Baby boomers had a very different start at 25. Today’s 25-year-olds in the UK face a much thinner path into home ownership, and more than 40% are now living with their parents.
That shift runs through housing and work. Home ownership at 25 has fallen from 43% in the mid 1980s to 15%, while employment for 25-year-olds has slipped from 77% 10 years ago to 71%.
Adam Daytona at 26
Adam Daytona moved back home this year and is still living with his parents at 26. He put the trade-off bluntly: “I think there's no world where it's normal to be 26 years old still living at home.”
He added: “It's unfair on me, it's unfair on my parents.” And on the personal side, he said: “To state the obvious, I'm not going to bring a girl back to my parents' house.”
Jane and Neville on the gap
Jane and Neville described the difference between their generation and his in plain terms: “I think it's very difficult for them. They're not able to buy houses like we were able to.” The commissioned the Institute for Fiscal Studies to gather and analyse UK government data on housing, employment and wealth for the first time, and the comparison stretches back across generations at age 25.
The numbers line up with that picture. The share of 25-year-olds living with their parents rose from 25% in the 1990s to 42% today, while housing costs for renters or people with a mortgage in their 20s are the highest they have ever been at this age.
Gen Z and employment
The pressure is not identical across the generation. The source says the jobs squeeze has been felt especially among young women, even as the broader picture points to a tougher start to adulthood for young people in their 20s than any generation in almost half a century.
For readers in their own 20s, the practical read is simple: the gap now shows up in rent, ownership and the ability to move out, not just in household budgets. Adam’s situation sits inside that wider pattern — a generation with more people at home, fewer owners at 25 and a weaker employment rate than a decade ago.
