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OTTAWA — Millennials aged 25 to 39 were nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as baby boomers when they were the same age, a new Statistics Canada analysis shows.
According to census data, 16.3 per cent of millennials were living with at least one parent in 2021 compared with 8.2 per cent boomers in 1991.
The agency says the proportion of millennials living with their parents was highest in Toronto and Vancouver, the two most expensive housing markets in the country.
For those in their mid-to-late 20s, the trend of living with parents has increased considerably.
The rate of millennials aged 25 to 29 living with parents doubled nationally to 31.1 per cent in 2021, up from 15.7 per cent in 1991.
That number is even higher for Toronto and Vancouver — outpacing national levels. In Toronto, 48.6 per cent of millennials were living with parents in 2021, up from 21.8 per cent in 1991. In Vancouver, that number jumped to 36.9 per cent from 16.7 per cent three decades ago.
“These findings may indicate that affordability challenges influence the timing of leaving the parental home, but that there could also be some catching up by the late 30s in terms of family and household formation,” the report said.
StatCan said there has been gradual growth in the share of younger adults living with their parents and without a spouse, partner or child over time.
The report looked at census data for the 25-to-39-year-old cohort in 1991, 2006 and 2021, which roughly corresponded to baby boomers, gen X and millennials.
After adjusting for the fact that young Canadians are now living with their parents longer, the agency said millennials still had a lower rate of home ownership in 2021 compared with the previous two generations.
It said 49.9 per cent of millennials owned homes in 2021, compared with 56.2 per cent in 2006 and 55.9 per cent in 1991.
That pattern held in the eight large metropolitan cities across the country. The declining rate of home ownership among millennials was most prominent in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Among millennials who owned homes, the share of those with a single detached home was also lower compared with previous generations.
For instance, the share of baby boomers aged 25 to 39 years who owned single detached homes in Vancouver was 36.3 per cent in 1991. That rate had dropped to 12.2 per cent in 2021 for millennials.
StatCan suggests the housing market shift among younger Canadians is part of a broader societal shift — staying in school longer, entering the labour force later, getting married later and buying a home when they have access to the traditional dual-income household.
The steady shift of millennials living longer with their parents “cannot simply be attributed to more recent affordability challenges in some of Canada’s largest cities,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, delayed milestones have been in part compensated for by longer life expectancies for younger generations.
StatCan said there has been a notable decline in the share of Canadians who are living with a spouse, partner or child at 62.8 per cent in 2021, down from 74.4 per cent in 1991.
However, there are signs that millennials were hitting some of the traditional milestones in their late 30s, which the StatCan labelled as “catching up.”
In 2021, millennials aged 25 to 29 were 31 per cent less likely to live with a spouse, partner or child, compared with boomers in 1991. However, the relative difference between the two generations dropped to 7.2 per cent, when comparing millennials aged 35 to 39 with their boomer counterparts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.
The Canadian Press
