Preceden

What Generation Am I? Generation Calculator

Enter your birth year to see which generation you belong to and the years it covers. By Pew Research Center's dates, Millennials were born from 1981 to 1996 and Gen Z from 1997 to 2012. The full chart of generations by year is below.

Born in

: born (). Its members turn in 2026.

You turn this year.

You were born this year.

You were born within two years of the line with the neighboring generation, , which makes you a cusper: many people born near a line feel part of both.

Some writers call people born from about .

Try an example

  • , like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump: the first year of the Baby Boomers, right on the line with the Silent Generation.
  • : the last year of Generation X by Pew's dates, but the first year of Generation Y (Millennials) by McCrindle's. People born around then are often called Xennials.
  • , like Malala Yousafzai: the first year of Gen Z by Pew's dates, and on the cusp with the Millennials.
  • : Gen Z by Pew's dates, which run to 2012, but the first year of Generation Alpha by McCrindle's.

Generations by year

The generation names and years this calculator uses, with the ages each generation's members turn in 2026.

Generation Born Ages in 2026
Lost Generation 1883 to 1900 126 to 143
Greatest Generation 1901 to 1927 99 to 125
Silent Generation 1928 to 1945 81 to 98
Baby Boomers 1946 to 1964 62 to 80
Generation X 1965 to 1980 46 to 61
Millennials 1981 to 1996 30 to 45
Generation Z 1997 to 2012 14 to 29
Generation Alpha 2013 to 2024 2 to 13
Generation Beta 2025 to 2039 0 to 1

How it works

A generation is a group of people born in the same span of years, who grew up with the same events and technology. The calculator looks up your birth year in the chart above. For the Silent Generation through Gen Z it uses the dates Pew Research Center uses in its reports; the US Census Bureau defines only one generation, the Baby Boomers, with the same years, 1946 to 1964.

Pew has not dated the generations at either end, so the chart uses the names and years most often given for them: the Greatest Generation, born 1901 to 1927, who came of age in the Great Depression or World War II; the Lost Generation before them, as Strauss and Howe date it; Generation Alpha from 2013, the year after Pew's Gen Z ends; and Generation Beta, from 2025 to 2039, as McCrindle dates it. The ages are the ones people turn during 2026, so someone born in 1990 counts as 36 all year.

Why sources disagree on generation years

There is no official list. Generations are a convention, and researchers draw the lines where they think formative experiences changed. Pew ends the Millennials in 1996 partly because many of them were old enough to understand the 9/11 attacks when they happened, while most of Gen Z has little or no memory of them.

McCrindle, an Australian research firm whose dates are widely quoted (its founder, Mark McCrindle, coined the name Generation Alpha), uses blocks of about 15 years: Generation X from 1965 to 1979, Generation Y (Millennials) from 1980 to 1994, Generation Z from 1995 to 2009, and Generation Alpha from 2010 to 2024. Strauss and Howe, who coined the word Millennials, start them in 1982. So if you were born near a line, you may see yourself listed in two generations, and both can be right. The calculator shows Pew's answer first and McCrindle's next to it.

What generation is a given year?

  • 1980: Generation X by Pew's dates (its last year), Generation Y (Millennials) by McCrindle's.
  • 1985 and 1990: Millennials, by every common set of dates.
  • 1995: Millennials by Pew's dates, Generation Z by McCrindle's.
  • 1996: the last year of the Millennials by Pew's dates. McCrindle puts 1996 in Generation Z.
  • 1997: the first year of Gen Z by Pew's dates.
  • 2000 and 2005: Generation Z, by both Pew's and McCrindle's dates.
  • 2010: Gen Z by Pew's dates, Generation Alpha by McCrindle's.
  • 2013: Generation Alpha, the first year after Pew's Gen Z.
  • 2025 to 2039: Generation Beta.

Going by your age instead? Find the age you turn this year in the list below, which covers every birth year from 1946 to 2026.

