Meet the Typical American Gen Zer: Debt, Savings, Trends

• Gen Z, the oldest of whom turn 24 this year, is the new “it” generation.
• They’re setting trends in fashion and in the workplace, influencing consumer and worker behavior.
• And they’re saving more than they’re spending and set to dominate the economy in 20 years.

Gen Z has stolen the crown from millennials as the media darling of the moment. 

The generation, the oldest of whom turn 24 this year, is in the spotlight as they begin to wield influence over lifestyle, work, and consumer trends. Look no further than various headlines promising how-to meet Gen Z demands in the workforce or market beauty brands to them.

It’s a coming-of-age story, and Gen Z is shaking things up as they enter young adulthood. They’re the first digitally native generation and they’re best reached online, where they’re often catapulting new trends. They’re innovative, entrepreneurial social activists, ready to create and shape a better world.

They were hit by the pandemic during some of their most formative years, which could shape their futures over the long term. The oldest members of the “TikTok generation,” who graduated into a

recession

, run the risk of repeating millennials’ economic plight, but they’re already showing signs of behaviors that could define them for years, trying to save and invest early and embrace a lifestyle based on thrift.

By size and spending power, they’re set to take over the economy in a decade, but their spending restraint and skepticism about markets could make that economy very different.

While it’s hard to capture an entire generation when some members are still teens and others are adults — demographic differences that produce data filled with caveats — here’s what life looks like for the typical Gen Zer in 2021.