Analysis: More adults living together than ever

CHICAGO — Striking out on one’s own is a rite of passage, but it would appear more adults are doing less solo living lately.

According to a recent analysis by Zillow, as rents rise, more adult renters are finding roommates to cut costs — be they strangers, friends or relatives. The numbers are higher than ever before, said the real estate company, with 30 percent of unmarried adults ages 23 to 65 living together — up from 21 percent in 2005.

In the Chicago metro area, those numbers are slightly higher, with 32.4 percent of adults living together, up from 27.4 percent in 2000. The median rent in Chicago is $1,651. According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, millions of U.S. renters are spending more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent.

“When you look nationwide at the share of households that had roommates or lived with parents, it did start to increase in the years just before the housing bust,” said Aaron Terrazas, Zillow economist. “But it really took off during the financial crisis” that began in 2007.

Since 2005, the doubling up has increased at the same rate among employed and unemployed adults, regardless of age, Zillow found. The share of 20-somethings living in doubled-up households climbed faster than any other age bracket, but people in their 50s came in second.

The median individual income of an employed adults in doubled-up household is $30,000, compared with $45,000 earned by those living alone.

“I think there are both demographic and economic forces driving this,” Terrazas said. “In the near term, I don’t see those forces turning around.”