin explains. “This is important for our sanity. I need to get out occasionally, and she has a system in place to seek help, if necessary.”