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Welcome to Playboy’s Gen Z Sex Survey. In partnership with The Kinsey Institute and the sexual health brand Julie, we talked to 2,373 adults ages 18 to 29 about their sex lives to get to the bottom of the so-called sex recession, and to get more insight on what’s really going on in the bedroom. Check out the full survey results here. This survey also appears in our Fall 2026 print issue. To have Playboy delivered to your door, subscribe here.
Vincent, 28, has not had sex in nearly a year. He, like a third of respondents to Playboy‘s Gen Z Sex Survey, lives at home with his parents. His sex life is no anomaly here, either: 64 percent of respondents living with parents also haven’t had sex in the last three months. The percentages of people living with roommates or living alone who have not had sex in the last three months, meanwhile, are 38 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Which makes one thing obvious: If you live with your parents, you are much, much less likely to be fucking.
With the sex recession, maybe we are asking the wrong questions. The what, why, and how of the phenomenon are secondary to a simple logistical conundrum: Where are they supposed to be having sex, anyway?
Living with your parents screws with your sex life in a plethora of ways. It is awkward to have intercourse in the same house where even the most sexually liberated, open-minded parents live, never mind the ones who still treat their adult children like they’re high school freshmen. A quarter of respondents said their parents continue to have strict rules for them, and similar numbers said their parents closely control what they are allowed to do. Then, of course, there’s the problem of finding someone who wants to have sex with a person who lives with their parents—less of a problem for this generation, since so many are in the same boat, but still. “I had one guy just assume that I still have a curfew,” says Nicole, 25.
If you live with your parents, you might also be a person in a position of economic precarity. If you can’t afford to live on your own, how can you afford to date?
Some say they are going through a period of arrested development. Brad, 28, says he hasn’t had sex since 2019. He moved home during Covid and feels his life has been in stasis since. “Porn replaced or became my sex life in many ways, despite my desire for connection beyond my small circle of friends,” he says.
Even so, it’s not as though they’re doing nothing with their lives. Brad is in grad school. Vincent has a full-time job and a college degree. Some also live at home to help their parents with their own survival, too: “I have to dedicate most of my time to family, and it makes it difficult to meet people,” says Amir, 26. The fact of the matter is, housing costs are at an all-time high. With student debt, some feel like living at home is the responsible, adult thing to do: 64 percent of single respondents said they are prioritizing other areas of adulthood right now. Sex and dating are frivolities for another time.
For the full breakdown of The Playboy 2026 Gen Z Sex Survey with the Kinsey Institute and Julie, go to sexsurvey.playboy.com.