---
title: "Multi-generational Living During Hard Times"
description: "A new Pew Research Center report explores the demographics and economics of multi-generational households. It concludes that moving to a multi-generational household appears to lift Americans out of poverty, and this is especially true for groups most affected by the recession. Household incomes also are higher for some groups in multi-generational households."
date: "2011-10-03"
authors:
  - name: "D’Vera Cohn"
    job_title: "Former Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/dvera-cohn/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/10/03/the-economics-of-multi-generational-living-during-hard-times/"
categories:
  - "Economic Conditions"
  - "Household Structure & Family Roles"
  - "Personal Finances"
---

# Multi-generational Living During Hard Times

The number of Americans living in multi-generational households shot up from 2007 to 2009, the years of the Great Recession, to a record 51.4 million people. A new report from the Pew Research Center reports on the demographics and economics of these households, and concludes that moving into a multi-generational households appears to[ "lift people out of poverty." ](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/Multigenerational-Households-Final1.pdf)

The poverty rate for people living in multi-generational households was 11.5% in 2009. For people living in other types of households, it was 14.6%. The divergence in poverty rates between multi-generational households and other households is even greater for groups most affected by the Great Recession, including the unemployed.

Median household incomes (adjusted and scaled to a household size of three) are lower for multi-generational households overall compared with other households. But among some groups, multi-generational households incomes are higher, especially young adults (ages 25-34), Hispanics, blacks, and foreign-born household heads. These groups have been especially hard hit by the poor economy.

In 2009, 16.7% of the U.S. population lived in a multi-generational household. By age group, the sharpest growth in multi-generational living has been among young adults ages 25 to 34, whose numbers rose 16.8% from 2007 to 2009. Among major racial and ethnic groups, the largest growth was among Hispanics, whose numbers went up 17.6% in that same period.