Portable power sits at the intersection of household resilience, emergency response, temporary electricity, and recreation. In the United States, the available measures range from self-reported generator ownership in 2020 to reported fatal carbon-monoxide incidents during 2011–2021, billion-dollar disasters in 2024, and National Park Service visitation in 2024. These figures describe different populations and are not interchangeable market-size or sales estimates.
Contents
- Household adoption and energy insecurity
- Portable-generator carbon-monoxide fatalities
- Who is affected
- Where incidents happen
- Outages, temporary power, and use cases
- Disasters and backup-power need
- Outdoor recreation and camping scale
Household adoption and energy insecurity
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) measured backup-generator ownership by household income. The chart values are approximate, self-reported percentages, so they should be read as survey estimates rather than an inventory of installed or portable equipment.
Reported backup-generator ownership rose across the income groups in the 2020 RECS:
- About 10% of U.S. households earning under $30,000 reported having a backup generator.
- About 11% of households earning $30,000–$49,999 reported having one.
- About 13% of households earning $50,000–$74,999 reported having one.
- About 17% of households earning $75,000–$149,999 reported having one.
- About 21% of households earning $150,000 or more reported having one.
The same EIA presentation reported that 27% of U.S. households experienced energy insecurity in 2020. That is a measure of household energy exposure, not a generator-ownership rate. It also does not establish that every household experiencing insecurity needed or purchased portable power.
| 2020 household income | Reported backup-generator ownership |
|---|---|
| Under $30,000 | About 10% |
| $30,000–$49,999 | About 11% |
| $50,000–$74,999 | About 13% |
| $75,000–$149,999 | About 17% |
| $150,000 or more | About 21% |
Source: 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey Webinar. These are approximate chart values from a self-reported U.S. household survey.
Portable-generator carbon-monoxide fatalities
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) tracks a serious safety outcome associated with engine-driven generators: fatal, non-fire carbon-monoxide incidents. From 2011 through 2021, CPSC recorded 624 fatal non-fire CO incidents involving generators and 814 associated deaths. Portable generators accounted for 581 of those incidents and 758 deaths.
The CPSC describes these totals as a minimum, anecdotal count. Reporting for recent years was incomplete, and the counts are not a population incidence rate, sales measure, or estimate of all generator use. Some cases in the broader generator report may also involve other fuel-burning products.
The annual reported counts varied across the period:
- 2011: 69 incidents and 96 deaths.
- 2012: 43 incidents and 49 deaths.
- 2013: 46 incidents and 59 deaths.
- 2014: 38 incidents and 49 deaths.
- 2015: 52 incidents and 77 deaths.
- 2016: 57 incidents and 75 deaths.
- 2017: 67 incidents and 83 deaths.
- 2018: 57 incidents and 76 deaths.
- 2019: 79 incidents and 95 deaths.
- 2020: 77 incidents and 103 deaths.
- 2021: 39 incidents and 52 deaths.
The apparent drop in 2021 should not be interpreted as a definitive decline: CPSC flags reporting delays and incomplete information in the latest years. The source is best used to show the documented scale and circumstances of fatal cases, not to calculate individual risk.
Who is affected by generator-related CO deaths
The CPSC case set provides counts by age, sex, and race/ethnicity classification. These are counts among reported deaths with available information, not population-adjusted risk rates.
Across reported generator-associated CO deaths in 2011–2021, the age distribution included 7 victims under age 5, 35 ages 5–14, 62 ages 15–24, 244 ages 25–44, 327 ages 45–64, and 137 victims age 65 or older. The largest reported age group was therefore 45–64, followed by 25–44. The figures describe the cases CPSC received and do not show the probability of death for a person in any age group.
Male victims accounted for 624 of the 814 reported generator-associated CO deaths, or 77% using the source’s rounded percentage. Female victims accounted for 190 deaths, or 23%. Non-Hispanic Black/African American victims accounted for 186 reported deaths, or 23%. CPSC identifies the race and ethnicity figures as case-report categories; they are not a population-adjusted comparison.
These breakdowns matter when interpreting portable-power safety. A total death count can hide differences in the people represented, while a demographic count alone cannot establish why a group appears more or less often in the reported cases.
Where and when incidents happen
Season and location provide another view of the reported cases. During 2011–2021, cold months accounted for 285 generator-related fatal incidents and 355 associated deaths. Transitional months accounted for 198 incidents and 264 deaths, while warm months accounted for 141 incidents and 195 deaths.
