Why Young Workers Are Taking Adult Gap Years to Travel and Actually Live
The adult gap year is having a moment, with burned-out young workers stepping away from their jobs to travel, rest and reset. Here’s what the trend is, who it’s for and what experts say about pulling off an extended career break.
What Is an Adult Gap Year and Why Is It Trending?
An adult gap year is a deliberate, extended pause from work — essentially a “mini retirement” that lets young adults travel, learn new skills or figure out what they actually want from their careers. Unlike a vacation, it’s measured in months, not days.
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The trend is being driven by widespread burnout. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 74% of Gen Z and millennials report experiencing moderate to high levels of burnout. For many, stepping away isn’t a luxury — it’s a response to years of unsustainable working conditions.
The movement is highly visible on TikTok, where the hashtag #adultgapyear has accumulated thousands of videos pushing back on hustle culture. In one viral video, a creator warned that “hustle culture is going to be the downfall of this generation,” while another admitted she once viewed being constantly busy as “an aspirational status symbol.”
The framing matters. Where previous generations might have called it quitting, dropping out or running away, today’s young adults are presenting the adult gap year as a planned career strategy — a structured break with a beginning, middle and end. Many use the time to travel internationally, take on freelance projects, learn languages or simply rest before returning to the workforce on stronger footing.
Employers haven’t caught up. Society for Human Resource Management data showed that just 5% of companies offered paid sabbaticals in 2019, rising to only 7% by 2023. That means most workers taking an adult gap year are doing it on their own dime, by quitting outright or negotiating unpaid leave.
Still, demand is climbing. In SHRM’s 2025 benefits survey, leave was the second-highest priority for workers — behind only health benefits — for the fourth year in a row. The message from employees is clear: time off matters, and they’re increasingly willing to make it happen with or without their employer’s help.
For Gen Z and millennials who’ve spent their entire careers being told to grind, the adult gap year reframes rest as a productive choice rather than a failure of ambition.
How Much Do You Need to Save for an Adult Gap Year?
The amount varies wildly depending on destination and length, but financial strategist AJ Schneider, founder of Beyond The Green Coaching, says taking an adult gap year is achievable for more people than expect — with the right planning.
Her formula is straightforward: “Figure out where you want to go, work with ChatGPT on how much you think it’ll cost you based on flights, accommodations, food, activities and divide that amount by how many months you have to save,” Schneider told The Post.
Schneider frames saving for an adult gap year as buying optionality, not just funding travel. “Getting your finances in order is so you can take huge leaps of faith in your life. It is not only so you can retire, buy a home, and make money in your sleep. It’s so you can say, ‘I am unhappy, and I’m safe to leave,’” she told The Post.
She encourages young workers to flip their mindset on saving. “Every dollar you save is going to fund you in the future, get excited about what you’ll be able to do with that money, versus feeling like your instant needs are more important,” she added.
That reframing matters because most adult gap years are self-funded. With only 7% of U.S. companies offering paid sabbaticals as of 2023, according to SHRM, the vast majority of people taking extended breaks are either quitting their jobs, negotiating unpaid leave or using savings built up over years.
Beyond the obvious flights and lodging, would-be travelers also need to factor in:
- Health insurance during the break, including travel medical coverage
- Continued payments on debts, student loans or housing back home
- Re-entry costs — moving expenses, a deposit on a new apartment or a gap before the first paycheck of a new job
- A buffer for emergencies or unexpected delays
Schneider’s broader point is that financial preparation isn’t only about retirement or homeownership. It’s about giving yourself permission and the practical ability to walk away from a job, a city or a career path that isn’t working — and an adult gap year is one of the most concrete uses of that freedom.
What Are the Benefits of Taking an Adult Gap Year?
Research suggests extended breaks deliver measurable improvements in well-being, leadership and career clarity — and the people who take them tend to wish they’d done it sooner.
David Burkus, an organizational psychologist and author who began researching sabbaticals in 2015, found that people who take real time off come back transformed. “People report better mental and physical health, increased confidence, and a greater sense of purpose after an extended break,” Burkus told Business Insider.
Burkus also points to organizational upside. When someone takes an extended break, teams cross-train, share knowledge and become less dependent on a handful of “indispensable” people — which can make companies more resilient, not less.
The leadership benefits are backed by peer-reviewed research. A 2022 study published in the Academy of Management interviewed 50 professionals who had taken extended time off. All 50 said they returned as better leaders.
DJ DiDonna, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and coauthor of the study, told Business Insider that everyone he interviewed wished they had taken one earlier. The consistent regret wasn’t about lost income or career momentum — it was about waiting too long.
That finding cuts against the common fear that an adult gap year will permanently derail a career. The research suggests the opposite: people return with sharper focus, stronger purpose and often a clearer sense of what they want to do next.
DiDonna also identified the moments when sabbaticals tend to land best. The best times for an extended break, he told Business Insider, often coincide with natural life transitions — a honeymoon, a newly empty nest or what he calls the “twilight career” stage before retirement.
For Gen Z and millennials weighing whether to take the leap, the message from researchers is reassuring. The well-being benefits are real, the leadership gains are documented and the dominant regret among people who’ve done it isn’t that they took the time — it’s that they didn’t take it sooner.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
