Far Fewer Young Adults Are Reaching Life's Mileposts

Nearly half of 25- to 34-year-olds in the US had reached adult life's major milestones about 50 years ago. That share is down to less than 25% now, an analysis of the Census Bureau's American Community Survey data shows. It means that far fewer young adults have married, had children, are working full time, or have moved out of their parents' home, CNBC reports. Agency statisticians, calling the decline significant, writing that young people seem to be making financial security their priority—given the increasing cost of housing and other expenses.

A Pew Research Center report sees the same economic conditions as behind the shift among millennials and Generation Z to reaching such milestones at an older age. Student debt can play into the delay, the report says; many young adults are still paying for the college degrees they have but their parents lack. Studies have found lingering student loan debt can lead people to put off buying a home, getting married, or having children, per CNBC. "Where I am at with my life is focusing on my career," said Mellisa Soehono, a 29-year-old public relations executive in Florida, "because that's really all I have right now."