Gen Z’s Most Trusted Brands (And More!)

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Welcome to Morning Consult’s From A to Gen Z newsletter. We put the headlines you’re reading about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context with our high-frequency survey data to help you better understand exactly how and why they’re spending their time — and their dollars. 

The latest edition of our Most Trusted Brands report is out now, highlighting the companies that have earned exceptional trust among all consumers and within specific age groups. This year’s report includes a new proprietary metric, Morning Consult’s Reputation Score, which provides a holistic view of corporate reputation based on five key levers: trust, favorability, value, employee well-being and community impact. 

Today, I want to zoom in on the brands that earned Gen Z’s trust. Plus, amid never-ending discourse surrounding the “MAHA” movement and its downstream online subcultures (like “SkinnyTok”), we’ll take a look at a cohort at the center of it all: wellness-obsessed young people.

🤝💯 Gen Z’s Most Trusted Brands 🤝💯

If one thing is true about Zoomers, it’s that they absolutely love YouTube. The social and video platform consistently ranks as Gen Zers’ most-used across Morning Consult analyses, and it’s also their No. 1 trusted brand this year. 

Whether using it to stream video podcasts or watch their beloved influencer content, YouTube is now the center of the entertainment universe for Gen Z — much like television was for previous generations.

Zooming out, young consumers place a significantly higher amount of trust in digitally native brands compared to their older counterparts. 

For example, while YouTube topped Zoomers’ list and came in third among millennials, the platform fell to 21st for Gen Xers and didn’t even appear among baby boomers’ Most Trusted Brands list. Other digital brands that ranked highly with young people but didn’t make the cut among older cohorts include PayPal and Amazon. 

▶️ Check out our 2025 Most Trusted Brands Report in its entirety here.  

📲❤️ Duolingo’s unique trust among Gen Z 📲❤️

Language-learning app Duolingo is a standout brand among Gen Z, meaning it’s one of the 15 brands that Gen Zers trust most relative to the general population. 

And its pioneering TikTok presence is a big reason for this.

Duolingo was an early adopter of both the platform and the particular posting style of Gen Zers. Instead of sharing educational or product-focused content, the app leaned into young people’s penchant for absurdist humor, becoming known for random comedic skits featuring its giant, green owl mascot, who also frequently pokes fun at users and other brands via comment sections or dueted videos. 

▶️ To learn more about the data that powers this research, reach out to your Morning Consult contact or email [email protected]. 

💪🥗 Who are the Gen Zers obsessed with wellness? 💪🥗

We also recently published a deep dive on wellness-obsessed Gen Zers — which we define as those aged 18-27 who report eating healthy and exercising or playing sports at least weekly — last week. 

We found that they’re heavy users of aspirational platforms like Pinterest and TikTok, they consume a lot across several categories, and, perhaps most interestingly, they’ve become more right-leaning in recent years.

Between 2023 and mid-2025, the share of the Zoomer wellness cohort who identify as Republican grew by 13 percentage points — from 19% to 32% — and is now roughly on par with the share who identify as Democrats and Independents.

While many Gen Zers have been moving toward the political right as of late, the shift among wellness lovers is notably steep in comparison. 

As health and political choices become increasingly intertwined, it’s more important than ever for brands to understand young wellness enthusiasts who are driving trends on the front lines of this intersection. 

▶️ Check out the full analysis. 

What Else We’re Reading

• Gen Z and Gen Alpha brought a raw, messy aesthetic to social media. Why does it feel as inauthentic as ever? (The Guardian) 
• 20-Somethings Are Taking Up Grandma’s Favorite Hobbies (The Wall Street Journal)
• It’s Official: Streaming Is Now the King of TV (The New York Times)

Upcoming

June 30 — Report: Gen Z’s Shifting Political Ideology. This report explores how the young cohort’s beliefs have evolved in recent years — and how these shifts are impacting political and business outcomes. Once it’s published, you’ll be able to find it here. 

June 30 — Memo: Who’s Posting on Social Media, Anyway? This analysis takes a look at posting habits across genders, generation and political affiliation — and unpacks how brands can keep social media users engaged online even as they begin to post less. You can check it out on the MC Pro homepage when it goes live.