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Original poster

How old were you when you moved out of your parents house

131 replies

MikeRafone · 15/04/2025 06:00

Or your guardian/grandparents home, where you’d grown up?

and which gen do you fit into

I was 19 years old as gen x

my dd is a mil and moved out at 18

my did is a zoomer and 25 when she left home

OP posts:
ItTook9Years · 15/04/2025 12:42

Me: Gen X: 17. Lived in a house share, worked and went to 2 schools to study A levels. Bought own house age 19 and worked 2 jobs to pay for it. See them monthly but I’ve not spent a single night at my parents’ house since I left.

Parents both moved out at 18 to go to uni and never went back.

DD is 14. No idea whether she will join the RAF, go to uni or anything else. She has a savings account that we have been putting into since she was born which includes some inheritance which she can use to support education, housing or experience. I’ve no idea how much we will see of her (she’ll probably get a pilots licence and a drivers licence before turning 18).

PunchUpInPoplar · 15/04/2025 12:43

Gen X -

Left home at 18 when I went to uni. Moved back in for 6 months when I graduated and got my first job, to save for a rental deposit on a flat share.

None of my friends lived with their parents past 21/22. Most never went back after university (if they went),

Different times. Nobody was thinking about saving for a deposit to buy in those days in my circle. We were all renting in flat/house shares or on small one bed flats. You could do that on an entry level salary in London in the 90s and early 00s. No chance now!

PLHJ84 · 15/04/2025 12:43

Millenial. I was 22 as bought a house after we got engaged. Went to uni locally and stayed at home.

my husband was tail end of gen x and we bought together but he had rented a place for a few years but was 24 berore he did that!

trailmx · 15/04/2025 12:46

So many people on this thread buying houses, or saving to buy one, in their 20s.
It never occurred to me, or fellow boomers I knew, to buy a house when we left home, we wanted to travel, move where the jobs were, and had no intention of settling down anywhere. House buying came in mid to late thirties.

Giggorata · 15/04/2025 12:47

Baby Boomer. Left home (from care) at 15, to live in a squat. (So no rent to pay)

jambunny · 15/04/2025 12:54

Me - gen X 21
dd millennial moved out at 18 for uni, stayed there afterwards and bounced back during Covid for 9 months before buying house at 27
ds gen z moved out at 18 for uni and then post grad and may bounce back for a few months but is applying for jobs in London so unlikely to be for long

Aaron95 · 15/04/2025 12:58

Gen X here. Left home at 16 - 2 days before my 17th birthday.

Moved to Glasgow to go to university.

Misspotterer · 15/04/2025 12:58

Gen x, moved out at 16. My boomer parents moved out when they got married at 19/21. My own 16 year is in disbelief that I was living independently at his age!

popandchoc · 15/04/2025 13:00

Millennial - went to uni at 18, home in holidays then moved out permanently at 21.

Sunshineandgrapefruit · 15/04/2025 13:05

Gen x 21 after uni (so 18 excepting holidays!)

menopausalfart · 15/04/2025 13:11

I had just given birth at 18. Gen X.

AnnaMagnani · 15/04/2025 13:23

My parents, war babies: 16, desperate to get out of abusive homes. One joined the forces, one became an au pair.

Me: 18 when I went to university. Properly left age 21 when the long holidays stopped.

My DM impressed on me the need to buy a house - bought first flat age 25 with a 110% mortgage, those were the days.

Becs258 · 15/04/2025 13:24

Gen X. I was 25, waited years for boyfriend to cut the apron strings and move in together. Hadn’t wanted to live alone, plus London prices even then were bad enough. We lasted 6 weeks after moving in (had been together 7 years). Went back home for another year, but was away for a lot of it.

sunshineandshowers40 · 15/04/2025 13:25

Gen x- went to uni at 18 and didn't move back home afterwards.

