A half-century ago, four markers were sometimes said to characterize adulthood: moving out of the parental home, getting a job, getting married, and having kids. How have those patterns evolved over time? Paul Hemez and Jonathan Vespa of the US Census Bureau provide some figures in “Significant Drop in Share of Young Adults Achieving Four Milestones: Moving Out of Parental Home, Marriage, Work and Having Kids” (August 5, 2025).
Back in 1975, 45% of all 25-34 year-olds had all four markers of adulthood. Another 22%–many of them stay-at-home moms–were out of the parents’ home, married, and with children, but not in the workforce. In 2024, only 21% of the 25-34 year-olds could check off all four markers of adulthood.
A big part of what’s happening here is a greater emphasis on economic goals (working and out of the parents’ house) and a lesser emphasis on family goals (married and children). Hemez and Vespa have also authored a working paper, “Changes in Milestones of Adulthood,” with a focus on the changes in the markers of adulthood from 2005-2023 (US Census Bureau, Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division, SEHSD Working Paper Number: FY 2025-03). For that paper, they have reframed the four markers of adulthood into five: “living away from their parents,
completing their education, labor force participation, marrying, and living with a child.”
Here’s the similar figure comparingi 2005 and 2023. Even in this relatively shorter time, the share of 25-34 year-olds meeting all five markers drops substantially, while the share meeting only three economic markers–that is not including marriage or living with children–rises substantially.
This figure shows the trendlines for the five markers of adulthood separately, rather than in combination.
In a way, these figures just put numbers behind broader patterns that are already familiar to many of us. Underlying realities like greater freedom for women to pursue education and careers, as well as greater control over fertility, seem to me to be real social gains. But I also wonder to what extent the outcomes of a smaller share who are married, or who have children, reflects an actual personal preference, or is a result of crowding-out by the economic markers of adulthood and a shift in social expectations.
