Lauren Mitchell, Flickr Creative Commons
I got to thinking the other day about this RV Lifestyle and wondered about a few things and so before I knew it, I’d spent about half a day wandering around the internet mining for facts and statistics. I found some pretty interesting stuff that I thought I’d share with y’all. Thought I could do my own state of the union, except about RV’s and RV’ers! Some of these figures come from the RVIA (Recreational Vehicle Industry Association) some of them came from different state associations, but they’re all fascinating.
Did you know that the average age of an RV owner is only 49? That kind of flies in the face of the stereotype that implies that “only retirees are out there in their campers driving slow and leaving their left blinkers on across several states” doesn’t it? The average is 49, so there are just as many people under 49 as over who own these awesome machines! According to one study in Michigan, more RVs are owned by the age group of 35-54 than any other demographic. My interpretation of that number is that even with the huge increase in RV ownership among the babyboomer generation, the generation behind them is outbuying them when it comes to RVs. Granted the 54 year-olds could still be boomers, but they are on the ragged edge of that scale.
The current estimate is that 1 in 12 households own an RV. That’s over 8 million!! Can you imagine? Did you ever think we would see such numbers? There are over 12,000 RV-related businesses in the US with an estimated combined revenue of 37.5 BILLion per year. Those businesses are estimated to employ over a quarter million people here in the US with an estimated payroll of almost 5 billion per year. Holy mackerel folks, this is one big industry and I’m so proud to be a part of it! Thanks to all of you who count on us for your parts, accessories, and our help selling your old RV for you as well! Come by the website and say hi won’t you?