Which Generation Uses Urgent Care The Most?

Understanding generational demographics is critical for any organization because age drives consumer behavior.¹ While the U.S. population is distributed relatively evenly across adult cohorts,² urgent care utilization—based on an analysis of 2025 Experity EMR visit data conducted by Urgent Care Consultants—skews heavily toward younger adults.³

Gen Z and Millennials combined (born 1981–2012) account for more than 51% of all urgent care visits despite representing only 43% of the U.S. population—a combined over-index of nearly 20 percentage points. Baby Boomers (1946–1964) show the widest gap in the opposite direction, making up 20.5% of the population but only 14.1% of visits, reflecting the established primary care and specialist relationships that route older adults elsewhere. Gen X under-indexes modestly (17% of visits vs. 19% of population), while Gen Alpha, the Silent Generation, and newborn Gen Beta track closely to their population share.

This disparity confirms that urgent care has become the de facto primary care solution for digital natives who prioritize immediate access over long-term provider continuity. For operators, the insight is actionable on two fronts. First, it validates a strategy of high-visibility retail real estate, mobile-first registration, and digital