The X Factor: Gen X becomes the most influential global consumers, according to study

The Boomers and Millennials and, to a lesser extent, Gen Z, have gotten all the headlines and marketing campaigns in recent years, while Gen X quietly generated wealth, bought homes, and have now become the “most influential global consumer cohort,” according to new data from Nielsen IQ (NIQ) and World Data Lab.

Gen X has buying power of $15.2 trillion, worldwide, according to the study, and has been the highest spending generation in the world since 2021. Gen X, as a whole, has buying power twice the size of China’s total spending, the study showed. In spite of their being fewer members of Gen X than millennials or Boomers, the cohort “will continue as the world’s highest-spending cohort until 2033,” according the NIQ’s report, The X Factor. By 2035, Gen X annual spending will grow to $23 trillion.

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In 2025, Gen X spending eclipsed Gen Z (often, the children or grandchildren of Gen X) by 40%. Of course, parents of teens know that a good portion of our paycheck goes toward the kids, anyway.

“Gen Xers are the gatekeepers of trillions in spending, effectively serving as the CFOs of three generations—their own, their children’s, and their parents’,” said Wolfgang Fengler, Co-founder & CEO of World Data Lab, in a joint press release issued by NIQ and World Data Lab.

How Gen X Is Spending Money

Besides giving money directly to kids and grandkids for their own purchases, where is Gen X money going?

The study broke down three areas where spending is likely to increase over the next five years:

Food & Non-alcoholic Beverages (+$507 billion)
Beauty (+$80B)
Beverage Alcohol (+$42B)

This tracks with what we know about the generation, as they are buying not just for themselves, but for entire multi-generational households.

Gen X: Investing In Self Care

BeautyMatter.com recently spotlighted the findings of The X Factor study in regard to beauty products, specifically. “[T]he report found that 37% of Gen Xers feel younger than they are and are interested in beauty in the same way they expect younger individuals are,” BeautyMatter.com wrote. Plus, 73% of Gen X beauty buyers don’t have children living at home, so they’re spending that money on beauty services, fragrances, hair products, skincare, and makeup of their own.

Gen X and Food Spending

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, reported by ClearVoice, supports the findings of The X Factor report but drilling down on spending in the US only.

Gen X is spending more on food at home ($6,516) and food away from home ($3,872) than any other generation. Their food at home spend is more than double that of Gen Z – which isn’t surprising, especially if you are a mom of teens who use the McDonald’s app almost as frequently as they use TikTok. Gen X also spends more than all other cohorts on housing, investing $26,385 per year on a mortgage or rent payments. This is only slightly higher than millennials, who spent $24,052 on housing.

Gen X also spent more than any other demographic on entertainment, a total of $4,694 annually. This is over $1,000 more than Boomers ($3,476) or millennials ($3,457) and more than double Gen Z ($1,693). But keep in mind that a portion of Gen X’s entertainment expenses may have gone to Gen Z. The cohort born between 1997 and 2012 comprises both young adults and teenagers, who may have a lot less money of their own to spend. The only spending category where Gen X didn’t lead was healthcare, where Baby Boomers spent $6,594 annually and Gen X spent $5,550.

Tech Savvy and Ready to Spend Online

While not exactly digital natives born with smartphones in our hands, Gen X grew up playing Oregon Trail and Lemonade Stand on Commodore or Macintosh computers.

We saw the evolution of landline telephones with twisting cords you’d pull across the house to take a phone call in private, to cordless landline phones, flip cell phones and then today’s smartphones with screen resolutions we could never have imagined when we were playing video games on our grayscale Nintendo Gameboy. The X Factor study reinforced Gen X’s comfort with today’s technology. The survey found that 35% will use smart devices such as Alexa to automatically order new products, and 39% will take product recommendations from an AI assistant. More than one-third are always willing to purchase a product or service they researched through a virtual reality or augmented reality experience.

Diving into the numbers can help you see if your own spending is in line with others in your generation. Are you overspending beyond the average in certain areas? Do those purchases enhance your life? Digging into data and statistics isn’t the best way to create a personalized budget, of course. But it offers interesting insights into how other people in a similar stage of life spend their money.