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Generation Z Born 1997–2012

How old is Gen Z?

Gen Z was born from 1997 to 2012, which means its members are currently aged between 13 and 29.

Ages current as of August 8, 2026 · Pew Research Center definition, the most widely used in the US.

Gen Z is the first generation that never knew a world without the internet — the oldest were 10 when the iPhone launched, and most have little or no memory of 9/11. They grew up on touchscreens, came of age during a pandemic, and are now the second-largest generation in America.

Quick facts

Birth years
1997–2012
Ages in 2026
13 to 29 years old
Generation before
Millennials (1981–1996)
Generation after
Generation Alpha (2013–2024)
US population
≈70 million Estimates range from 68.6 to 71 million (roughly 21% of the US population) depending on the year and method.
Where the name comes from
A simple alphabetical hand-me-down: the generation after X was called Y (later "Millennials"), so the next one became Z. Early rival names included "iGeneration" and "Homelanders" before Gen Z stuck, and the nickname "Zoomer" — a riff on "Boomer" first applied to this generation around 2016 — followed.
Also known as
Zoomers · iGen · Homelanders

Famous members of Gen Z

Every one of them born between 1997 and 2012.

  • Billie Eilish

    b. 2001

    Music

    Pop auteur; recorded her debut album in her brother's bedroom studio

  • Olivia Rodrigo

    b. 2003

    Music

    “drivers license” made her a superstar at 18

  • Jenna Ortega

    b. 2002

    Film & TV

    Wednesday Addams for the streaming era

  • Millie Bobby Brown

    b. 2004

    Film & TV

    Eleven in Stranger Things at age 12

  • Coco Gauff

    b. 2004

    Sport

    US Open champion at 19

  • Caitlin Clark

    b. 2002

    Sport

    NCAA basketball's all-time leading scorer

  • Kylian Mbappé

    b. 1998

    Sport

    World Cup winner as a teenager

  • Maxwell Frost

    b. 1997

    Politics

    First Gen Z member of the US Congress (elected 2022)

  • Greta Thunberg

    b. 2003

    Politics

    Started a global climate movement with a school strike at 15

  • MrBeast

    b. 1998

    Internet culture

    YouTube's most-subscribed creator

  • Emma Chamberlain

    b. 2001

    Internet culture

    Redefined the vlog, then built a coffee company

  • Alexandr Wang

    b. 1997

    Tech

    Founded Scale AI at 19; youngest self-made billionaire at 24

The culture that raised them

Movies

  • Frozen2013The animated soundtrack of a Gen Z childhood
  • The Hunger Games2012Dystopian YA as a middle-school rite of passage
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse2018The superhero movie that looked like their group chats
  • Avengers: Endgame2019The finale of the franchise they grew up inside

TV

  • Stranger Things2016Gen Z stars playing their parents' childhood
  • Euphoria2019The show that dressed a generation
  • SpongeBob SquarePants1999Started before they were born; became their meme dictionary
  • Wednesday2022A Netflix record-breaker powered by a TikTok dance

Music

  • “Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X2019A meme became the longest-running #1 in Billboard history: 19 weeks (since tied)
  • WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP… — Billie Eilish2019Bedroom pop's arrival as the defining Gen Z sound
  • “Dynamite” — BTS2020K-pop's first #1 on the Hot 100 — fandom as a Gen Z superpower

Books

  • The Hunger Games (novel)2008Suzanne Collins' dystopia set the tone for Gen Z YA
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid2007Jeff Kinney's series owned every elementary book fair
  • Percy Jackson & the Olympians2005Rick Riordan made Greek mythology a playground topic again
  • The Fault in Our Stars2012John Green, patron author of early YouTube-era teens

You probably didn't know

The non-obvious markers — the stuff only Gen Z remembers.

  • “Rizz” is dictionary-official

    Oxford's 2023 Word of the Year comes from the middle of “charisma” — the same way “flu” came from “influenza” — and was popularized by streamer Kai Cenat.

  • They mourn an app that died in 2017

    Vine — six-second looping videos — shut down on January 17, 2017, and its absurdist humor still shapes Gen Z meme cadence.

  • TikTok used to be musical.ly

    Millions of Gen Z kids lip-synced on musical.ly before ByteDance merged it into TikTok in August 2018.

  • The gateway device was the iPod Touch

    The oldest Gen Zers were 10 when the iPhone launched in 2007 — but for most kids, the first taste of iOS was a hand-me-down iPod Touch with no SIM card.

  • Their playgrounds were servers

    Club Penguin (2005–2017) and Minecraft (2011) were the after-school hangouts; Among Us lobbies filled the lockdown recess of 2020.

