Gen Z Is Growing Up in Education Upheaval. How Are Teens Doing?

Gen Z is in an awkward phase.

The oldest of the cohort — born from 1997 to 2012 — are in their mid- to late 20s and taking heat for chafing against workplace culture in ways that come off as entitled (sound familiar, millennials?). The youngest Zoomers, as they’re also known, are around 13 years old and still have years left in public school systems dealing with frequent upheavals due to federal-level uncertainty, politicization of essential services like libraries and ongoing challenges to helping students get on grade level.

We looked at the data around Gen Z’s demographics, academics and mental health to see how they’re doing since coming on the scene nearly 30 years ago.

More Diverse Than Ever

Gen Z represents about 69 million U.S. residents. That’s 2 million fewer people than in the millennial cohort, but the younger generation continues the trend toward more diversity. Among Zoomers, non-Hispanic whites fell to about half the population, according to data compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their next largest ethnic group is Latinos, at 24 percent.

Gen Z reached 41 million eligible voters in 2024, and despite being a generation of people who had much of their education interrupted by COVID-19 and the pandemic fallout, a majority believe that education is a key part of improving children’s lives.

Childhood Poverty Rising

Gen Z has experienced “exceptionally high poverty rates” compared to older generations, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s analysis. In 2011 and 2012, when the oldest Zoomers were 15, that rate peaked with 46 percent of them living in low-income households.

Childhood poverty grew with their successors. When the first members of Gen Alpha arrived in 2013, 48 percent were born into low-income families.

Mixed Academic Achievement

Despite their early challenges, Zoomers have still managed some impressive academic milestones. At the same time Gen Z reached its highest level of children in low-income households, 34 percent of its students reached the “proficient” designation on the national math assessment — the highest rate of students to do so well since 2000 — though scores would take a hit from the pandemic after 2019.

Since Zoomers began to reach age 16 in 2013, the rate of students who drop out of high school has fallen to its lowest level and remained steady at 4 percent. For millennials, about 11 percent of people ages 16 to 19 left school without a degree.

While Gen Z students are questioning the value of a college degree in a way their predecessors perhaps did not, Zoomers are keeping the rate of young people in higher education steady. People ages 18 to 24 who are either enrolled in or have finished college have been at just under 50 percent for more than a decade, according to the analysis, and Zoomers entered that timeline when they started turning 18 in 2015.

Mental Health Struggles

Discussions about Gen Z’s mental health have held a spotlight since the U.S. Surgeon General declared it a crisis in 2021. About two-thirds of Zoomers said they dealt with at least one mental health issue within the prior two years, according to a 2023 report.

LGBTQ+ youth are at even higher risk of depression and suicidal ideation than their peers, according to data from the Trevor Project, and experts say that finding acceptance and support play important roles in improving their mental health. Even as Gen Z is earning a reputation as the most anxious generation, they also care deeply about their friends’ mental health.