Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that we’re living with parents for longer, not getting married, living alone, and retiring solo.
The data shows that 3.6 million people aged 20-34 live with their parents – up 9% from a decade earlier. It means 28% still live at home – compared to 25.6% back then. 33.7% of men aged 20-34 live with their parents, and 22.1% of young women.
More people living alone
The statistics also tell us that 29.5% of households are made up of one person living alone. That’s 8.4 million people and it’s up 11% in a decade, while the overall population is up 7%.
More older people live alone
Interestingly the data also shows that 51.1% of those living alone are aged 65 or over – up from 45.5% in 2014. Those aged 65 or over accounted for the total rise in people living alone over the past ten years. A larger proportion of women over 65 live alone (40.9%) than men (27%). The number of men of this age living alone has grown faster than women (21.9% ten years earlier) – for women it has barely changed.
Rise in cohabitation
This demographic research also shows that two thirds of families (65.1%) are married or civil-partnered couples (down from 67.1% ten years earlier); and 17.7% are cohabiting couple families – up from 16.4% a decade earlier.
These numbers come from the ONS published data on households and families in 2024: Families and households in the UK: 2024 – Office for National Statistics
On the findings, Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments: “Lives are much lumpier than they once were. We no longer smoothly move forward through life – moving out, getting married, having kids and staying together for life. Instead, we do things later, in a different order, and with plenty of steps backwards along the way.
“In a huge number of cases, people skip a step altogether, choosing not to get married or not to move in with anyone else. It means we need to build our financial lives to overcome new challenges and suit the way we live today.”
Young people live with their parents for longer
Sarah comments further: “Flying the nest is no longer a given. The incredible cost of renting or buying a place of their own means 3.6 million of those aged 20-34 are still stuck in their childhood bedroom. It doesn’t just mean young people struggle to move forward with the rest of their lives, it also means that when they eventually buy a home, they’ll be much older.
“Coupled with the fact they are taking on longer mortgages, it means they’ll be paying the mortgage far later in life, so it’s more difficult to prioritise pension saving. It has implications for their parents too. They may still be covering all the costs of having their children at home and are still waiting for the empty nest to give them chance to super-charge their retirement savings. If downsizing was part of the plan, it could mean their retirement has to be put on hold until their children move out.”
More people live alone
The ONS study also shows that more people are living alone and Sarah comments on the impact this is having: “They’re paying an enormous price for it. Despite making less per person than their coupled-up counterparts, they end up spending far more on the essentials, because there’s nobody to split the bills with. The essential costs of putting a roof over their heads (rent, mortgage, council tax and fuel) costs single people an average of £7,974 a year – whereas it costs couples £6,215 each (£12,430 combined) – so singles are spending £1,759 more each.
“As a result, they have to cut back on all the nicer things in life. So, for example, they spend an average of £689 on clothes, while couples spend £789 each. Even these compromises aren’t enough. A single person living on their own has an average of £42 at the end of the month – after normal expenses – much less than half of the £383 a couple has left over. As a result, they have less put aside in savings – 46% of singles fall short of the recommended minimum, compared to just 16% of couples.”
Cohabitation is on the rise
With finances being squeezed and tough times for businesses and consumers, it is no surprise that cohabitation is on the rise.
Sarah comments: “We’re increasingly likely to live with someone before we tie the knot – or choose not to get married at all. This saves couples rushing into a legal commitment that can be horribly painful and expensive to unwind. It’s one of the reasons why the divorce rate has been trending downwards in the past 30 years.
“However, while it may make a split quicker and less complicated, it can still be a financial nightmare, because you don’t have the same rights as a married couple. It means that if you split up and one of you owns the house in their name, the other may have no right to a share of the property.
“If one of you has sacrificed their career for caring responsibilities, they have no right to spousal maintenance. If you have focused building a pension in one name, the other has no right to share, and if you have taken on debts or hold savings unevenly, there’s no automatic right to have this balanced out.”