- Report
- Behavioral
- Report
- Behavioral
North America
Friendship and Community Report
Most Gen Z and Millennials have multiple close friends and see them at least once a week, especially during their teen years, challenging the idea that young people are the loneliest generation yet. Phones and social media are strengthening those friendships rather than pulling them apart. School is still the top way young people meet their friends, but once that built-in structure disappears after graduation, more Gen Z adults say making new friends—and keeping the ones they already have—gets harder. In response, young people are showing up to in-person meetups with total strangers and joining fitness clubs, sports teams, and book clubs in growing numbers. And video games have overtaken social media as Gen Z’s leading source of community, even though in-person connection still feels the strongest of all.
In YPulse’s 2026 Friendship and Community Report, we dive into why making new friends gets harder once Gen Z ages out of school, how phones and social media are actually deepening friendships instead of replacing them, and why video games have overtaken social media as young people’s top source of community.
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- Why making new friends gets noticeably harder once school ends, and how young adults are rebuilding that structure through in-person meetups and clubs
- How phones and social media are bringing friends closer instead of pulling them apart, from video chatting during chores to sharing locations in real time
- Why identity-based groups make friendship come easier for POC and LGBTQ+ youth, and how campus life keeps college students the most socially connected life stage of all
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Report length: 21 pages, North America report is based on a survey of 1500 13-39-year-olds in the U.S. and Canada (n=1000 U.S., n=500 Canada), fielded May 27–June 4, 2026.
Additional content for Pro users:
The full ranked list of where young people find a sense of community beyond family and friends, including organized religion, fraternity and sorority membership, and professional sports fandoms; how young people prioritize their closest friendships against their romantic relationships; their favorite way of communicating with friends and family, from texting to FaceTime to old-fashioned phone calls; the complete agreement breakdown on friendship attitudes overall, including whether friendships matter as much as romantic relationships and whether online friendships feel just as real as in-person ones; and how important having a sense of community is to young people overall.
The Data File also includes data split by the following demographics: Gender & Generation, Age Groups, Academic Status, Race & Ethnicity, POC, Country, City (Urban/Suburban/Rural), LGBTQ+, Family Status, and Close Friends (zero vs one or more).