Show every birth year
Born Turns in 2026 Generation McCrindle
1946 80 Baby Boomers Same
1947 79 Baby Boomers Same
1948 78 Baby Boomers Same
1949 77 Baby Boomers Same
1950 76 Baby Boomers Same
1951 75 Baby Boomers Same
1952 74 Baby Boomers Same
1953 73 Baby Boomers Same
1954 72 Baby Boomers Same
1955 71 Baby Boomers Same
1956 70 Baby Boomers Same
1957 69 Baby Boomers Same
1958 68 Baby Boomers Same
1959 67 Baby Boomers Same
1960 66 Baby Boomers Same
1961 65 Baby Boomers Same
1962 64 Baby Boomers Same
1963 63 Baby Boomers Same
1964 62 Baby Boomers Same
1965 61 Generation X Same
1966 60 Generation X Same
1967 59 Generation X Same
1968 58 Generation X Same
1969 57 Generation X Same
1970 56 Generation X Same
1971 55 Generation X Same
1972 54 Generation X Same
1973 53 Generation X Same
1974 52 Generation X Same
1975 51 Generation X Same
1976 50 Generation X Same
1977 49 Generation X Same
1978 48 Generation X Same
1979 47 Generation X Same
1980 46 Generation X Generation Y (Millennials)
1981 45 Millennials Same
1982 44 Millennials Same
1983 43 Millennials Same
1984 42 Millennials Same
1985 41 Millennials Same
1986 40 Millennials Same
1987 39 Millennials Same
1988 38 Millennials Same
1989 37 Millennials Same
1990 36 Millennials Same
1991 35 Millennials Same
1992 34 Millennials Same
1993 33 Millennials Same
1994 32 Millennials Same
1995 31 Millennials Generation Z
1996 30 Millennials Generation Z
1997 29 Generation Z Same
1998 28 Generation Z Same
1999 27 Generation Z Same
2000 26 Generation Z Same
2001 25 Generation Z Same
2002 24 Generation Z Same
2003 23 Generation Z Same
2004 22 Generation Z Same
2005 21 Generation Z Same
2006 20 Generation Z Same
2007 19 Generation Z Same
2008 18 Generation Z Same
2009 17 Generation Z Same
2010 16 Generation Z Generation Alpha
2011 15 Generation Z Generation Alpha
2012 14 Generation Z Generation Alpha
2013 13 Generation Alpha Same
2014 12 Generation Alpha Same
2015 11 Generation Alpha Same
2016 10 Generation Alpha Same
2017 9 Generation Alpha Same
2018 8 Generation Alpha Same
2019 7 Generation Alpha Same
2020 6 Generation Alpha Same
2021 5 Generation Alpha Same
2022 4 Generation Alpha Same
2023 3 Generation Alpha Same
2024 2 Generation Alpha Same
2025 1 Generation Beta Same
2026 0 Generation Beta Same

Cuspers, Xennials and Zillennials

People born in the first or last couple of years of a generation are often called cuspers, and many feel they share something with both groups. Two cusps have names of their own. Xennials, born from about 1977 to 1983, had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood, between Gen X and the Millennials. Zillennials, born from about 1993 to 1998, sit between the Millennials and Gen Z. The years for both vary from writer to writer.

What comes after Gen Alpha?

Generation Beta, the children born from 2025 to 2039. Most of them are the children of younger Millennials and of Gen Z. No name has been agreed yet for the generation after them.

Related tools

To see what century a year is in, use the century calculator. To count how many years ago a year was, BC or AD, use the BC/AD years calculator. To write your birth date in Roman numerals, use the Roman numeral date converter. To work out how old someone was when they died, or how old they would be today, use the age at death calculator. To find a birth year from an age, use the birth year calculator.

Generations on a timeline

Generations are easier to compare when you can see the events each one grew up with. You can make a timeline of your family or of the generations in Preceden, or browse a timeline of the writers of the Lost Generation.

More free date and time tools