Back to the Hearth

The recession forced a lot of economic data back to the early days of the decade - but back to the 1940s? That's what a new study from the Pew Foundation found: In part because of economic woes, there's a larger share of young American women living with family now than at any time since 1940.

As of last year, the share of women aged 18 to 34 living with family had climbed to 36.4 percent. That figure had previously peaked in 1940, when 36.2 percent of young women lived with their parents or other relatives. By 1960, just 20.4 percent of women lived at home, the low point for this number.

But it spiked during the Great Recession, leading us back to the 1940 number. It's not just job problems: Women today are five times as likely to be enrolled in college than in 1940, and college students are significantly more likely to live with family than young adults who aren’t in school.