What Generation Am I? Generations by Birth Year

Your generation depends on your birth year. Using Pew Research Center’s ranges: Silent Generation 1928–1945, Baby Boomers 1946–1964, Generation X 1965–1980, Millennials 1981–1996 and Generation Z 1997–2012. If you were born in 1990, you’re a Millennial; born in 2000, you’re Gen Z.

Generation labels are a shorthand, not an official classification, and different organizations draw the lines in slightly different places. Pew’s ranges are the ones most often quoted in the US, so this guide uses them, explains where they come from, and covers the children born after Gen Z, who don’t yet have an agreed range. For your exact age in years, months and days, use the age calculator.

Generations by birth year

“Age reached in 2026” is the age at a birthday in 2026: someone born in 1964 turns 62 this year, and someone born in 1946 turns 80. If your birthday hasn’t come yet this year, you’re one year younger until it does.

The Silent, Boomer, Gen X and Millennial ranges appear in Pew’s own generations chart and in its 2019 explainer Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Pew’s analyses have used 1997–2012 for Gen Z, for example in its 2021 report on Black Americans, which also noted that no end point had been formally set. In Pew’s 2015 explainer on generations research, the Greatest Generation is everyone born before 1928.

Why the lines fall where they do

• Baby Boomers are the only generation with a demographic definition. Pew notes that they are the only generation officially designated by the US Census Bureau, based on the surge in births after World War II starting in 1946 and the drop in birth rates after 1964.
• Millennials and Gen Z were split at 1996 for reasons of shared experience. Pew chose that year because people born up to 1996 were old enough to understand the September 11 attacks and came of age around the 2008 election and the Great Recession.
• Generation X was named by popular culture rather than researchers. Pew credits Douglas Coupland’s 1991 book with popularizing the label, and notes that Time magazine coined “Silent Generation” in 1951.

The spans aren’t equal, either. The Baby Boom covers 19 birth years (1946 through 1964), while Gen X, the Millennials and Gen Z in Pew’s analyses each cover 16 (1965–1980, 1981–1996 and 1997–2012). The Silent Generation covers 18 (1928–1945). So “a generation” doesn’t mean a fixed number of years; each range is fitted to the events and birth trends that researchers think shaped it.

Pew itself is cautious about the whole idea. In the 2019 explainer it writes that “generational cutoff points aren’t an exact science,” and in 2023 it said generational categories are not scientifically defined and that it would use them less often in its research.

Generation Alpha and beyond

Children born after Gen Z are widely called Generation Alpha, but Pew hasn’t published a range for them, and the end year of Gen Z itself is a working choice rather than a fixed rule. Sources that use the label don’t agree on its first year; some start it in the early 2010s. Our age calculator uses 2013–2024 for Generation Alpha and calls children born from 2025 Generation Beta; treat both as informal labels that may shift as researchers settle on dates.

Born on the cusp?

If you were born within a year or two of a boundary, you may feel you belong to both sides, and that’s reasonable. Generations are a range of experiences, not a switch that flips on January 1. Informal labels have grown up for these groups, such as “Xennials” for people born around the late 1970s and early 1980s, and “Zillennials” for those born in the mid-1990s. They aren’t Pew categories, and their years vary from source to source.

Some boundary years and where Pew puts them:

• 1964: the last Baby Boomer year. See how old someone born in 1964 is.
• 1965: the first Gen X year.
• 1980 and 1981: the last Gen X year and the first Millennial year.
• 1996 and 1997: the last Millennial year and the first Gen Z year. See someone born in 1997.
• 2012: the last year of Gen Z in Pew’s analyses.

What generation am I? Check your birth year

Each “born in” page on our site shows both possible ages for that year (before and after the birthday), the generation, milestone birthdays and the Chinese zodiac sign. For example, someone born in 1990 is 35 or 36 in 2026 and belongs to the Millennial generation. If you’re curious about your zodiac animal too, the Chinese zodiac years chart lists every year from 1960 to 2031.

For a different way to picture a lifetime, life in weeks lays out your whole life as a grid of weeks.

Generations outside the US

Pew’s ranges are built around American history and birth data, such as the US baby boom. Other countries had their baby booms at different times, and researchers there sometimes use different years or different names. If you’re reading a survey from another country, or from a company, check which years it uses before comparing results with Pew’s.

Frequently asked questions

What generation am I if I was born in 1990?

You’re a Millennial. Pew’s Millennial range runs from 1981 to 1996.

What years are Gen Z?

Pew’s analyses use 1997 to 2012 for Generation Z. The start year, 1997, is firm in Pew’s work; the end year is a working cut-off.

What years are Millennials?

1981 to 1996, according to Pew Research Center. Millennials are sometimes called Generation Y.

What generation was born in 1980?

Generation X. In Pew’s ranges, Gen X covers 1965 to 1980, so 1980 is its last year.

What generation comes after Gen Z?

The next group is usually called Generation Alpha. Pew hasn’t set years for it, and other sources differ on when it starts; our age calculator uses 2013–2024.

Who decides generation names and years?

No single body. The Census Bureau defines only the Baby Boom. Other names come from writers and popular culture, and research groups such as Pew choose the year ranges they use.