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Young Europeans Living at Home, Debunked

Headlines keep saying tons young people are “boomeranging” back to mum and dad’s house, but YPulse data shows a slightly different story…

Written and Edited by the YPulse Editorial Team

Aug 26 2026
Western Europe

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In a tale as old as time, headlines have long painted young people as “stuck” living at home
Despite the stories, the majority of European twentysomethings and thirtysomethings live somewhere other than their parents’ home
Even for those who do, living at home has more to the story than their reluctance to leave

For years, YPulse has watched the same headline cycle play out: young people are living at home with their parents and can’t seem to leave. It’s happening in the U.S., it’s happening across Europe, and somehow, the story never seems to really go away. Case in point: just last week, just last week, yet another article—this time from Brussels Signal—highlighted the difficulty young Spaniards are facing trying to move out of their parents’ homes, even as more are working and landing better jobs. We dug into this same topic back in 2023, when the headlines were once again painting a...