Millennials were the largest generation group in the United States in 2024, with an estimated population of ***** million. Born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers as the biggest group, and they will continue to be a major part of the population for many years. The rise of Generation Alpha Generation Alpha is the most recent to have been named, and many group members will not be able to remember a time before smartphones and social media. As of 2024, the oldest Generation Alpha members were still only aging into adolescents. However, the group already makes up around ***** percent of the U.S. population, and they are said to be the most racially and ethnically diverse of all the generation groups. Boomers vs. Millennials The number of Baby Boomers, whose generation was defined by the boom in births following the Second World War, has fallen by around ***** million since 2010. However, they remain the second-largest generation group, and aging Boomers are contributing to steady increases in the median age of the population. Meanwhile, the Millennial generation continues to grow, and one reason for this is the increasing number of young immigrants arriving in the United States.
In 2024, Millennials were the largest generation group in the United States, making up about 21.81 percent of the population. However, Generation Z was not far behind, with Gen Z accounting for around 20.81 percent of the population in that year.
In 2022, the state with the highest median age of its population was Maine at 45.1 years. Utah had the lowest median age at 32.1 years. View the distribution of the U.S. population by ethnicity here.
Additional information on the aging population in the United States
High birth rates during the so-called baby boom years that followed World War II followed by lower fertility and morality rates have left the United States with a serious challenge in the 21st Century. However, the issue of an aging population is certainly not an issue unique to the United States. The age distribution of the global population shows that other parts of the world face a similar issue.
Within the United States, the uneven distribution of populations aged 65 years and over among states offers both major challenges and potential solutions. On the one hand, federal action over the issue may be contentious as other states are set to harbor the costs of elderly care in states such as California and Florida. That said, domestic migration from comparably younger states may help to fill gaps in the workforce left by retirees in others.
Nonetheless, aging population issues are set to gain further prominence in the political and economic decisions made by policymakers regardless of the eventual distribution of America’s elderly. Analysis of the financial concerns of Americans by age shows many young people still decades from retirement hold strong concern over their eventual financial position.
In the first quarter of 2024, 51.8 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by members of the baby boomer generation. In comparison, millennials own around 9.4 percent of total wealth in the U.S. In terms of population distribution, there is almost an equal share of millennials and baby boomers in the United States.
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This directory contains data behind the story How Baby Boomers Get High. It covers 13 drugs across 17 age groups.
Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive.
Header | Definition |
---|---|
alcohol-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used alcohol in the past 12 months |
alcohol-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used alcohol in the past 12 months |
marijuana-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used marijuana in the past 12 months |
marijuana-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used marijuana in the past 12 months |
cocaine-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used cocaine in the past 12 months |
cocaine-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used cocaine in the past 12 months |
crack-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used crack in the past 12 months |
crack-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used crack in the past 12 months |
heroin-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used heroin in the past 12 months |
heroin-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used heroin in the past 12 months |
hallucinogen-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used hallucinogens in the past 12 months |
hallucinogen-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used hallucinogens in the past 12 months |
inhalant-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used inhalants in the past 12 months |
inhalant-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used inhalants in the past 12 months |
pain-releiver-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used pain relievers in the past 12 months |
pain-releiver-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used pain relievers in the past 12 months |
oxycontin-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used oxycontin in the past 12 months |
oxycontin-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used oxycontin in the past 12 months |
tranquilizer-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used tranquilizer in the past 12 months |
tranquilizer-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used tranquilizer in the past 12 months |
stimulant-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used stimulants in the past 12 months |
stimulant-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used stimulants in the past 12 months |
meth-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used meth in the past 12 months |
meth-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used meth in the past 12 months |
sedative-use | Percentage of those in an age group who used sedatives in the past 12 months |
sedative-frequency | Median number of times a user in an age group used sedatives in the past 12 months |
As of February 2025, ** percent of LinkedIn users in the United States were Millennials, whilst ** percent belonged to Generation Z. Additionally, *** in *** U.S. users were Baby boomers.