Singaporeannoodle · 15/04/2025 13:28

trailmx · 15/04/2025 12:46

So many people on this thread buying houses, or saving to buy one, in their 20s.
It never occurred to me, or fellow boomers I knew, to buy a house when we left home, we wanted to travel, move where the jobs were, and had no intention of settling down anywhere. House buying came in mid to late thirties.

Strange my boomer parents and most of their acquaintances moved out before they were 20 and settled down straight away.
I'm gen z and moved out at 16 guess it just depends what you want from life

Anonym00se · 15/04/2025 13:32

Gen X, 16. I was in care. They let you stay till 18 now. It’s interesting because even though I had to leave my foster parents at 16, I was eligible for a leaving care grant, but not until I was 18. It was an awful time.

interestedwhy · 15/04/2025 13:38

18 for university and home in holidays , properly left when moved into flat with first bf at 22 .

UniqueRedSquid · 15/04/2025 13:38

Moved out in 2013 aged 19 for university, moved back for seven months after uni while I sorted a job and moved back out again in 2017 aged 22 permanently. Rented until 2021 and purchased then aged 26.

No family money but advantages were that I’ve been with my partner since we were 17, we are aligned on what we want, and we wanted to live in a big northern city with relatively cheap properties for rent and purchase.

Wheelbarrowracer · 15/04/2025 13:39

Singaporeannoodle · 15/04/2025 13:28

Strange my boomer parents and most of their acquaintances moved out before they were 20 and settled down straight away.
I'm gen z and moved out at 16 guess it just depends what you want from life

Show quote history

I wonder if it's a class thing. You moved out as soon as you could, because there just wasn't the room for too many adults in one small house. You didn't get a choice about jobs, because you were supposed to be earning asap and you'd left school at 15.
I can imagine the look on my gran's face off my mum had said she wanted to travel!
One of her friends went to live with a couple of other girls in a flat in a nearby town, but they all came back to get married to local lads. Just makes me so, so glad I was born when I was- to parents who resented being thrown straight into work, when they would have liked to continue to study. Although they both failed the 11+, so that was pretty that for them.

NamechangeJunebaby · 15/04/2025 13:50

Gen x here and left home at 17 to move in with boyfriend. Married and we’re together a long time,

DC is a gen z and left home at 24.

Lots of my friends have kids who are 28 and no sign of them ever leaving. As much as I love my DC and miss him, they need to spread their wings and become independent at some point. CoL is so high these days. But my friends kids mainly spend on holidays and clothes and don’t save anything at all. My Dc was a bit militant at saving but he’s more relaxed now he has his own home and manages okay.

AnnaMagnani · 15/04/2025 13:54

Agree with it being a class thing. Both my parents came from large families, in small houses, that they were desperate to get out of. And had been told very clearly that they would need to be paying rent and there was no money for any more education.

My DF researched forces careers so he wouldn't have to do National Service and went in for 10 years and got all his missing education there.

My DM researched how she could not only get out of her parents' house, but her parents' country and ended up travelling Europe as an au pair. One of her au pair families helped her out with gaining her qualifications in the UK.

When they had me, they were therefore very keen for me to get more education than they had, and for me to earn enough money to buy a property - messages I took on board very young.

WhatMe123 · 15/04/2025 13:55

Millennial aged 21, I didn't return after I finished uni. Stayed away term time from 18

stealthsquirrelnutkin · 15/04/2025 16:03

I was 15, in 1974. Think that makes me tail end baby boomer.

DoAWheelie · 15/04/2025 16:25

17 as a millennial.

I was still in college so I claimed income support (I'm disabled) as I needed to get away from my parents. They were fighting non stop (they split up within a year) and it was seriously affecting my mental health.

I never moved back in with them and I'm now 35.

My mum (gen x) also left at 17 as she married my dad then and dropped out of school for it. He was 28.

newtb · 15/04/2025 16:50

18 for university, returned at 20, left at 21 when I got married. Baby boomer.