No, and the statistic does not actually say that. The real finding is that 87% of young adults on the autism spectrum had lived with a parent at some point since leaving high school, measured among people who were 21 to 25 years old in 2009. That is a different claim from the one the number is usually used to make, and the data behind it is now more than fifteen years old.
The figure still gets quoted as though it describes autistic adults generally and right now. It does not. If you are a parent wondering what your child's adult life will look like, the more useful question is what drives living arrangements and what support actually exists, which is what the rest of this covers. Our ABA therapy services page explains how early skill-building connects to that longer arc.
Where the 87% Figure Comes From
The number comes from the National Autism Indicators Report, published in 2015 by the Life Course Outcomes Research Program at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.
The underlying data is older than the report. It comes from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, which surveyed this group in 2009. So a figure published in 2015, describing a survey from 2009, is still being quoted in 2026 as current.
What the Report Actually Measured
The Drexel fact sheet puts it precisely: "87% of young adults on the autism spectrum lived with a parent at some time since leaving high school."
Three things in that sentence matter. Young adults, not adults of all ages. At some time, not currently. Since leaving high school, which covers a period when a great many people of every neurotype move home at least briefly.
The companion figure is the one that carries more weight. Only 19% had ever lived independently, meaning away from parents without supervision. Set against other disability groups, that gap is the real story:
Group | Ever lived independently |
Speech or language impairment | 77% |
Intellectual disability | 66% |
Learning disability | 62% |
Emotional disturbance | 34% |
Autism spectrum | 19% |
Young adults with a learning disability or emotional disturbance reached independent living at roughly triple the rate of their autistic peers. That is a support gap, not a capability gap, and it is the thing worth being angry about rather than the 87%.
What Drives the Living Situation
The Services Cliff at 18
The sharpest driver is the one families see coming and still cannot avoid. School-based entitlements end, and what replaces them is thinner, means-tested, and often has a queue.
It shows up in insurance too, and the two states differ. North Carolina's autism insurance mandate covers adaptive behavior treatment for individuals 18 years of age or younger. Virginia's mandate applies at any age, with no visit limits. Same diagnosis, different side of a state line, different answer at 19. Our insurance page covers how coverage is verified.
Money and Employment
Employment is the other hinge. Analysis of the same cohort presented to the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee found that about half had ever held a job, and that young adults with autism fared worse than peers with other disabilities on employment, independent living, social connection and disconnection alike.
Without earned income, housing options narrow to whatever benefits will cover, which is usually not much. Employers willing to adjust interview formats and sensory environments remain the exception rather than the rule, and that is a solvable problem. We hire RBTs and behavior analysts ourselves and list openings on our careers page.
Housing That Actually Exists
Preference is not the binding constraint for most families. Supply is. Supported living, where someone has their own place with staff support built around them, is consistently what people want, and it depends almost entirely on public funding to exist at all.
Alternatives to Living with Parents
Independent Living with Support
Living alone or with housemates, with support hours attached rather than a supervised setting. The practical prerequisites are the unglamorous ones: managing money, cooking, transport, medical appointments, and knowing how to ask for help before a problem becomes a crisis. Those are teachable, and they are better taught across years than in the months before a move.
Supported Living Communities
Individual apartments or small homes within a larger setting, with trained staff on site for medication, daily tasks, and social support. The trade-off is less autonomy for more reliability, and for many people that trade is worth making. It is also the model North Carolina reports as the clear preference among waiver participants.
What Has Changed Since the Report
Three things are genuinely different now than when this data was collected.
The Autism CARES Act of 2024 was signed into law on 23 December 2024, reauthorizing federal autism research, services, and prevalence tracking through September 2029. The post you may have read elsewhere citing the 2019 version is out of date.
ABLE accounts, created by the ABLE Act, let a disabled person save beyond the asset limits that otherwise disqualify them from benefits. That removes one of the quieter traps in the old system.
The Affordable Care Act ended pre-existing condition exclusions and allows young adults to stay on a parent's plan to age 26, which matters most in exactly the window this report covers.
Adult Services in North Carolina and Virginia
This is where the national picture becomes a local one, because adult residential support in both states runs through Medicaid waivers rather than through anything schools or private insurance provide.
North Carolina uses the Innovations Waiver, and the constraint is the waiting list. NCDHHS reported 20,150 people on the Innovations waitlist as of 30 September 2025, up from 18,457 in July 2024. Of those waiting, 7,524 were receiving some I/DD services through 1915(i) or other programs, so being on the list is not the same as receiving nothing. But the direction of travel is the point: get on it early.
Virginia runs three developmental disability waivers through DBHDS: Building Independence, Family and Individual Supports, and Community Living. Between them, they fund community living, employment support, behavioral intervention, home modifications, and assistive technology, with the explicit aim of avoiding institutional placement. Access runs through your local Community Services Board, which screens and assesses, and Virginia also has a waiting list.
The practical instruction in both states is the same, and it is unglamorous: find out how to get your child's name on the list, and do it years before you think you need to. Families we work with through our Raleigh office are frequently surprised that the queue is measured in years rather than months.
What Families Can Do Earlier
The skills that determine a 22-year-old's options are mostly built long before 22.
- Treat daily living skills as goals, not chores. Cooking, laundry, money and transport belong in a plan the same way communication does.
- Build self-advocacy deliberately. Asking for help, declining something, and reporting a problem are skills, and they are the ones that make supported living viable.
- Get on waiver lists early, in whichever state you are in.
- Keep documentation. Evaluations, IEPs, and service records are what eligibility determinations are built from later.
- Involve the whole household. Consistency across adults is the difference between a skill that generalises and one that only appears in session, which is what ABA parent training is for.
Our posts on IQ in nonverbal autistic people, autism support services in NC and support groups for parents cover adjacent ground.
Conclusion
The 87% figure is real but routinely misquoted. It describes young adults in their early twenties who had lived with a parent at some point after high school, surveyed in 2009, and it says nothing about autistic adults as a whole or about where anyone lives today.
The number worth attention is the 19% who had ever lived independently, against 62% of peers with a learning disability. That gap reflects what support was available, not what autistic adults are capable of. Both states now route adult residential support through Medicaid waivers with long waiting lists, which makes early registration and early skill-building the two things families can actually control.
Living with family is also not a failure. For plenty of people, it is a reasonable arrangement that works. The problem is when it is the only option left rather than one that was chosen.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Connect n Care ABA provides in-home ABA therapy, school-based ABA, and ABA parent training to families across North Carolina and Virginia.
If you are thinking about the longer arc and what to start building now, contact our team.
SOURCES:
- https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/autismoutcomes/publications/LCO%20Fact%20Sheet%20Living%20Arrangements.ashx
- https://iacc.hhs.gov/meetings/iacc-meetings/2016/full-committee-meeting/january12/slides_anne_roux_011216.pdf
- https://iacc.hhs.gov/about-iacc/legislation/autism/cares-act-2024
- https://www.ncdhhs.gov/inclusion-connects-report-january-15-2026/open
- https://dbhds.virginia.gov/waiver-information-for-individuals-and-families/
- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_58/GS_58-3-192.html
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title38.2/chapter34/section38.2-3418.17/
