Demographic Segmentation of the American Population

In the United States, dividing by age group and generation is a classic method of segmenting consumers for marketing, branding, and market research activities… It's also worth noting that most American adults don't primarily identify with their own generation. For example, most Millennials don't even identify as Millennials, and a young person from Generation X might feel more culturally similar to Generation Y. In other words, cultural and behavioral trends don't tend to have fixed age divisions. (That's why many argue that it's more useful to look at lifestyles rather than age groups because age doesn't influence identity formation as much as other characteristics.

However, as things stand, marketers and researchers often look at generations and age groups. So here's a reference list of some commonly used age groups for the American market and their estimates in terms of numbers and percentage of the total American population as of July 1, 2023. We have also compared these data with those from a decade ago to show trends [and of course, the 65+ group has grown]

• 12-17: 26.0 million (7.8%) [25 million and 7.9% in 2013]
• 18-24: 30.6 million (9.1%) [31.5 million and 10% in 2013]
• 25-34: 45.5 million (13.6%) [42.8 million and 13.6% in 2013]
• 35-44: 44.4 million (13.3%) [40.5 million and 12.8% in 2013]
• 45-54: 40.5 million (12.1%) [43.8 million and 13.8% in 2013]
• 55-64: 41.9 million (12.5%) [39.3 million and 12.4% in 2013]
• 65+: 59.2 million (17.7%) [44.7 million and 14.1% in 2013]

Other breakdown intervals of the American population commonly used in marketing and market research activities are as follows:

• 18-29: 52.6 million (15.7%) [53 million and 16.8% in 2013]
• 18-34: 76.1 million (22.7%) [74.3 million and 23.5% in 2013]
• 18-49: 140.3 million (41.9%) [135.9 million and 43% in 2013]
• 35-49: 64.2 million (19.2%) [65.7 million and 20.8% in 2013]
• 50-64: 62.5 million (18.7%) [61.9 million and 19.6% in 2013]
• 55+: 101.1 million (30.2%) [84 million and 26.6% in 2013]

Regarding the generational breakdown (as defined by the Pew Research Center) for marketing and market research purposes, here is the breakdown of American consumers:

• Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012): 69.3 million (20.7% of the population)
• Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): 72.7 million (21.7% of the population)
• Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980): 65.3 million (19.5% of the population)
• Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964): 67.9 million (20.3% of the population)
• Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1945): 16.3 million (4.9% of the population)