Teens aren’t getting their driver’s licenses – and the experts are completely wrong about why

Let's bust some common myths about Gen Z teens and why they do what they do

From teens cruising in Dazed and Confused to the pink Volkswagen in Pretty in Pink, the teen years of Boomers and Gen X’ers often revolved around cars. The car was hanging with your friends, it was making out with your date, it was pure unadulterated freedom. The car was the avenue to adulthood.

These days, though, the car as a rite of adolescent passage has started to fade. Fewer Gen Z’ers get their driver’s license in high school compared to previous generations – 63% had a driver’s license by the spring of their senior year of high school in 2023, compared to 82% as recently as 2005 when teens were Millennials. Nearly 90% of Boomers and Gen X’ers had their license by the end of high school.

A recent article on CNN.com delved into the decline in teens getting their driver’s license. Although I’m always happy to see articles about generational shifts, especially among teens, the article got almost everything wrong about why teens are now less likely to drive. If we don’t understand that, we don’t understand one of the key generational changes to the teen years – and understanding those shifts is one of the best chances we have for helping kids develop the independence they need to prepare them for adulthood.

So why are teens now less likely to drive? We can start by ruling out some possibilities, including most of those mentioned in the CNN article.

1. Teens are using rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft instead of driving. That’s extremely unlikely: You can't take an Uber until you're 18. Uber drivers can face penalties for picking up underage riders, and drivers will often cancel rides once they see they’re picking up at a school (I’ve had this happen to me twice after giving talks at schools – and that’s with my profile picture showing the 50-something person I am).

Not to mention: Taking Ubers is expensive – that’s not a cost most high school students and their families can afford for daily transportation.

We can also rule out this explanation with data. The decline in teens getting their licenses started long before Uber existed (2011), and the decline is similar in rural areas where rideshare apps are much less available (see Figure 1).