52% of young adults in the US are living with their parents. That's the highest share since the Great Depression

(CNN) The number of American young adults living with their parents is at or near an all-time high, and the coronavirus pandemic is likely the reason, according to a new analysis.

A new report by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of young adults -- 52% -- lived with one or both of their parents in July. Pew's analysis of monthly Census Bureau data notes that this is higher than any previous measurement.

"Before 2020, the highest measured value was in the 1940 census at the end of the Great Depression, when 48% of young adults lived with their parents," says the report, published Friday. "The peak may have been higher during the worst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, but there is no data for that period."

Pew defines young adults as 18- to 29-year-olds. The number of young adults living with parents grew to 26.6 million in July, an increase of 2.6 million from February, Pew said.

Young adults have been hit especially hard by the recent economic downturn and have been more likely to move than other age groups, according to Pew research

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