  • School-era ephemera, a partial inventory

    Silly Bandz, Rainbow Loom, the 2016 bottle-flip epidemic, the 2017 fidget-spinner spring, Kahoot music, Chromebook carts, and green-bubble shame.

  • Most of them can't remember 9/11

    Pew's dividing line in action: the oldest Gen Zers were four years old in September 2001, and most members have little or no memory of the event.

The events that shaped Gen Z

  1. September 11 attacks

    The event that defines the generation by its absence: most Gen Zers were too young to remember it, or not yet born.

  2. The iPhone launches

    Released June 29, 2007, when the oldest Gen Zers were 10 — making them the first generation to hit adolescence with a smartphone in hand.

  3. Great Recession & Obama's election

    The financial crisis shaped their childhood households; Barack Obama, elected November 4, 2008, was the first president most of them can remember.

  4. Sandy Hook

    The December 14, 2012 shooting made lockdown drills a standard part of American schooling for the rest of Gen Z's classroom years.

  5. Parkland & March for Our Lives

    After the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, surviving students organized a national movement within five weeks — Gen Z's activist debut.

  6. TikTok goes global

    ByteDance folded musical.ly into TikTok in August 2018, creating the platform that became Gen Z's default cultural engine.

  7. COVID-19 pandemic

    Declared a pandemic March 11, 2020. Schools closed for some 50 million US students — proms, graduations, and freshman years moved to screens.

  8. George Floyd protests

    The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 sparked protests in thousands of towns and cities, with Gen Z heavily represented in the streets and online.

  9. Gen Z enters Congress

    Maxwell Frost's election made him the first Gen Z member of Congress — the generation's arrival in national politics.

What things cost when Gen Z turned 25

Gen Z's median member won't turn 25 until around 2030, so this comparison anchors on 2022 — the year the generation's oldest members (born 1997) turned 25, straight into the worst inflation spike in four decades.

Median home price

▼17% in real terms since 2022

2022 annual average
$432,950
In today's dollars
$494,044
Q2 2026
$410,700

Median sales price of houses sold in the US (Census/HUD via FRED).

Median household income

▼2% in real terms since 2022

2022
$74,580
In today's dollars
$85,104
2024 (latest available)
$83,730

US median household income (Census Bureau CPS ASEC).

A dozen eggs

▼34% in real terms since 2022

2022 annual average
$2.86
In today's dollars
$3.26
June 2026
$2.14

Grade A large eggs, US city average (BLS average price data).

A gallon of gas

▼10% in real terms since 2022

2022 annual average
$4.09
In today's dollars
$4.67
June 2026
$4.20

Unleaded regular, US city average (BLS average price data). Both figures from the same BLS series for a like-for-like comparison.

A year of college tuition

▼5% in real terms since 2022

2022–23 school year
$10,990
In today's dollars
$12,541
2025–26 school year
$11,950

Average published in-state tuition and fees, public four-year colleges (College Board).

Inflation adjustment uses BLS CPI-U annual averages (latest published month: 2026-06). Sources for every figure are listed in the sources section below.

Frequently asked questions

What years are Gen Z?

Gen Z was born from 1997 to 2012 according to Pew Research Center, the most widely used definition in the US. Some researchers draw the lines differently — McCrindle Research uses 1995–2009.

How old is Gen Z in 2026?

In 2026, members of Gen Z are between 13 and 29 years old. The oldest were born in 1997 and the youngest in 2012.

Is 1996 a Millennial or Gen Z birth year?

Millennial. Pew Research Center sets 1996 as the last Millennial birth year and 1997 as the first Gen Z year, partly because those born after 1996 were too young to remember 9/11 and grew up with smartphones as a given.

Is 2012 Gen Z or Gen Alpha?

Under Pew's definition, 2012 is the final Gen Z birth year and Generation Alpha begins around 2013. But this edge is genuinely contested — McCrindle starts Gen Alpha at 2010.

How old is the oldest Gen Z-er in 2026?

The oldest members of Gen Z, born in 1997, turn 29 in 2026. The youngest, born in 2012, turn 14.

What generation comes after Gen Z?

Generation Alpha, generally defined as those born from around 2013 to 2024. Before Gen Z came the Millennials, born 1981–1996.

Why is it called Generation Z?

It's alphabetical: the children after Generation X were first called Generation Y (now Millennials), so the next cohort became Z. Nicknames like “Zoomers” and “iGen” came later.

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Sources

Every fact on this page is verified against the sources below; each entry in the underlying data file carries per-fact source references.