The total average non-mortgage debt of Baby Boomers in the United States amounted to nearly 18,470 U.S. dollars in 2024. Debt balances, however, varied greatly according to the generation. The Generation X held the highest debt on average, while the silent generation held the lowest average debt.
The statistic above provides information about the average retirement age in the United States from 1900 to 2012. Most of the people were about 76 years old when they ended work in 1900, while the generation in 2010 was aged 64. Additional information on the retirement age in the United States Societal changes, technological advancements and domestic social welfare pension policies have all contributed to a general lowering of the average retirement age. Although the average retirement age has remained relatively steady between ** and ** for decades, age demographic disparities are set to threaten the continence of this trend. The retirement age is similarly low in other developed countries subject to the same trend. The average retirement age of workers in the United States and the effect it has on the wider economy and society has become an important focus. In recent years many countries, including the United States, have acknowledged the issue of aging populations and the potential strain this may put on the economy. The danger lies in rising pension payments and gaps in the labor force upon the looming retirement of the so-called baby boom generation born following the Second World War. While there is a commonly accepted consensus that the government should play at least a role in the provision of financial means to retirees, policy action in regard to this growing problem has been minimal. Such an approach will do little to minimize the existing fears held by retirees over payment of basic needs and medical expenses. Perhaps as a response to these concerns, many current workers in the United States expect to continue working in a full or part time capacity upon reaching the retirement age.
In 2021, Baby Boomers were the main new car buyers in the United States, representing around ** percent of new car sales. By contrast, Gen X made up the majority of the used car buyers, at close to ** percent of the sales.
The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In the United States in 1800, the average woman of childbearing age would have seven children over the course of their lifetime. As factors such as technology, hygiene, medicine and education improved, women were having fewer children than before, reaching just two children per woman in 1940. This changed quite dramatically in the aftermath of the Second World War, rising sharply to over 3.5 children per woman in 1960 (children born between 1946 and 1964 are nowadays known as the 'Baby Boomer' generation, and they make up roughly twenty percent of todays US population). Due to the end of the baby boom and increased access to contraception, fertility reached it's lowest point in the US in 1980, where it was just 1.77. It did however rise to over two children per woman between 1995 and 2010, although it is expected to drop again by 2020, to just 1.78.
According to a survey conducted at the beginning of January 2025, just under 65 percent of Millennials in the United States enjoyed amusement parks. In contrast, fewer members of Gen X stated that they liked amusement parks when surveyed, at 60.1 percent. A little less than 50 percent of Baby Boomers said they enjoyed amusement parks.
Seniors had the highest spend on home renovations in the United States in 2024. The median spend of Seniors was 22,000 U.S. dollars, whereas Gen Xers and Baby Boomers had a median spend of 20,000 U.S. dollars. Baby boomers were not only the generation with the second-highest spend, but also the one most likely to carry out renovations.
The weekly time spent watching TV among Baby Boomers in the United States amounted to an average of ***** minutes (** hours and * minutes) in the first quarter of 2018. Boomers, or adults aged approximately 50 to 64 years old, are serious television fans, and 94 percent of adults in this age group watched television at least once per week.
Baby Boomers and television
According to data gathered in early 2019, adults aged between 50 and 64 years watched almost *** hours of live and time-shifted television per day, whereas those between ** and ** spent less than *** hours per day watching TV. Boomers tend to enjoy traditional formats more than younger consumers, though that is not to say that older adults do not make use of modern digital alternatives. Over ** percent of survey respondents aged 56 or above reported streaming or downloading TV series or movies each week, and some had even subscribed to a service purely to watch a specific show.
Between the beginning of January 2020 and June 14, 2023, of the 1,134,641 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the United States, around 307,169 had occurred among those aged 85 years and older. This statistic shows the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths in the U.S. from January 2020 to June 2023, by age.
