Data Insights · October 2026
Only 9% of Diggz (diggz.co) users call moving back in with a parent a step backward or embarrassing, yet just 18% say they could easily do it themselves. Across four single-question polls in September 2026, Diggz asked users how common moving home is, who pays rent when it happens, how they feel about it, and whether it would even be possible for them. The picture that emerges is that few respondents see it as something to be ashamed of, and most of them don’t have a parent’s spare room to go back to.
Finding 1
Only 18% could easily move back in with a parent
Asked whether moving back in with a parent would even be possible, just 18% said yes, easily. The other 82% said no: 43% because of their family situation or relationship, 29% because a parent lives too far away, and 10% because there isn’t enough space.
Diggz in-app poll, September 2026. Respondents selected one option.
Wanting to move home and being able to are two separate questions.
Finding 2
Fewer than 1 in 10 call it a step backward
Asked for their honest take on adults who move back in with their parents to save money, 38% called it a smart financial move and 17% said they wished they had that option. Only 9% called it a step backward or embarrassing, and 36% had no strong opinion. Among those who took a side, about 6 in 10 said it was smart and roughly 1 in 7 saw it as a step backward.
Diggz in-app poll, September 2026. Respondents selected one option.
Finding 3
Nearly half paid close to market rent
Among respondents who had experienced a move back home, 46% said close to market rent was paid, 37% said no rent was paid, and 17% said the rent was discounted. That means 54% of these arrangements were free or discounted, while nearly half were run like an ordinary tenancy.
Diggz in-app poll, September 2026. Based on respondents who said a move back home had happened to them.
Finding 4
About 1 in 4 has lived it
About 1 in 4 respondents said that, in the last few years, they had moved back in with a parent or an adult child had moved back in with them.
Diggz in-app poll, September 2026. Respondents selected one option.
Among those who had lived it, nearly 8 in 10 were the ones moving back in with a parent, which fits an audience that skews young.
Why it matters
Moving home works as a financial cushion, and respondents know it. More than half of the arrangements were free or discounted, and few respondents see any shame in using one: only 9% called it a step backward.
What most respondents lack is access. A spare room in a parent’s home only helps if the parent lives close enough, has the space, and the relationship allows it, and 82% said at least one of those stands in the way. That makes moving home less a universal fallback and more a cushion that some families can offer and others can’t.
The pattern fits Diggz’s earlier survey, in which 73% of users seeking a roommate cited financial pressure and 56% were getting one specifically to avoid having to move. For people without a parent’s spare room to fall back on, sharing a place with a roommate is one way to keep housing costs down without leaving. For a closer look at the wider squeeze, see Diggz’s analysis of America’s rent burden.
“I suspect we’d have heard very different answers a few years ago. Today’s housing costs are making multigenerational living a necessary arrangement for some families, and not only for young adults. Since we see that most of these arrangements involve rent, it means that this arrangement can be a win-win for the parents and their children.”
— Rany Burstein, Founder & CEO, Diggz
Methodology. Diggz ran four single-question in-app polls on its platform in September 2026, each with four fixed-choice answers and each sent to a separate group of active users. Responses: 146 on whether a move back home had happened or been considered; 227 on whether rent was paid, of whom 70 reported having experienced a move back home; 100 on attitudes toward moving home; and 153 on whether moving in with a parent would be possible. Rent-paid percentages are based on those 70 respondents, and the attitude figures for those who took a side are based on 64 respondents. No compensation was offered, all results are self-reported, and because each poll reached a different group, answers can’t be cross-tabulated.
Diggz’s user base skews young, with about 70% under 35, and is mostly renters, so the results describe Diggz users rather than a nationally representative sample. The sample sizes are modest, so percentages are rounded and should be read as directional. In the access poll, the only affirmative answer was “yes, easily,” so some respondents for whom moving home would be possible but difficult may appear among the “no” answers.
Can’t move back home? Find a roommate in your city.