The State of Gen Z: A Generation in Transition
Every day, Morning Consult tracks a wide range of habits, preferences, media behaviors and brand perceptions among Gen Z. We wanted to take a step back and look at how these are changing over time to gauge how Gen Z is evolving, the ways the young cohort are staying the same and even the ways the rest of the population is starting to shift along with them.
Author
Bobby Blanchard
Sr. Director of Audience Development
What’s Inside the Report
Life milestones, by the numbers. Marriage rates, employment, household formation, and income shifts that reveal a generation that has genuinely grown up.
The politics of a maturing generation. How Gen Z's party identification and issue priorities have shifted as fewer of them are students and more of them are paying bills.
Confidence, ambition, and self-perception. Psychographic data showing a generation that feels more in control, more goal-oriented, and more settled in its identity than it did four years ago — and what that means for brands marketing to their insecurities.
The traits that haven't budged. Impulsiveness, status-seeking, trend-chasing — the consumer behaviors that define Gen Z remain fully intact, now backed by a paycheck.
Social media, streaming, and social commerce. Which platforms Gen Z still leads, where the rest of America is catching up, and how Gen Z pioneered behaviors that are now going mainstream.
Brand trust — still a problem. 97% of brands earn less trust from Gen Z than from the general population, a gap that is widening.