Camping equipment spans tents, RVs, camping accessories and the accommodations that shape gear demand. The available evidence below covers the United States and Canada unless another geography is named, with survey, estimate, derived and company-reported measures kept distinct.
Key Camping Equipment Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2023, 87.99 million camping households were counted in the United States and Canada by KOA.
- From 2014 to 2023, active camping households increased by 68% in the United States and Canada.
- From 2014 to 2023, households camping at least three times annually grew by 98% in the United States and Canada.
- In 2021, 93.82 million camping households were counted in the United States and Canada, the high in KOA’s series.
- From 2014 to 2023, tent usage increased by 56% in the United States and Canada.
- From 2014 to 2023, RV usage increased by 96% in the United States and Canada.
- From 2014 to 2023, cabin and glamping usage increased by 101% in the United States and Canada.
- Over five years through 2023, 15.6 million new camping entrants were attributed to glamping in the United States and Canada.
- In 2023, more than half of new campers chose campgrounds with extensive services and amenities in the United States and Canada.
- In 2023, one-third of new campers chose glamping accommodations in the United States and Canada.
- In 2023, new campers represented 7% of campers in the United States and Canada.
- In 2021, camping represented 40% of leisure trips in the United States and Canada.
- In 2023, camping represented 27% of leisure trips in the United States and Canada.
- In 2024, the broad United States outdoor retail market totaled an estimated $28 billion.
- In 2023, 175.8 million Americans aged six and older participated in outdoor recreation.
- In 2023, 57.3% of Americans aged six and older participated in outdoor recreation.
- In 2023, female outdoor-recreation participation reached 51.9% in the United States.
- In the recent KOA measure, non-white campers represented 39% of campers in the United States and Canada.
Contents
- Camping participation and household scale
- Camping gear use by accommodation
- Camping equipment demand and new-camper adoption
- Camping travel patterns and hospitality preferences
- Camping equipment market and retail trends
- Camping equipment audiences and demographics
Camping Participation and Household-Scale Statistics
KOA defines camping as at least one night outside the primary residence in a tent, trailer, RV, vehicle or cabin/cottage at a campground. Dispersed camping is defined separately, so these household figures should be read within KOA’s stated accommodation framework rather than as a universal equipment-ownership count.
| Year | Camping households | Geography and measure |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 71.47 million | United States and Canada; KOA survey |
| 2017 | 76.99 million | United States and Canada; KOA survey |
| 2019 | 82.29 million | United States and Canada; KOA survey |
| 2021 | 93.82 million | United States and Canada; series high |
| 2023 | 87.99 million | United States and Canada; KOA survey |
Source: 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report: Top Level Overview. The series also records 79.11 million households in 2018, 86.15 million in 2020 and 92.09 million in 2022.
KOA reported that camping households increased by 16.5 million from 2014 to 2023, while active camping households increased by 21.6 million. It also reported a 68% rise in active camping households and a 98% increase in households camping three or more times annually over that period.
These are household-incidence and frequency measures, not counts of tents, RVs, sleeping bags or other products sold. The KOA report is based on 4,100 household surveys, including 2,900 U.S. and 1,200 Canadian surveys; its stated margins of error are ±1.82 percentage points for the United States and ±2.83 percentage points for Canada.
Camping Gear Use Statistics by Tent, RV and Glamping Accommodation
Accommodation choice is a useful demand signal for equipment, but usage is not the same as unit sales or ownership. KOA’s 2014–2023 comparison shows growth across tent, RV and cabin/glamping use.
| Accommodation type | Change from 2014 to 2023 | Additional households reported |
|---|---|---|
| Tent | 56% increase in usage | 9.6 million |
| RV | 96% increase in usage | 6.4 million |
| Cabin/glamping | 101% increase in usage | 7.0 million |
Source: 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report: Top Level Overview. These are accommodation-use changes, not retail volumes.
Tent usage added 9.6 million households between 2014 and 2023, while RV usage added 6.4 million households. Cabin and glamping usage added 7.0 million households, and the report attributed 15.6 million new camping entrants over the five years covered by the report to glamping.
KOA also gives a rounded 15.7 million new-camper figure in its 2014–2023 change summary. The two glamping figures use different report summaries and should not be merged into one reconciled total.
In 2023, more than half of new campers chose campgrounds with extensive services and amenities, and one-third chose glamping accommodations. Those findings describe accommodation preferences and entrant behavior, not purchases of camping equipment.
