What Is Generation X (Gen X)?

Generation X, which is sometimes shortened to Gen X, is the name given to the generation of Americans born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s. The exact years that comprise Gen X vary. Some researchers—demographers William Straus and Neil Howe, for example—place the exact birth years from 1961 to 1981, whereas Gallup places the birth years between 1965 and 1979. But all agree that Gen X follows the baby boom generation and precedes Generation Y or the millennial generation.