Gradually improving economic conditions aren’t enough to get young Americans out of their parents’ basement.

According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of census data updated in 2014, there has been a significant increase in Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 living with their parents.

In fact, in 2014, for the first time in 130 years, adults aged 18 to 34 were more likely to be living in their parents’ home than they were to be cohabitating with a spouse or partner, single and living alone, or living outside their parents’ home in some other arrangement.

According to Pew’s analysis, 32.1 percent of Americans 18 to 34 were living in the home of a parent, compared with 31.6 percent who were married or otherwise cohabitating, 14 percent who were living alone and 22 percent who were living in some other arrangement outside a parent’s home.

The largest cause of the change in living conditions is cultural, according to Pew.

“This turn of events is fueled primarily by the dramatic drop in the share of young Americans who are choosing to settle down romantically before the age of 35,” writes Richard Fry, senior researcher for the Pew Research Center. “Dating back to 1880, the most common living arrangement for young adults has been living with a romantic partner, whether a spouse or significant other.”

Pew notes that the age of marriage is rising steadily, signs of a generational postponement or retreat from coupling. The research firm estimates that as many as 25 percent of today’s young adults may never marry.

In 1880, Pew’s census analysis found that 45 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 years old were living with a romantic partner. By 1960, that number had climbed to 62 percent, only to drop by nearly 50 percent over the next half century to 31.6 percent in 2014.

By comparison, in 1960 only 20 percent of young Americans were living with their parents.

Nevertheless, the U.S. census data indicates that at other times large numbers of young people were living in their parents’ household. In 1940, for example, 35 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 lived in their parents’ household, significantly more than in the most recent census figures.

The changing pattern of living arrangements differs significantly by gender. Among men ages 18 to 34, living in a parent’s household became the dominant living arrangement in 2009. In 2014, 35 percent of young men were living with their parents, compared with 28 percent who were living with a romantic partner.

Young women, on the other hand, are still more likely to be living with a significant other. In 2014, 35 percent lived with a spouse or a romantic partner, compared with 29 percent who were living with their parents.  The proportion of young women living with a romantic partner peaked at 68 percent in 1960.

Women are also now more likely to be a single head of household, according to Pew’s analysis. More women, 16 percent, than men, 13 percent, were living alone. Men, however, were more likely to have an alternative living arrangement like living in the home of another family member, a non-relative, or in some type of group space.

There are potential economic explanations for the evolution of living arrangements among young people, according to Pew. A marked decrease in employment and earnings among young men might be keeping them in their parents’ home for longer, while women’s increase in employment and wages might be causing them to postpone or eschew marriage.

Yet the shift towards living longer with a parent began before the global financial crisis and Great Recession, according to the analysis.

Less educated adults, regardless of gender, were also more likely to live in a parent’s home, according to Pew. More than one-third, or 36 percent, of non-college educated Americans aged 18 to 34 were living in their parents’ home, versus 27 percent who were married or cohabitating with a partner. On the other hand, 46 percent of college-educated young adults were married or living with a partner, versus 19 percent who were living in a parent’s home.

Race and ethnicity were also predictive of living arrangements, according to the research. In 2014, record highs of black and Hispanic Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 were living with their parents, 36 percent for each group, while 30 percent of white young adults lived in a parent’s home. Only 17 percent of black young adults were living with a spouse or partner. White young adults were more likely to live with a spouse or a partner.

For Pew’s report, the authors analyzed decennial censuses from 1880 to 2000, and the American Community Survey results from 2006 to 2014.