There’s rough consensus around these birth year cutoffs for the four most recent American generations:

Baby Boomers: 1946-1964
GenX: 1965-1979
Millennials: 1980-1994
GenZ/iGen: 1995-2012?

Generations Table

 

Of course, any birth year cutoff is arbitrary. (I’ve written more about that HERE and HERE). For example, maybe Millennials begin in 1979 or 1982 instead. That’s certainly possible – there is no bright dividing line between GenX’ers and Millennials. There are more definite breaks in the data between those born in the early 1990s and the mid-1990s, probably due to the smartphone, so the 1995 cutoff has some data to back it up. 2012 is looking fairly good for the last birth year of GenZ. Those born before 2012 will remember the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns for the rest of their lives. But those born in 2013 or later, who were 7 or younger in 2020, are less likely to have fully processed just how much our lives changed during this time. Since the pandemic was a major cultural event, 2012 seems to work as a birth year cutoff. Then we’ll be on to the next generation. We’re not sure what they will be called yet, though the term Alphas seems to be winning.