A new report from music marketing technology company MAX argues that many supposed Gen Z behaviours are less about generational identity and more about age, income and independence.
Based on a survey of more than 14,000 US consumers aged 13 to 64, The Practical Radicals divides Gen Z into two groups: those aged 13–20 living at home and independent adults aged 21 and over. It then compares the older group with millennials to identify which habits survive the transition into adulthood.
The findings challenge familiar narratives around beauty, online shopping, alcohol, artificial intelligence and experience-led spending.
Life Stage Changes the Picture
According to the report, Gen Z spends less than millennials across every measured beauty category, with 84% classified as affordable personal-care shoppers. Its preference for products over experiences also begins to shift after 21, when spending on dining, travel and nightlife moves closer to millennial levels.
Buy-now-pay-later services, crypto wallets and paid AI subscriptions peak among younger millennials rather than Gen Z. While younger consumers may use AI more frequently, they appear less willing to pay for it.
The research also complicates the “sober generation” label. Independent Gen Z consumers drink less than millennials, but the gap is relatively narrow: 23% abstain from alcohol compared with 17% of millennials. Price may be the stronger differentiator, with Gen Z purchasing budget liquor at twice the millennial rate.
Another assumption under pressure is that digital natives naturally prefer ecommerce. MAX found that Gen Z visits physical stores more often than millennials and shops online less, adding weight to the generation’s role in the renewed appeal of malls and in-person retail.
The Behaviours That Look More Lasting
Several differences remained consistent across both younger and independent Gen Z respondents.
Social media as a search tool is one of the clearest. Fifty-nine percent of Gen Z searches through social platforms, compared with 46% of millennials and 30% of Gen X.
Gaming also functions as a mainstream form of entertainment rather than a specialist interest, while creative hobbies—from physical crafts to digital content production—remain more common than among older groups.
The report additionally identifies growing interest in esports, the WNBA and combat sports, alongside weaker connections with some legacy leagues.
Price sensitivity persists across income levels, suggesting that value is not simply a response to limited spending power. Gen Z also displays a conflicted relationship with technology: its heaviest social-media users are among those most likely to have attempted a “social media diet.”
If a behavior changes as soon as someone turns 21, brands should be careful about building a long-term generational strategy around it. The more meaningful signals are the behaviors that remain consistent, including how Gen Z searches, plays, creates, and thinks about value. – Jeff Rosenfeld, chief product officer at MAX
Culture Matters as Much as Age
MAX also found that TikTok Shop purchases, tequila consumption and buy-now-pay-later adoption were sometimes more closely connected to ethnicity than age.
Because Gen Z is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation examined, multicultural behaviours can easily be misidentified as universal generational habits. That creates a risk of brands separating their Gen Z and multicultural strategies while frequently addressing the same audiences.
For music marketers, the report points towards a more precise approach to audience data. Age remains useful, but independence, income, ethnicity and cultural participation may reveal more than a broad generational label.
Gen Z is not one fixed consumer profile waiting to be decoded. The sharper strategy is to recognise which behaviours reflect a lasting cultural shift—and which may disappear with the first full-time paycheque.