Millennials living with mom: Inland Empire is No. 1 in U.S., Los Angeles-Orange County, No.3

Southern California is a hotbed of millennials still living at home with mom.

In honor of upcoming Mother’s Day, real estate tracker Zillow studied where millennials — defined as folks aged 23 to 37 — were most likely to be living with mom — with mom alone, or mom and dad — among 50 major U.S. regions. Those results were compared to typical rent burdens in each metro area.

A growing number of young adults nationwide are staying at home as they grapple with a host of financial challenges such as pricey housing, student-loan debts, helping aging parents and a generational swing of making major life changes at later ages. Nationally, more millennials were living with mom in 2017 — 22% — vs. 13% in 2005, Zillow found.

ICYMI: Southern California ranked as second-worst ‘mega city’ to live in

Riverside and San Bernardino counties topped Zillow’s metro area rankings with 35.4% of millennials living at home in 2017, up from 18% in 2005 when it was No. 4 among the 50 markets. Housing costs are likely a factor as the Inland Empire ranked sixth-highest, with rents at 35.8% of income. Nationally, rent ran 27.7% of income.

Los Angeles and Orange counties ranked third-highest in ’17 with 32% of its millennials with mom. That’s up from 18.6% in 2005 — again, No. 3 among the big markets. L.A.-O.C. rental costs run 45.7% of incomes, the No. 1 most burdened metro in the nation.

But housing costs are not the only factor pushing up the millennial-at-home rate, Zillow’s report suggests.

Look at San Diego where rents run 38.8% of incomes — third costliest in the nation. Only 23.8% of millennials are with mom — ranking No. 14 nationally.

Or ponder the five markets with the fewest at-home millennials, all under 15%. Denver, Seattle and Portland rank Nos. 13, 14 and 15 highest for renter costs. Austin, Texas lands a mid-range No. 25. Only Kansas City — sixth-smallest for rent burden — was a relative bargain. It’s a good bet that these metros have become magnets for young adults who moved away from family, likely for career reasons.

Plus, note this curious trend: Three fast-growing, relatively affordable towns are seeing a surge of millennials at home. Orlando had the seventh-highest share in 2017 for millennials with mom, up from No. 35 in ’05. Tampa went to No. 19 from No. 35, and Phoenix rose to No. 24 from No. 39.

Please don’t overlook the benefits of young adults at home.

In many cultures, it’s a preferred way of life. It means that family chores can be shared — including caring for elderly parents. Also, there are significant financial savings that can prepare millennials to eventually leave the nest in better monetary shape.

A growing number of millennials are just reaching their prime homebuying age, another Zillow study found.

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, 2.08 million people will hit age 33 — the median age of a first-time homebuyer in the West — in the next 10 years. That’s a flock 12.2% bigger than what occurred in the past 10 years. In Riverside and San Bernardino, there are 680,000 potential house hunters coming, 11.4% more than the previous cycle.