What generation am I?

Generations by birth year

This table uses the Pew Research Center’s years from the Greatest Generation to Gen Z, the most widely quoted definitions in the United States. Pew does not define the generations before 1901 or after 2012, so the table uses Strauss and Howe’s years for the Missionary and Lost generations, and McCrindle’s names for Generations Alpha and Beta. Ages are calculated from today’s date.

What each generation is known for

Missionary Generation (1860–1882)

A label from William Strauss and Neil Howe for Americans born after the Civil War. They came of age around 1900 and led much of the Progressive Era: settlement houses, labor reform and the campaigns for women’s suffrage and Prohibition.

Lost Generation (1883–1900)

Young adults during the First World War. Gertrude Stein’s phrase, made famous by Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises (1926). Many emigrated, served in the war or lived through the 1918 influenza pandemic as young adults.

Greatest Generation (1901–1927)

Children of the 1910s and 1920s who grew up in the Great Depression and fought or worked through the Second World War. The name comes from Tom Brokaw’s 1998 book The Greatest Generation.

Silent Generation (1928–1945)

Born during the Depression and the war, when birth rates were low, so it is a small generation. A 1951 Time magazine essay called them “silent” for keeping their heads down; they went on to lead the civil rights movement and much of the 1960s and 70s establishment.

Baby Boomers (1946–1964)

The post-war surge in births. US births peaked in 1957 at about 4.3 million. Boomers grew up with television, the Cold War and rising prosperity, and came of age during Vietnam, civil rights and the counterculture.

Generation X (1965–1980)

Named by Douglas Coupland’s 1991 novel Generation X. Often called the latchkey generation: many grew up with two working parents or divorced parents, and saw home computers, cable TV and video games arrive in childhood.

Millennials (1981–1996)

Came of age around the turn of the millennium. Most were between 5 and 20 when the 9/11 attacks happened, and many entered the job market during the 2008 financial crisis. The internet arrived in their childhood or teens.

Generation Z (1997–2012)

The first generation to grow up with smartphones and social media. The iPhone launched in 2007, when the oldest were 10. Pew drew the line at 1997 partly because this group has little or no memory of 9/11.

Generation Alpha (2013–2024)

Named by Australian researcher Mark McCrindle, who dates it 2010–2024. The first generation born entirely in the 21st century, raised with tablets and voice assistants; many were young children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Generation Beta (2025–2039)

Babies born from 2025, as defined by McCrindle. Most will be the children of younger Millennials and Gen Z, and many are expected to live into the 22nd century.

Why the years differ between sources

There is no official body that decides when a generation starts or ends. The labels come from authors, marketers, journalists and research organizations, and each draws its lines for different reasons.

• Pew Research Center ties its boundaries to shared formative events. In 2019 it set 1996 as the last Millennial year, partly because people born after that have little memory of the 9/11 attacks and grew up with smartphones. In 2023 Pew also said it would be more cautious about generational comparisons, because many apparent differences turn out to reflect age or the times rather than generation.
• Statistics Canada uses 1946 to 1965 for Baby Boomers, because Canada’s birth rate stayed high a year longer, and calls the 1928–1945 cohort the Interwar Generation.
• McCrindle, the Australian research firm that named Generations Alpha and Beta, uses neat 15-year spans: Gen Y 1980–1994, Gen Z 1995–2009, Gen Alpha 2010–2024 and Gen Beta 2025–2039.
• Strauss and Howe, whose 1991 book Generations coined “Millennials”, used longer spans based on their theory of recurring generational cycles: Boomers 1943–1960, 13th Generation 1961–1981, Millennials 1982–2004.

Countries differ too. In the UK, births spiked just after the war and peaked again in the mid-1960s, so British writers sometimes stretch the boomer label further than the American 1946–1964. When the tool shows “Sources disagree”, it means at least one published scheme puts your birth year in a different generation, not just under a different name.

Cuspers: born on the boundary

If you were born within a year or two of a boundary, you may feel you belong to neither generation, or both. Several in-between groups have names of their own:

• Generation Jones (about 1954–1965): late Boomers, a term from Jonathan Pontell, who came of age in the 1970s rather than the 1960s.
• Xennials (about 1977–1983): a childhood without the internet and an adulthood with it.
• Zillennials (about 1993–1998): got their first smartphone in their teens and recognize parts of both Millennial and Gen Z culture.

These ranges are loose by nature; you will see slightly different years for each of them.

Social generations vs family generations

The word generation means two different things. A social generation, like Gen X, is everyone born within a span of about 15 to 20 years. A genealogical generation is one step in a family line: you, your parents, your grandparents. The average gap between a parent’s birth and a child’s is roughly 25 to 30 years, a bit longer on fathers’ lines than mothers’.

Because the two measures run at different speeds, one family generation does not line up with one social generation. Siblings born far apart can belong to different social generations, and a grandparent and grandchild might be three social generations apart. To count family generations back in time, use the how many ancestors calculator, which shows how many great-grandparents you have and roughly when each generation was born.

How to use the family timeline

1. Switch to Family timeline and add people with the quick-add buttons, or load the example family and edit it.
2. Type each person’s birth year. Their generation appears under the row, and they appear on the timeline.
3. Read the summary to see how many generations your family covers.
4. Download the timeline as a PNG for a family group chat, a school project or a reunion, or copy a text summary.

Everything you enter stays in your browser and is remembered on this device for your next visit. If you want to record more than birth years, the family tree maker lets you build and print a full tree.