Overview:
Many young Denverites are choosing to stay at or return to their parents' house because of the city's increasingly expensive housing prices.
Denver is growing and it is growing fast. On top of that, the cost of living is increasingly making it difficult for younger adults to take advantage of opportunities that past generations had. The result is many young adults living with their families after completing their education rather than the rite of passage of moving out on their own.
“I don’t plan on moving out just because of financial concerns, but as well as ease of access with my family and the cultural aspect of it as well. I don’t feel the need or want to put out financially,” said Kevin Truong, a 25-year-old Colorado native who moved back home after graduating from CU Boulder in 2022.
The United States Census Bureau shows that Truong isn’t alone. Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing number of adults in the United States ages 18 to 34 still living with their parents. Specifically in Denver, a RentCafe report found that 63% of Gen Z still live with their parents.
“I moved back home and it just felt so easy and comfortable,” Truong said. “I do think at times that I do want to move out. But just looking at how expensive everything is in the economy, I personally want to be a homeowner instead of a renter.”
Bankrate shows that out of all 50 states, 45 of those states have a lower median home price compared to Colorado. The median Denver home price in December 2024 is roughly $580,000 and the median rent for all types of apartments and/or living spaces is around $1,915, according to The Luxury Playbook. These prices make it difficult for some people to move out and afford to live on their own because Denver’s median household income is $98,000 per year, which is significantly less than the $140,000 to $160,000 required to live comfortably.
Truong is one of those Gen Zs who plan to live with his parents to continue saving money while helping around the house to put enough away to eventually buy a house. On the other side of the coin is Sergio Montoya, a 25-year-old Gen Zer (brother of the reporter) who currently lives with his parents but plans on moving out soon.
The Broomfield native moved back to his parents’ house in 2021. “I have lived my whole life with my parents, with the exception of one year,” Montoya said. “The cost of living is high right now and so is rent and other expenses. But my dad told me if I don’t move out as I get older, it will become harder for me to move on.”
Montoya also adds that if he wasn’t born in Denver or lived in a different city, he would have been out of his parents’ house sooner. Montoya has been staying with his parents to save up money to put a good amount down for either a townhome or a condo, but Montoya’s parents want him to get out on his own.
“I have personal pressure and then also pressure from my parents to move out; that I need to grow up and become my own adult,” Montoya said. “I don’t think it’s impossible. It’s manageable to do so. I feel like I’m fully capable of living out on my own and providing for myself.”
With Montoya’s plans to move out of his parents’ house, another Gen Zer has been defying the odds and refusing to become another statistic. Kenny Nguyen graduated from Regis University back in 2022 with a degree in health and exercise science. During his college years, he stayed home with his parents to save up money to move out and pay for his studies.
“I always wanted to move out; it was always a goal of mine. But of course, financial stability has always been a priority of mine,” Nguyen said. “So, if I didn’t have the money, I would have not moved out.”
After his graduation, Nguyen moved in with roommates in a townhome in the city of Thornton for about a year until he met his fiancé and the pair put their money together and bought a home in Parker last year.
“I wouldn’t say it has been necessarily easy [owning a home],” Nguyen said. “I think going into it, we had a plan and I wouldn’t do anything just blindly. We were lucky enough to be financially stable to buy a house.”
For all three of them, the main takeaway has been that they used living with their parents after college or high school to save money in order to achieve financial stability and eventually move out of their parents’ home.
“I am optimistic about moving out, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for when the time comes,” Truong said. “I’m just here to enjoy what I have at the moment. When my cards are right, I’ll be ready to move out.”
