Adult Kids Returning Home Cost Boomers $1,474 per Month: 5 Ways To Lower Costs and Show Your Love
Written by
Andrew Lisa
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Jenna Klaverweiden
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At the end of 2025, Redfin predicted 2026 would signal the start of what it called the “Great Housing Reset,” a long, slow market recovery that was already forcing households to make sacrifices, such as giving up pets, putting off having children, taking on roommates or, more likely, moving back in with their parents.
A FinanceBuzz study released in March confirmed the trend, finding that 1 in 3 young adults ages 18 to 34 live with their parents, a percentage nearing the historic highs seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many boomers, this means compromising retirement to support their adult children — but it doesn’t have to.
Also see the biggest money mistakes parents make, according to ChatGPT.
What’s Driving the Resurgence of Boomerang Babies?
According to Merriam-Webster, the term “boomerang baby” was coined in 1988 to describe adult children moving back in with their parents, but the phrase went mainstream during the 2020 pandemic, when a record-high 33.6% of adult children moved back home.
The FinanceBuzz study found that the percentage has since returned to a nearly identical 33%, with the following factors driving the trend:
- Two decades of accelerated housing cost increases
- Student loan debt
- Failure of wages to keep pace with inflation
- Job market instability.
The Cost of Caring
Economic pressures are forcing young adults to turn to their boomer parents for financial help, even when they’re not living at home.
A recent AARP study found that 75% of older parents provide support to their grown children, even though 53% are able to meet their own basic needs — and the cost for boomers is substantial.
The fourth annual Savings.com “Bank of Mom and Dad” survey found that the average parent who assists adult children spends $1,474 per month, even when they live under different roofs, for expenses such as cellphone bills, health insurance, groceries and even vacations.
How To Offer Support Without Sinking Your Retirement
For half of boomers, the cost of compassion, care and co-paying invites an enormous retirement risk — nearly 50% of parents have sacrificed their own financial security to support adult children. The danger is that boomers could find themselves underwater financially in retirement, forcing those same adult children to support or even house them, which only amplifies their ongoing money mess.
To avoid negative outcomes, Kiplinger suggested a few strategies:
- Match their savings instead of giving cash to instill good habits.
- Work with them on budgeting and implementing saving and spending plans.
- Offer 0% interest loans repaid through a written installment agreement.
- Recoup some costs by using rewards credit cards to pay for things like groceries for adult children.
- Network on their behalf to help them advance in their education or careers.
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