What is the Average Age to Move Out of Parents House?

Knowing what you need to accomplish when moving out for the first time is essential. Here’s our guide for moving out of your parents’ home.

What is the Average Age to Move Out of Parents’ House?

The talk of when to leave the nest is always an interesting subject. While there is no correct perfect age to get out of your parent’s hair, there are some obvious factors that affect the decision making process. 

We get it. The deal is pretty sweet with free food, room and board. Sometimes the price to pay for living under their roof is just not worth it anymore. The average age when people move out of their parent's home is between 24 and 27.

This makes a lot of sense – it’s after many people have completed college or secondary studies, and around the time when most people get married and/or are in a long-term relationship with a serious partner.

Moving out of your parents’ home can be quite the challenge, especially financially if you aren’t sure what your next step in life is.

Our guide is here to help you sort out what is most essential as you get ready to move out of your parents’ home and onto your new path to freedom.


What Life Crap Should You Have Together Before Moving Out of Your Parents’ Home?

It’s not recommended that you just leave your parents’ home and move into your own abode without the following factors being in order.

Have a consistent job and finances sorted out

  • Are you employed, or do you have a side hustle that can help you afford both rent and groceries while still saving? How much of a budget do you have to work with monthly? These are just a couple critical questions you need to ask yourself and calculate before even considering the mover. 
  • The best way to look at it is if your current salary is enough to cover rent, dining in and out and save at least 20% for incidentals
  • If this seems out of reach, consider alternate streams of income or renting with more roommates or in a cheaper area.

Know where you want to live

  • Do you have an idea of what area you want to live in? Does this area work with your current employment status and can you afford it? Explore and see what neighborhoods may be best for you, your needs, and your lifestyle according to your budget.
  • Make sure you get into a healthy routine of chores and work: 
  • You’re not going to have your parents cleaning up after you and doing your laundry.You want to be sure that you get into a healthy routine of chores and work - life balance before leaving the nest. 
  • Make a schedule and try to stick to it as best as you can while still living at home to make sure you will be able to handle the added financial and mental stress of it all.

Average Age- Does it Matter?

What if I’m older than the average move-out age of 24-27 you might ask yourself.

Know that it’s totally fine to be a “late bloomer,” even when it comes to moving out of your parents’ home. Sometimes, economic factors make it difficult to find a job with a living wage and/or affordable housing.

With the prices of college in the US these days it's a miracle anyone can afford rent. It’s up to you and the family to determine what may be best in terms of moving out of their home and being on your own.

The longer you can wait to move out, the easier it will be on you financially to stabilize yourself and build your career and relationship at the same time. Sometimes it’s inevitable and in a serious relationship you need your privacy, but the longer you wait to leave the nest, the more you save.


Getting Ready to Move Out

There’s a lot to be said about moving out of your parents’ home (hire a local moving company for iMoving to avoid learning the hard way about it), and it can be overwhelming.

If you plan well and you determine what your goals both personally and financially, you’ll find that it’s a great experience and can help you to start growing up in big ways.

Tips

  1. Be confident that you will make it work out
  2. Don’t give up when you fail in things for the first
  3. Set a date and stick to it. Setting a specific move-out date is the best way to avoid procrastinating on moving
  4. ​​Practice budgeting while you still live at home (it will help you save to move out)
  5. Lock down a steady income.
  6. Make a list of your concerns – Address each concern individually, as breaking them down helps to make them feel more manageable
  7. Make sure you have “the talk” with your parent’s so your leaving doesn’t come out of nowhere. This will be a rough time for them as well especially if you are an only child.
  8. Bring along comforts from home.
  9. Take care of your body and health even when it may seem like you don’t have time to cook and clean.
  10. Enjoy the process and adventure! You only live once and only leave the nest once, so make the most of it while you can!

Important Things for Your New Home

Here is a simple list of the main items you will need to budget for or make arrangements to take from your parents house to your new abode:

  • Bedroom main items – mattress, bedframe, dressers, nightstands, sheets, pillows, blankets, hangers, and curtains if you are sensitive to light
  • Living room - couch, chairs, coffee table TV, and speaker
  • Office – desk, chair
  • Bathroom – shower curtain, hooks, and liner, towels and washcloths, floor mat, toiletries. (This may be a good time to steal all the TP from your mom’s cabinet)
  • Kitchen – Table and chairs, bowls, cups,, silverware, trash can, storage containers, appliances (coffee maker, toaster/toaster oven, hot plate, pots, pans, air fryer, etc.).
  • A home toolkit with all of the basics.
  • Step stool 
  • Cleaning supplies
  • First aid kit

In Conclusion- Jump in the deep end!

It’s a huge step to move out of your parents’ home, and you want to be sure that you plan for it properly. You may even have a hard time adjusting to not being home and having those usually simple comforts. That’s okay and normal! This is an important step for you in adulthood and, in the long run, you’ll be glad that you took the leap. 

Financially ensure to prepare and set things up as best as possible before you do move out. Don’t forget to take care of your health and enjoy the process of this next step of life!


Frequently Asked Questions

You want to be reasonable and start small. Typically, you want to have somewhere between $1000 and $2000 set aside in your emergency fund; more if possible.

The more prepared you are upon leaving your parents’ home, the less stressful it will be (and the less likely it is that you’ll end up back there because of financial issues in the future).

Try and keep your emergency fund in a high yield savings account so it can be making money while you save it.

iMoving’s marketplace is the top answer for this. Yes, we are clearly a little biased, but honestly, if it's trusted and vetted movers you want for your first experience, only iMoving.

The platform offers a wide range of moving companies that can be booked right here and now online according to your budget.

Not only can you book their services and lock down your date and time, but you can also get a binding quote taking the guesswork out of moving homes.

Don’t fall for scammers that quote you one thing and then expect much more with hidden fees for made up services.

Only book a trusted and vetted mover to make sure you don't fall for the bad guys. Use iMoving for all of this and more.

Moving really does tend to require lots of tape, cartons, and bubble wrap, but this doesn’t have to be an environmental nightmare. Where you can, replace bubble wrap with towels and sheets.

Replace tape with ties (but not too much), and see how you can repurpose all these items later on. If you wrap things in your mom’s towels, that's one less towel you will have to buy for your new place!

Despite the difficulties you will face when moving away from family, you will benefit from making that hard call.

Whether you're moving for a better job, career opportunity, a fresh start, in with a partner, or something else, it will be a real adulting process for you and will hopefully help grow your connection on another level with your family.


Rachel Kaplan

Rachel has spent the last few years writing for moving companies while actually moving across the globe. After many years of moving between many states in the US, she moved abroad to try the remote work life. She’s a pro at moving all her things with her dog and hundreds of plants. Thankfully she’s a minimalist so moves aren’t too much of an issue.

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