Camping Equipment Demand Trends and New-Camper Adoption
The KOA report presents several measures of entry into camping. Its change summary reports 41.4 million first-time campers since 2014, while a separate new-camper section says camping welcomed 39 million new campers over the research period through 2023.
The 39 million figure is presented as a separate report-defined measure, and KOA gives its average as 4.4 million new campers per year. It also says new campers represented 7% of campers in 2023, so these figures should not be treated as a single reconciled cumulative total.
New-camper entry rates in the transformation summary were 21% in 2020, 16% in 2021 and 11% in 2022. These are annual shares of new campers, not percentages of equipment purchases.
Before the pandemic, KOA characterized active camper-household growth as about 7% annually and camping as adding about 2 million new households year to year. It estimated that 3.8 million additional highly engaged camper households remained in 2023 because of the pandemic-era participation effect, based on projected pre-2020 trends.
In the 2022–2023 comparison, new campers choosing campgrounds with extensive services rose by 24 percentage points. New campers describing their first camping experience as “Great” rose by 17 percentage points in the same comparison; the report describes the association, not causation.
Camping Travel Patterns and Outdoor-Hospitality Preferences
Camping’s share of leisure travel changed after the pandemic-era peak. KOA reported the following shares for the United States and Canada:
| Year | Camping share of leisure trips | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 40% | Survey estimate |
| 2022 | 32% | Survey estimate |
| 2023 | 27% | Survey estimate |
Source: 2024 Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report: Top Level Overview. These percentages are shares of leisure trips, not shares of camping-equipment spending.
The 2021 result was measured under pandemic conditions, when the composition of leisure travel was affected. The 2022 and 2023 figures show a lower camping share of leisure trips, but they do not by themselves indicate falling equipment ownership or sales.
The hospitality data also points to varied camping formats. Tent, RV, cabin and glamping use all increased between 2014 and 2023, while new campers in 2023 showed strong preference for campgrounds with extensive services and amenities.
Camping Equipment Market Sales and Retail Trends
The broadest retail benchmark in the supplied evidence is not camping-only. The Outdoor Industry Association, summarizing Circana data, estimated that the United States outdoor retail market totaled $28 billion in 2024, up 1% from 2023.
Source: New Report: Outdoor Market Shows Modest Rebound to $28B in 2024, Driven by Casual Consumers. This is a broad outdoor-market estimate, not a global camping-equipment total.
Sportsman’s Warehouse provides a company-specific view of camping-related retail. Camping accounted for 13.1% of net sales in fiscal 2022, 12.5% in fiscal 2023 and 11.2% in fiscal 2024.
| Sportsman’s Warehouse measure | Fiscal 2022 | Fiscal 2023 | Fiscal 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camping share of net sales | 13.1% | 12.5% | 11.2% |
| Camping department sales change | −$22.1 million vs. FY2021 | −$31.6 million vs. FY2022 | Not supplied |
| Camping same-store sales | Not supplied | −22.7% | Not supplied |
Source: Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year ended February 3, 2024. Fiscal 2023 had 53 weeks, and the company’s camping assortment includes camping and related products.
The company reported that e-commerce sales were more than 18% of total sales in fiscal 2023, but that is company-wide rather than camping-equipment-only. It operated 131 stores included in its same-store calculation as of February 3, 2024.
Camping Equipment Audiences and Demographic Statistics
Camping sits within a wider outdoor-recreation audience. The Outdoor Industry Association and Outdoor Foundation reported 175.8 million Americans aged six and older participating in outdoor recreation in 2023, equal to 57.3% of that population and a 4.1% increase from 2022.
Source: 2024 Outdoor Participation Trends Report. These measures are broader than camping-specific equipment adoption.
Female outdoor-recreation participation reached 51.9% in 2023, up from 50.0% in 2022. LGBTQ+ adults had a 60% outdoor-recreation participation rate in the OIA 2023 measure; neither statistic is limited to camping.
KOA’s camping-specific demographic comparisons show a younger and more diverse participant base. Nearly half of campers since 2022 were under age 35, compared with 30% in 2014, using KOA’s rounded wording for the later period.
Non-white campers represented 39% of campers in the recent KOA measure versus 23% about ten years earlier. KOA reported that participation among people of color increased 54% from 2014 to 2023, or 13.6 million additional participants in its change summary.
In 2023, nearly half of new U.S. campers were non-white, while more than half of new Canadian campers were non-white. These are rounded subgroup shares, and the demographic measures describe participation rather than equipment purchases.