From peace signs to song lyrics, beloved pets, or silly pictures, tattoos have come to be a lot of things to young people nowadays. According to the Pew Research Center, 32% of Americans have tattoos, and 22% have more than one. Tattoos have become more and more popular in non-traditional places such as office jobs, straying from the more common blue collar worker that is typically sporting tattoos in the working environment. The most recent place tattoos are seen now are high schools.

Tattoos have been rising in popularity, being seen in places they had never been seen before, such as on teachers and principals, and even making their way to members of the U.S. Senate and legislators of various states. One of these people is Danico Roam, Virginia’s first openly transgender state senator, who has the first 24 words of the Equal Rights Amendment tattooed on her arm. 

University of Michigan’s Center for Global Intercultural Studies director Michael Jordan said he hasn’t faced any sort of different treatment in the office setting because of his four large tattoos. “All the comments I have gotten have been appreciative and complimentary. Of course I am in a position where not many people could tell me it is inappropriate since I’m the director,” Jordan said. 

Pioneer High School senior Raven Lauzzana is one of the around 10-20% of high schoolers who has a tattoo. “I have two tattoos. One is a peace sign, it’s just for world peace. I grew up in a hippie household, and I’m a really spiritual person. That is kind of my religion,” Lauzzana said. 

According to Nest Network, out of the over 15 million teenagers currently enrolled in high schools across the United States, around 50% reported they want to get tattoos. “I’m planning on getting more. There is no limit, just in places that wouldn’t affect me in the workforce,” Lauzzana said. 

Studies such as Raider Student Media’s 2024 study, show that about 15-20% of students currently enrolled in colleges have tattoos. Out of the 15.397 million students in college as of last year, the percentage is smaller than adults with tattoos. Jordan said that tattoos are less common at U-M. “[Tattoos] are very common amongst staff, although I tend to not see them as much among students.” Jordan said. 

Isabel Paul, an intern at Ann Arbor’s Lucky Monkey tattoo said she has been seeing a lot of Gen Z getting tattoos that are easier to hide. “Younger people want to get them in spots that are easily hidden so that it’s a tattoo just for them rather than a tattoo for everyone to see, which is interesting because older people tend to get bigger tattoos to show off that they have them.” 

Lucky Monkey tattoo parlor has been tattooing since 2001. Many of the clients are younger people from the age range of 20-30. Their most popular style of tattoo is script. Paul said the most common she has seen amongst the Gen Z population is along the spine. “ The placement trend for Gen Z is often down the spine and wrist tattoos, we get lots of people who pull inspiration from a TikTok they saw or an Instagram post,” Paul said. 

For the Ann Arbor population, a common theme among alumni of the University of Michigan is the iconic Block M. “We get the UMich block M a lot, It seems to be mostly alumni, but whenever the football team wins people come in and get them in a burst of passion or something, it’s kind of fun,” Paul said.