For Many 20-Somethings, There's No Shame in Living at Home

This weekend, Dobbs Ferry's Zach Connett, 24, will fly to California to see the San Francisco 49ers play the Oakland Raiders. For the former Dobbs Ferry High School and Ithaca College football player, this is the ideal business trip.

Connett works in sales for Compass Media Networks, a radio programming company based out of Rye. Though he has been with the company for two years, Connett has chosen to remain living with his family in Dobbs Ferry.

"I'm lucky to have a supportive family that allows we to live here—we all get along really well," Connett said. And of course, "Saving $1,000 on rent every month is another definite advantage." 

For young adults working in Westchester, it can be prohibitively expensive to live anywhere near their jobs. And for many 20-somethings whose families still live close by, it just makes more sense to 'live at home' and save.

Jennifer Tucci, 25, who graduated from DFHS one year before Connett has a Masters Degree in elementary education from Mercy College. For the last two years, Tucci has worked as a teaching assistant for BOCES' Intensive Day Treatment (IDT) program in Rye Lake—while also paying off student loans and raising her daughter Sofia, 5.

"For me, moving out of my parents' house is not an option right now," Tucci said. "I couldn't pay rent, pay off $59,000 in loans and still feed Sofia and me."

Another issue Tucci faces is the need to live in an area with a good public school district; Sofia will start kindergarten at in September.

"If it were just me, I'd rent an apartment in Yonkers or somewhere similar," Tucci said. "But I have to think about my daughter."

Both Tucci and Connett graduated from college when the national unemployment rate was up more than two percent from where it had been two years earlier, according to the United States Department of Labor's bureau of labor statistics.

"I've noticed that many of my friends are working 'filler jobs,'—or jobs that give them paychecks while they wait for jobs in fields they actually studied to work in," Tucci said.

And, as a result, many of them have moved back in with their families.

"When I was in high school, if someone in their 20's who graduated from Dobbs Ferry was living at home, we were like, 'Oh my God,'" Tucci recalled. "Now, it's normal. I think the stigma's definitely been reduced [as a result of the economy.]"

Connett had a similar take on the trend of young adults moving back home.

"Many members of my core group of friends are still in Westchester or close by in the city," he said. "Which allows me to have a good social life in Dobbs Ferry. I feel blessed."

And Connett doesn't question whether he could take off and live on his own if he chose to do so.

"One of my first jobs after college was for a marketing company, and for four months I worked on a mobil marketing campaign basically driving across the country and stopping in various cities along the way. I got a lot of my travel bug out during that time."

And when Connett visits friends who live either on their own or in shared apartments in NYC, he appreciates their autonomous lifestyles, but knows he'll have that when the time is right.

"They're having a really fun time, and I sometimes do get envious—but I know I have to be in the right situation financially to move out," he said. "I'm definitely not ashamed to tell people I live at home. Call me again if I'm still here in two years and I may feel differently; but for now, I'm fine with my choice."