Millennials in the United States

Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Unlike their counterparts in most other developed nations, Millennials in the United States are a relatively large cohort in their nation's population, which has implications for their nation's economy and geopolitics. They generally adopt a slow-life history strategy in that compared to previous cohorts, they tend to be highly educated, be less inclined to engage in sexual intercourse, marry later, and have fewer children, or none at all. Furthermore, Millennials are much less religious than older generations, though some still identify as spiritual. Millennials have faced economic challenges posed by the Great Recession, and another one in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But they have been steadily catching up with their elders in terms of inflation-adjusted median household income and home ownership. They also maintain a high level of participation in the labor force.

Millennials are sometimes known as digital natives because they came of age when the Internet, electronic devices, and social media entered widespread usage. Despite their reputation for holding left-wing views, Millennials are not consistently aligned with liberalism. In fact, they frequently identify as politically independent, and are not idealists. Polling agency Ipsos-MORI warned that "many of the claims made about millennial characteristics are simplified, misinterpreted or just plain wrong, which can mean real differences get lost", and that "[e]qually important are the similarities between other generations—the attitudes and behaviors that are staying the same are sometimes just as important and surprising."