Generation Z

Generation Z, term used to describe Americans born during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some sources give the specific year range of 1997–2012, although the years spanned are sometimes contested or debated because generations and their zeitgeists are difficult to delineate. Generation Z follows the millennial generation, sometimes called Generation Y, which followed Generation X, the first generation to be assigned a letter. Reaching the end of the standard Latin alphabet, Generation Z is succeeded by Generation Alpha, the first generation to be assigned a Greek letter.

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Members of Generation Z, or Gen Zers, have been undeniably shaped by the Great Recession of 2007–09 and the COVID-19 pandemic. They grew up in the era of the iPhone, which debuted in 2007, and of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a governmental department founded in 2002 after the September 11 attacks that most of them are too young to remember. Because of this, early names for Gen Z included “iGeneration” and “Homelanders.” In their early years they witnessed watershed social changes, such as the election of the first Black U.S. president (Barack Obama) and the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Generation Z is, in general, the most diverse generation of Americans to date in a variety of demographics. Nearly 50 percent of Gen Zers are racial and ethnic minorities, and 1 in 4 identifies as Hispanic. Gen Zers are more likely than previous generations to have at least one foreign-born parent, although immigrants make up a smaller proportion of Generation Z than of millennials. Gen Zers have grown up in more diverse settings than did previous generations and have higher percentages of single-parent families, mixed-race families, and LGBTQ+ parents in legally recognized partnerships. In fact, 16 percent of Gen Zers identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves, more than any previous generation. They are also shifting and eschewing gender norms more than any previous generation, with more than half of Gen Zers saying that forms and profiles should allow for sex or gender options other than “man” and “woman.”

They are more likely to reside in cities and metropolitan areas, only 13 percent growing up in rural areas, and Gen Zers are less likely to move than those of previous generations were at the same age. Research in 2018 showed that the oldest members of Gen Z were delaying or perhaps even foregoing marriage, only 4 percent getting married between the ages of 18 and 21—nearly half as many as in the millennial generation, of which 7 percent got married at a young age. This may be partly because more of them are going to college.

Gen Z is the first true digital native generation. As opposed to millennials, the generation that lived through the rise of the Internet while still growing up with cable television and landline phones, Gen Zers have lived their lives fully connected digitally. Most of them do not remember life before smartphones, and all have grown up during a time of ubiquitous access to streaming content and social media. The way they interact with the Internet and with each other via the Internet is different from the ways of previous generations. Whereas millennials went through an era of very open and personal posting on social media—deeply personal and public posts on Facebook, Twitter, or blogs—Gen Zers have turned more toward anonymous forms of social media, such as Snapchat and Whisper, which allow users to keep their audience limited and have messages disappear after the recipient views them.

Some reports have noted members of Generation Z as more pragmatic and earlier to mature than those of previous generations, Gen Zers being more likely to graduate high school, more likely to go to college, and more cautious in their career choices. They are more likely than any previous generation to have at least one parent who graduated college. They were found less likely to engage in underage drinking or to ride in cars without wearing a seat belt. This may be partly because of their being mostly raised by Generation X parents, who were largely concerned with childhood safety. Another contributing factor could be that Gen Zers were growing up during the recession of 2007–09, during which they witnessed adults around them experiencing financial trouble and employment instability. As they began moving into adulthood, Gen Zers aimed to avoid the difficulties that plagued the generations, including the baby boom, before them.