During a survey conducted in 2024, it was revealed that millennials represented the biggest share of pet owners in the United States (** percent), followed in second place by Generation X (** percent). Baby Boomer's came in third, representing some ** percent of pet owners. Pet ownership in the United States Despite some fluctuations, household penetration rates for pet ownership in the United States have generally increased over the years, going from ** percent in 1988 to approximately ** percent in 2023. With millennials constituting the largest group of pet owners in the United States, they also constituted the generational group that planned to spend the most on their pets during the holidays in 2020, with an average spending of ** U.S. dollars, compared to only ** U.S. dollars of average planned spending on pets for Baby Boomers. Pet expenditure in the U.S. Pet food and treats constituted the highest selling category for pet products in the United States, with total food and treats sales reaching **** billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Vet care and product sales were the second biggest pet market category that year, generating around **** billion U.S. dollars in sales. Generally, average annual pet expenditure was higher for dog owners than for cat owners across all pet market categories in 2020.
In the third quarter of 2024, 51.6 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by members of the baby boomer generation. In comparison, millennials owned around ten percent of total wealth in the U.S. In terms of population distribution, there is almost an equal share of millennials and baby boomers in the United States.
As of 2020, the salary for millennial professionals in the cybersecurity field is approximately ****** U.S. dollars, compared to the salary of ******* U.S. dollars for baby boomers in the same field. The salaries of cybersecurity professionals vary by age, but this is not rather surprising as millennial professionals are still early in their careers, where the baby boomer generation has tremendously more work-experience behind them.
According to a survey held in February 2019, ** percent of Millennials said that on average they had seen *** movies in a cinema in the last month, compared to ** percent of Boomers who said the same. Generation Z proved to be the most regular cinemagoers, with ** percent saying they had seen a film at a movie theater within the past month compared to ** percent of their slightly older peers, Millennials, and ** percent of Boomers.
In 2024, 59 percent of homeowners who renovated their home were from the Baby Boomer generation in the United States. In 2024, American homeowners said that they decided to renovate because they wanted to do it all along and finally had the time or financial means to do it. Home renovation Home renovation is when homeowners choose to remodel their home. These changes can be exterior or interior, as well as property improvements. Renovating a home can also include adding amenities or fixing what is already there. Home maintenance is a vital aspect of being a homeowner, so the home remains safe to live in. However, there are also aesthetic purposes to home renovations. How many Americans hired professionals? One can decide whether they would like to hire help for their renovations. While deciding to renovate by yourself can be cost-effective, it might not always be the safest or most practical way. However, the amount of homeowners who decided to hire a general contractor to help with their renovations has decreased since 2015. However, these renovations come at a price. The leading reason for renovation projects going over budget in 2017 was because homeowners decided to buy more expensive products or materials.
Baby Boomers in Argentina spent on average almost *** U.S. dollars per online purchase made in the first half of 2019. Meanwhile, buyers aged between 34 to 54 years, popularly known as Gen Xers, registered an online shopping ticket of approximately *** U.S. dollars.
Millennials were the largest generation group in the United States in 2024, with an estimated population of ***** million. Born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers as the biggest group, and they will continue to be a major part of the population for many years. The rise of Generation Alpha Generation Alpha is the most recent to have been named, and many group members will not be able to remember a time before smartphones and social media. As of 2024, the oldest Generation Alpha members were still only aging into adolescents. However, the group already makes up around ***** percent of the U.S. population, and they are said to be the most racially and ethnically diverse of all the generation groups. Boomers vs. Millennials The number of Baby Boomers, whose generation was defined by the boom in births following the Second World War, has fallen by around ***** million since 2010. However, they remain the second-largest generation group, and aging Boomers are contributing to steady increases in the median age of the population. Meanwhile, the Millennial generation continues to grow, and one reason for this is the increasing number of young immigrants arriving in the United States.