CPSC’s location categories show that fixed-structure home locations accounted for 430 fatal incidents and 581 deaths. Within the listed categories, detached home structures accounted for 52 incidents and 53 deaths. Temporary shelters accounted for 41 incidents and 59 deaths, and boats or vehicles accounted for 43 incidents and 50 deaths.
| Reported setting or season | Fatal incidents | Associated deaths |
|---|---|---|
| Cold months | 285 | 355 |
| Transitional months | 198 | 264 |
| Warm months | 141 | 195 |
| Fixed-structure homes | 430 | 581 |
| Temporary shelters | 41 | 59 |
| Boats or vehicles | 43 | 50 |
The categories are not exposure-adjusted. “Fixed-structure home” includes houses, mobile homes, apartments, and attached structures in the CPSC classification. A higher count in a setting does not by itself mean that setting has the highest rate per generator, household, or hour of use.
Outages, temporary power, and reported use cases
Portable power is used in more than one context. In the CPSC investigations covering 2011–2021, a weather or power-distribution problem was the reported outage reason in 114 fatal incidents involving 157 deaths. Utility shutoff for a bill dispute, nonpayment, or another reason was reported in 100 incidents involving 139 deaths.
Several reported cases involved temporary or incomplete electrical service rather than an ordinary outage:
- Providing power to a temporary location such as a shed, trailer, boat, camper, cabin, or campsite was associated with 108 incidents and 138 deaths.
- Providing power to a new or renovated home where electricity was not yet on was associated with 63 incidents and 86 deaths.
- Providing power to a home or mobile home that normally lacked electricity was associated with 58 incidents and 74 deaths.
- A hurricane or tropical storm was the reported outage reason in 37 incidents involving 58 deaths.
These categories can overlap conceptually: a storm can cause an outage, and a generator can be moved to a temporary location. They should not be summed into a total number of uses or treated as mutually exclusive market segments. CPSC also notes that generator incidents can include another consumer product.
Disasters and backup-power need
NOAA’s assessment of the U.S. climate in 2024 counted 27 weather and climate disasters costing at least $1 billion each. Seventeen were severe storms, five were tropical cyclones, and two were winter storms. The 27 events caused an estimated $182.7 billion in damage and were associated with at least 568 fatalities.
The $1 billion threshold is per event and CPI-adjusted. NOAA’s costs are estimates that may rise as additional costs are reported, so they should not be read as a fixed annual price tag for portable-power demand. Disaster counts also describe event occurrence and damage, not the number of households that bought a generator or battery.
Two named storms illustrate the scale of individual events. Hurricane Helene caused at least 219 fatalities in September 2024, with NOAA’s assessment focused especially on Florida through North Carolina, and NOAA estimated its damage at $78.7 billion. Hurricane Milton, affecting especially Florida in October 2024, had estimated damage of $34.3 billion. The figures are event estimates and may be revised.
Source: Assessing the U.S. Climate in 2024.
Taken together with the EIA’s 27% 2020 energy-insecurity estimate, these data show why backup electricity can be relevant to households facing exposure to outages and severe weather. They do not prove a direct conversion from disaster losses to portable-power sales or ownership.
Outdoor recreation and camping scale
Portable power also appears in recreation settings, where electricity may be needed away from a permanent grid connection. National Park Service sites recorded 331,863,358 recreation visits in 2024. NPS estimated 128 million visitor party days or nights at sites and in gateway regions, using segment-specific party-size and stay assumptions.
Within that visitor-party measure, camping outside national parks represented 8.0% of party days or nights in gateway regions. Camping inside NPS units represented 2.4% of visitor party days or nights in local gateway regions. These are visitor-segment shares, not the percentage of all U.S. camping, and they should not be applied to the full national-park visitation total as though every visit were a camping stay.
NPS estimated that visitors spent $0.6 billion on camping fees in 2024. That spending estimate covers local gateway economies and is not total camping expenditure nationwide. It also does not separate purchases or rentals of portable generators, power stations, solar equipment, or other forms of off-grid electricity.
For portable-power readers, the practical scope is therefore broad: U.S. household backup generation, temporary electricity during outages or construction, emergency conditions after severe weather, and recreation near national parks. The available statistics quantify each context separately, with different definitions, periods, and limitations.