---
title: "After recession, more children living with Grandma or Grandpa"
description: "In 2011, about 3 million U.S. children were living with and being primarily cared for by a grandparent."
date: "2013-09-18"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/09/18/after-recession-more-children-living-with-grandma-or-grandpa/"
categories:
  - "Family & Relationships"
  - "Household Structure & Family Roles"
  - "Recessions & Recoveries"
---

# After recession, more children living with Grandma or Grandpa

Hard times can act to bring families together, and the Great Recession of 2007-09 was no different: The number of children living with a grandparent surged after the onset of the recession, as did the number of children whose primary caregiver was that grandparent.

![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/09/SDT-grandparents-new-03.png)

A Pew Research Center analysis of Census data found that [7.7 million U.S. children](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/09/04/at-grandmothers-house-we-stay/) -- about 10% of all children in the country -- were living in the same household as at least one of their grandparents in 2011, and for 3 million that grandparent also was their primary caregiver. Both trends stabilized at higher level after the recession's official end in mid-2009.

In most cases (71%), grandchildren living with a grandparent are actually living in the grandparent’s household. This share rises to 94% among those children who are also being cared for primarily by a grandparent.

But living with or being cared for by a grandparent doesn't mean parents are out of the picture: In 80% of cases where children are living with a grandparent, at least one of the child’s parents also is in the household. And in more than half of the cases where children are both living with a grandparent and being cared for primarily by that grandparent, at least one of the child’s parents is also present.

Rather, these new multigenerational households likely are a byproduct of people losing their jobs, homes or both during the downturn. That shouldn't perhaps come as much of a surprise: A previous [Pew Research analysis](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/08/01/a-rising-share-of-young-adults-live-in-their-parents-home/) found recent increases in the share of young adults living in their parents’ homes; another Pew Research study documented general [increases in multi-generational](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/03/18/the-return-of-the-multi-generational-family-household/) households, and other researchers have pointed to [increases in cohabitation](http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/Inc-Opp-sex-2009-to-2010.pdf) that have occurred in recent years as well.