TikToker’s dad converted his garage into a suite for her and her fiancé so they could save money. How the economy is driving desperate Gen Zers home

In McGhee’s case, her father made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. He converted the family’s garage, first-floor bedroom and bathroom into a separate suite where she and her fiancé could live.

That meant they could move out of an expensive apartment in Gilbert, Arizona where they paid $2,000 a month rent.

“At my parents’, it's a few hundred dollars,” she said in an interview with Business Insider (2).

Moving home opens new (garage) doors

McGhee, who works in real-estate finance, proudly shared a tour of the finished suite on her TikTok feed (3). Fortunately, her dad is a Phoenix-area contractor and so was able to move doors to create more separation and privacy from the rest of the home.

He outfitted the garage with an air conditioner and insulation to make the living space more comfortable, while keeping the garage suite flexible enough to revert back to single-family use.

McGhee said that at a cost of $700, the AC was the most expensive part of the reno. The other materials, some of which her dad already had on hand, cost another few hundred dollars.

Paying a few hundred dollars compared to $2,000 a month is obviously a huge savings. So she and her fiance agreed to buy their own groceries and pay utilities to cover the extra cost of running the AC.

Since they moved in in June, her fiancé decided to do a year at a college in Connecticut, but thanks to her father, she’s not stuck with a lease — or rent she can’t afford to pay on her own.

She's part of a growing trend. According to 2024 U.S. Census data, about 1 in 3 young adults ages 25 to 34 lives at home (18.7% of men and 12.9% of women).

It may be harder than ever for young people to get a foothold. Millennials entered the workforce amid the Great Recession and Gen Z had to contend with an unprecedented global pandemic.

According to a 2024 Bank of America survey, more than half of young Gen Z adults believe the cost of living is the biggest financial challenge their generation faces and that they cannot afford the life they want to lead (4).

Rents have climbed dramatically since the pandemic, with the national median rent spiking 32% since 2020, according to Consumer Affairs (5).

Buying a home is a far-off dream for many, with housing prices rising faster than inflation across the country, according to a 2024 U.S. Department of the Treasury report.

That may be why the median age of a first-time homebuyer hit 40 in 2025 — a record high, according to the National Association of Realtors survey.

“First-time buyers who are successful in purchasing cite high rent and student loans as two foremost costs that hold them back from saving,” the survey stated (6).

Setting up boundaries when an adult child moves back

Young people who are hoping to avoid moving back in with their parents — or never leaving — will likely need to learn some serious budgeting skills to manage the high cost of living Americans are facing for the foreseeable future.

Building a realistic budget that includes savings (and separate emergency-fund savings), rent, utilities (including phone and internet), transportation, food and entertainment might be an eye-opening experience for young people who want to strike out on their own.

If they are not able to make the budget work with their income, they’ll realize they either need to figure out how to make more money, or spend less — or stay in the family home until something changes.

For young adults who are not sure what their next move will be, like McGhee’s fiancé, it can be hard to decide on housing choices, especially without the safety net of a family home.