The kids are all right….but the adults aren’t doing so well.
A new national survey from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation paints a concerning picture of life satisfaction among Gen Z.
According to their 2025 Voices of Gen Z study, the majority of young adults — aged 18 to 28 — are not “thriving” in life as one might think.
Only 39% of Gen Z adults reported that they are flourishing, marking a five percent drop from 2024 and contributing to the overall decline in well-being across the generation.
The decline in well-being is being driven entirely by Gen Z adults, as younger Gen Zers — 56% to be exact — continue to be in their own blissful bubble, reporting relatively higher life satisfaction.
The most dramatic drop is among adult Gen Z women. Only 37% of them say they are happy with their lives, down sharply from 46% the previous year.
“We’ve seen some leading indicators of this and other federal research that’s been released showing that women are really struggling with anxiety and depression at a very high rate,” Stephanie Marken, senior partner at Gallup, told Newsweek.
“I think it’s clouding their overall views of their lives, and that’s what we see manifesting in this particular research effort.”
Adding to that, Bryan Driscoll, an HR consultant, told Newsweek that he doesn’t “…think Gen Z is struggling because they’re fragile or unmotivated or whatever. They’re struggling because the system is broken.”
“Wages haven’t kept up with costs, housing is out of reach, and the American Dream is a scam. Women in particular carry the brunt of it, juggling inequitable pay, workplace sexism, and a political environment that treats their rights like bargaining chips,” Driscoll added.
None of this really comes as a surprise, considering the average Gen Zer has around $94,101 in personal debt — surpassing Millennials, who have racked up around $59,181 in debt.
Credit card debt is the culprit — with 56% of this generation having some form of it.
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