What Generation Am I

Your generation by birth year, with its years, its source and the neighbouring generations

What Generation Am I

Year of birth

What Generation Am I: Generations by Birth Year

Generations by Birth Year

A generation is found by one rule: look for the range of years that holds the birth year. The ranges are Pew Research Center's for the Greatest Generation through the Millennials; for Gen Z Pew sets the start and uses 2012 as a working end without having fixed it officially; Alpha and Beta are McCrindle Research's.

Generation = the row of the chart where "from" ≤ birth year ≤ "to"
GenerationBornSource
Greatest Generationbefore 1928Pew Research Center
Silent Generation1928–1945Pew Research Center
Baby Boomers1946–1964Pew Research Center
Generation X1965–1980Pew Research Center
Millennials (Gen Y)1981–1996Pew Research Center
Generation Z1997–2012Pew Research Center (start); 2012 is the cut-off Pew uses
Generation Alpha2013–2024McCrindle Research
Generation Beta2025–2039McCrindle Research

Where the lines come from. Pew Research Center drew the line between Millennials and Generation Z (1996/1997) in Michael Dimock's "Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins", January 17, 2019; the article does not fix where Gen Z ends. The names Generation Alpha and Generation Beta come from Australia's McCrindle Research; McCrindle starts Alpha in 2010, and this chart in 2013, right after 2012, the cut-off Pew uses for the end of Gen Z in its research.

How to Find Your Generation, Step by Step

  1. Take your birth year — the month and day do not matter, generation lines run between years.
  2. Find the chart row whose range holds the year: 1985 lies between 1981 and 1996, so it is a Millennial year.
  3. Check whether it is a cusp year: within two years of a line, other sources may put it in the neighbouring generation, and the result page says so.

Why Sources Disagree

No single body sets the lines of every generation. Only the Baby Boomers have an official definition — the U.S. Census Bureau's 1946–1964; the other lines are a research convention, and each researcher draws them by its own criteria. One line as an example: Pew Research Center starts the Millennials in 1981, while William Strauss and Neil Howe, who coined the word "Millennials", start them in 1982.

Where It Is Used

  • Marketing — segmenting audiences by generation in research and campaigns
  • Sociology and surveys — comparing the answers of different birth cohorts
  • Demography — describing a population by year of birth
  • Work and HR — talking about several generations in one team
  • Family history — which generations parents, children and grandchildren belong to

Limits and Caveats

  • A US frame. Pew's ranges describe American generations; other countries have their own periodization.
  • The lines are conventional. Someone born a year before a line is much like someone born a year after it, which is why cusp years are marked separately.
  • Micro-generations. Xennials and Zillennials are informal names for the seams between generations, with no agreed years; they are never the answer.
  • This is not your age. How old someone is, the age calculator works out; this page gives only the generation.

See Also

What Generation Am I

This calculator names your generation from your birth year — from the Greatest Generation to Generation Beta — using the ranges of Pew Research Center and McCrindle Research, and on cusp years it names the neighbouring generation too. For example, it can help you find out what generation am I if I was born in 1985? (The answer is: Millennials (Gen Y)). Enter a birth year (e.g. "1985") and hit the "Find out" button.

FAQ

How do I know what generation I am?

Find your birth year in the chart of generations: each generation is a span of birth years, and the one whose span holds your year is yours. Enter the year in the form above and the page names the generation, its years and its source, and on a year near a line it names the neighbouring generation too.

What are the years of each generation?

Greatest Generation before 1928; Silent Generation 1928–1945; Baby Boomers 1946–1964; Generation X 1965–1980; Millennials (Gen Y) 1981–1996; Generation Z 1997–2012; Generation Alpha 2013–2024; Generation Beta 2025–2039. Greatest through the Millennials are Pew Research Center's ranges; for Gen Z Pew sets the start, 1997, and uses 2012 as the end in its research without fixing it officially; Alpha and Beta are the names McCrindle Research gave to the generations after Gen Z.

Who decides where one generation ends and the next begins?

No single body sets the lines of every generation. Only the Baby Boomers have an official definition — the U.S. Census Bureau's 1946–1964; the other lines are a research convention, and each researcher draws its own: Pew Research Center starts Millennials in 1981, William Strauss and Neil Howe — who coined the word — in 1982, and McCrindle Research starts Generation Alpha in 2010. That is why a birth year near a line can be named differently by different sources.

What are Xennials and Zillennials?

Informal names for people born on a line between two generations: Xennials between Generation X and the Millennials (roughly the late 1970s and early 1980s), Zillennials between the Millennials and Generation Z (roughly the mid and late 1990s). Neither has agreed years, so this calculator mentions them on cusp years but never gives them as the answer.