  1. Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins — Pew Research Center
  2. Gen Z — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. The generations defined — McCrindle Research
  4. Age Groups — Demographics Research Guide — University of Southern California Libraries
  5. Age Range by Generation — Beresford Research
  6. Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, Gen A and Gen B explained — Kasasa
  7. Words We're Watching: Zoomer — Merriam-Webster
  8. US population by generation — Statista
  9. What the Statistics Say About Generation Z — Annie E. Casey Foundation
  10. Billie Eilish — Wikipedia
  11. Billie Eilish — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  12. Olivia Rodrigo — Wikipedia
  13. Olivia Rodrigo — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  14. Jenna Ortega — Wikipedia
  15. Jenna Ortega — Biography — IMDb
  16. Millie Bobby Brown — Wikipedia
  17. Millie Bobby Brown — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  18. Coco Gauff — Wikipedia
  19. Coco Gauff — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  20. Caitlin Clark — Wikipedia
  21. Caitlin Clark — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  22. Kylian Mbappé — Wikipedia
  23. Kylian Mbappé — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  24. Maxwell Frost — Wikipedia
  25. 25-year-old Maxwell Frost will be the first Gen Z member of Congress — CNBC
  26. Greta Thunberg — Wikipedia
  27. Greta Thunberg — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  28. MrBeast — Wikipedia
  29. MrBeast — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  30. Emma Chamberlain — Wikipedia
  31. Emma Chamberlain — Biography — IMDb
  32. Alexandr Wang — Wikipedia
  33. Alexandr Wang — Profile — Forbes
  34. Frozen (2013 film) — Wikipedia
  35. Frozen — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  36. The Hunger Games (film) — Wikipedia
  37. Suzanne Collins — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  38. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — Wikipedia
  39. 2019 Oscars — Animated Feature — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  40. Avengers: Endgame — Wikipedia
  41. Avengers: Endgame — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  42. Stranger Things — Wikipedia
  43. Stranger Things — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  44. Euphoria (American TV series) — Wikipedia
  45. Euphoria — Official Site — HBO
  46. SpongeBob SquarePants — Wikipedia
  47. SpongeBob SquarePants — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  48. Wednesday (TV series) — Wikipedia
  49. Wednesday — Netflix / Tudum
  50. 19 Weeks of 'Old Town Road': A Week-by-Week Look Back — Billboard
  51. 'Old Town Road' Rewrites History Once Again With 19 Weeks At No. 1 — Forbes
  52. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — Wikipedia
  53. BTS' 'Dynamite' Tops Hot 100 Chart — Billboard
  54. Dynamite (BTS song) — Wikipedia
  55. The Hunger Games (novel) — Wikipedia
  56. Diary of a Wimpy Kid — Wikipedia
  57. Jeff Kinney — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  58. Percy Jackson & the Olympians — Wikipedia
  59. Rick Riordan — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  60. The Fault in Our Stars — Wikipedia
  61. John Green — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  62. Rizz crowned Oxford Word of the Year 2023 — Oxford University Press
  63. Rizz is Oxford's word of the year for 2023 — NPR
  64. Vine (service) — Wikipedia
  65. What Happened To Musical.ly? A Story of Why It Shut Down — Failory
  66. Vine and Musical.ly transformed the music industry — then they disappeared — Music Business Worldwide
  67. iPod Touch — Wikipedia
  68. Club Penguin — Wikipedia
  69. Among Us — Wikipedia
  70. Bottle flipping — Wikipedia
  71. Why water bottle flipping craze is getting on parents' last nerves — TODAY
  72. Fidget spinner — Wikipedia
  73. September 11 attacks — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  74. iPhone (1st generation) — Wikipedia
  75. Barack Obama — Ballotpedia
  76. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  77. Gunman kills students and adults at Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school — History.com
  78. March for Our Lives and National School Walkout: What to Know — TIME
  79. How Parkland students pulled off a massive national protest in only 5 weeks — CNN
  80. COVID Was Declared a Global Pandemic on March 11, 2020 — NBC San Diego
  81. The Coronavirus Spring: The Historic Closing of U.S. Schools (A Timeline) — Education Week
  82. 2020 Events — History.com
  83. George Floyd protests — Encyclopaedia Britannica
  84. Income in the United States: 2022 (P60-279) — US Census Bureau
  85. Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024 — US Census Bureau
  86. Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States (MSPUS) — Census/HUD via FRED, St. Louis Fed
  87. Average Price: Eggs, Grade A, Large (APU0000708111) — BLS via FRED, St. Louis Fed
  88. Egg Prices Adjusted for Inflation — US Inflation Calculator
  89. Average Price: Gasoline, Unleaded Regular (APU000074714) — BLS via FRED, St. Louis Fed
  90. Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2023 — College Board
  91. Trends in College Pricing — Highlights — College Board
  92. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPIAUCNS) — BLS via FRED, St. Louis Fed