--- description: Millennials, or individuals born between 1981 and 1997, are set to become the most populous generation in the U.S. this year. title: Move Over, Baby Boomers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9309601abc17e1e0/69877abcf887dc084ee899c4/130904259.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Millennials Will Overtake Baby Boomers to Become America's Biggest Generation by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 20, 2015 4:40 AM CUT  Crowds of people walking on New York City Street Crowds of people walking on New York City StreetGetty Images by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 20, 2015 4:40 AM CUT There’s a lot of them: 75 million total, in fact. Millennials, or individuals born between 1981 and 1997, are set to become the [most populous generation](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/16/this-year-millennials-will-overtake-baby-boomers/ "undefined") in the U.S. this year, eclipsing the baby boomer generation, according to newly-released data from the U.S. Census Bureau cited in a Pew Research Center report. Baby boomers, or those born from 1946 to 1964, will drop into second place and then third place by 2028, when Generation X (those born between 1965 to 1980) will beat out baby boomers. The 74.9 million people born as a result of a post-World War II population boom — hence the name baby boomers — are seeing their numbers decline through increasing mortality rates, while millennials are seeing an upsurge in their population from immigration, the Pew findings show. Immigration projections estimate that millennials will top out at 81.1 million in 2036\. By comparison, baby boomers reached their population zenith in 1999, when there were 78.8 million boomers. \[[Pew Research Center](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/16/this-year-millennials-will-overtake-baby-boomers/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3673932/millennials-baby-boomers-largest-generation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3673932/millennials-baby-boomers-largest-generation/"},"headline":"Millennials Will Overtake Baby Boomers to Become America's Biggest Generation","datePublished":"2015-01-20T04:40:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:08:15.885Z","description":"And Generation X will overtake baby boomers by 2028","url":"https://time.com/3673932/millennials-baby-boomers-largest-generation/","keywords":["Demographics","millenials","People","Baby Boomers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9309601abc17e1e0/69877abcf887dc084ee899c4/130904259.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9309601abc17e1e0/69877abcf887dc084ee899c4/130904259.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"130904259","caption":"130904259","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3673932/millennials-baby-boomers-largest-generation/","name":"Millennials Will Overtake Baby Boomers to Become America's Biggest Generation"}}]}] ```