What's driving Pepsi's growth among young Americans?

Pepsi remains one of the most recognizable names in the U.S. soft drinks market. Decades of high-profile advertising, sports partnerships, and pop-culture tie-ins, from Super Bowl campaigns to music collaborations, have helped keep the brand visible and culturally relevant in a fiercely competitive category.

YouGov BrandIndex data shows Pepsi is the second most Considered carbonated beverage brand in the U.S. across all demographics. Over the past five years, its Consideration score among all U.S. adults has risen from 23.4 to 25.8. The growth is even more pronounced among younger Americans: Consideration among adults aged 18-34 has climbed from 25.1 in 2021 to 35.3 in 2026. Improvements among Gen Z and younger millennials suggest Pepsi is strengthening its connection with the next generation of consumers. The sections below explore the attributes helping drive this growth, focusing on shifts in perceptions of Quality and Value.

Pepsi brand perception: Younger consumers drive a surge in perceived Quality

Pepsi’s Quality score has improved modestly among the U.S. general population over the past five years, rising from 26.5 in 2021 to 28.2 in 2026. Over the same period, the carbonated beverage sector has remained flat, moving slightly from 12.8 to 12.7.

Among younger consumers, Pepsi’s gains are far more striking. The Quality score jumped from 23.0 to 32.2 among 18-34s over the five-year period – a significant improvement that far outpaces the category’s rise from 9.9 to 12.3 among the same demographic. This big jump dwarfs the modest declines observed among older age groups.

Qualitative data from YouGov's AI-powered interviewing tool, YouGov BrandIndex Voices, offers an insight into Pepsi's perceived Quality edge. “Well, it's the taste, obviously. They (other colas) taste completely different. Pepsi has like that refreshing crisp,” said one respondent. Another added: “Very great taste….sweet but not bitter, smooth…others have a bite to them… too harsh.”

Pepsi Value perception reveals a generational divide among U.S. consumers

While Pepsi’s Consideration and Quality highlight notable strengths, Value stands out as a potential area for improvement — particularly among older consumers.

Among the U.S. general population, Pepsi’s Value score has declined from 17.8 in 2021 to 11.8 in 2026. YouGov BrandIndex Voices conducted real-time interviews with consumers who said they consider buying Pepsi. Using AI to collect and analyze the responses, the summary included: Price is a real sticking point. People on tight budgets are increasingly frustrated by rising costs and openly admit they'll just buy whichever cola is cheapest that week.

But it must be noted that Pepsi’s decline in Value perception mirrors a broader trend in the carbonated beverage sector, where Value perceptions have fallen from 6.2 to 3.0 over the same period.

However, the generational breakdown reveals a more nuanced story. Younger Americans stand out as the only group whose Value perceptions of Pepsi have increased, with scores among adults aged 18–34 rising from 21.4 to 26.2. In contrast, perceptions have fallen significantly among older groups. Among those aged 35–49, the score declined from 20.7 to 13.0, while among adults aged 50+ it dropped sharply from 14.4 to 5.7.

The broader category shows a similar pattern, with Value scores holding steady among younger consumers but declining markedly among older ones.

Taken together, these trends suggest Pepsi’s brand appeal is strengthening with younger Americans, who increasingly view the brand as both high-quality and worth considering. At the same time, declining Value perceptions among older audiences may represent an area where the brand — and the carbonated beverage category more broadly — could focus future efforts.

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Quality score for carbonated beverage brands is based on the questions: “Which of the following brands do you think represents good quality?” and “Which of the following represents poor quality?”.Index score is reported as net scores from –100 to +100, based on daily surveys of U.S. adults. Data is weighted using a propensity scoring methodology with targets from the American Community Survey (ACS) to ensure representation by age, gender, race, education, and region. Scores are shown as a 16-week moving average with an average daily sample size of over 3,000 U.S. adults for Pepsi and over 90,000 U.S. adults for the carbonated beverage sector. The observation period in this analysis is from Mar 03, 2021 to Mar 02, 2026.

YouGov BrandIndex Voices methodology: Qualitative analysis for Pepsi comes from YouGov BrandIndex Voices. AI-powered interview conversations and analysis uncover the ‘why’ behind consumer opinion and explore the themes that consumers want to talk about. Responses were collected from a minimum of 50 adults in the U.S. who consider purchasing products from the brand between February 6-16, 2026. This analysis was completed with AI, AI can make mistakes.