RVing spans manufacturing, vehicle ownership, camping infrastructure and outdoor travel. The statistics below define the population, geography and measurement period for each measure, while distinguishing observed counts from survey estimates and economic-impact models.
Key RV Industry Statistics
The following figures summarize the most useful measures across the U.S. RV industry and its related travel ecosystem:
- In 2024, 333,733 RV units were shipped wholesale in the United States according to an RVIA manufacturer survey.
- In 2024, U.S. total RV shipments increased 6.6% from 2023.
- In December 2024, 20,814 towable RVs were shipped in the United States, up 11.4% year over year.
- In December 2024, 2,339 motorhomes were shipped in the United States, down 17.7% year over year.
- In 2025, about 8.1 million U.S. households owned an RV according to the Go RVing owner profile.
- In 2025, RV-owning households represented 6.7% of U.S. vehicle-owning households.
- In the 2025 profile, about 16.9 million U.S. households expressed interest in buying an RV within five years.
- In 2025, U.S. RV owners used their vehicles a median of 30 days per year.
- In 2025, owners aged 35–54 represented 46% of U.S. RV owners.
- In a 2025 U.S. economic-impact estimate, the RV industry supported nearly 680,000 jobs.
- In the same estimate, the U.S. RV industry contributed $159 billion annually to the economy.
- In the 2025 estimate, RV manufacturers and suppliers accounted for $70 billion in annual output.
- RV campgrounds and travel accounted for $50 billion in annual output in the cited U.S. industry study.
- In 2022, outdoor recreation generated $563.705 billion in U.S. value added according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- In 2024 page materials, the United States had 20,467 campgrounds with RV-accessible sites according to RVIA.
- In 2022, about 92 million U.S. households identified as campers in the cited industry report.
- In 2022, more than 10 million U.S. households took a glamping trip.
- In 2025, U.S. national parks recorded 323,014,305 recreation visits.
- In 2025, the National Park Service reported 2,535,130 recreation-vehicle overnight stays.
Contents
- RV shipments and market trends
- RV ownership, usage and buyer interest
- RV economic impact and employment
- Campgrounds and RV infrastructure
- Camping and outdoor-hospitality participation
- National-park visitation and RV overnight stays
RV Shipments and Market Trends
RVIA’s wholesale shipment series measures units reported by manufacturers, not retail sales, registrations or the number of unique RVs in use. The annual 2024 result was 333,733 units, and total shipments were 6.6% higher than in 2023.
2024 RV Shipments up 6% provides the shipment definitions and reported totals.
| Measure | Period | U.S. units or change |
|---|---|---|
| Total wholesale RV shipments | 2024 | 333,733 units |
| Total shipment change | 2024 vs. 2023 | 6.6% increase |
| December shipments | December 2024 | 23,153 units |
| December year-over-year change | December 2024 vs. December 2023 | 7.6% increase |
| Park Model RV shipments | 2024 | 3,927 units |
| Park Model RV change | 2024 | 22.3% decline |
The December category split shows different trajectories. Towable shipments reached 20,814 units and rose 11.4% year over year, while motorhome shipments totaled 2,339 units and fell 17.7% year over year.
The Park Model RV series also moved differently from the total market: 3,927 units shipped in 2024, a 22.3% decline. These figures are category-specific wholesale measures and should not be read as consumer purchase counts.
RV Ownership, Usage and Buyer-Interest Data
The Go RVing 2025 RV Owner Demographic Profile estimates that about 8.1 million U.S. households currently own an RV. RV-owning households represented 6.7% of U.S. vehicle-owning households, using vehicle-owning households as the denominator.
The same 2025 profile reports about 16.9 million U.S. households interested in buying an RV within five years. That is an intention measure, not a forecast of completed purchases or future shipment volume.
| Owner measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Current RV-owning households | 2025 | About 8.1 million |
| Share of vehicle-owning households | 2025 | 6.7% |
| Households interested in buying within five years | 2025 profile | About 16.9 million |
| Median owner age | 2025 profile | 49 years |
| Median RV use | 2025 profile | 30 days per year |
Owner composition adds context to the headline ownership estimate. Owners aged 35–54 accounted for 46% of RV owners, first-time owners comprised 36%, and RVIA’s defined growth audiences represented 30%; that category includes Hispanic, African American, Asian American and LGBTQ+ audiences.
Household structure also matters: 43% of RV owners reported children under 18 in their household. These are survey results, and percentages may describe overlapping characteristics rather than mutually exclusive groups.
RVIA cautions that its ownership estimates are not directly comparable across releases. Older 2024 policy material reported 11.2 million RV-owning households, described as 26% above the cited level 10 years earlier and 62% above the cited level 20 years earlier; the 2025 profile reports 8.1 million after a methodology change, so the figures should remain separate rather than form one continuous trend.
RV Industry Economic Impact, Output and Jobs
A 2025 RVIA economic-impact study estimated that the U.S. RV industry contributes $159 billion annually to the economy. This is a modeled economic-impact estimate, not a Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP value-added measure.
New Study Details The RV Industry’s $159 Billion Economic Impact On The United States Economy reports the study’s segment estimates.
| RV industry segment | Annual output estimate |
|---|---|
| Manufacturers and suppliers | $70 billion |
| RV sales and service | $38 billion |
| RV campgrounds and travel | $50 billion |
| Total industry contribution | $159 billion |
The study estimated that the industry supported nearly 680,000 jobs, paid more than $48 billion in wages and generated $13.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes. Its materials also reported a 23% increase in economic output over the prior three years, using the study’s own definitions.
Campground-related spending is a narrower component of this picture. RVIA’s Campground Modernization And Expansion material estimated that the cited expenditures supported 378,000 jobs, $17.5 billion in labor income and $50.3 billion in economic output.
The broader Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account: New Statistics for 2022 and Updated Statistics for 2017–2021 measured outdoor recreation value added at $563.705 billion in 2022 and 4.979 million full- and part-time wage-and-salary jobs. Those BEA figures cover the wider outdoor-recreation economy, so they are context for RVing rather than RV-only totals.
Campground Capacity and RV Infrastructure Statistics
RVIA’s 2024 campground policy material says the United States had more than 20,000 public and privately owned campgrounds and counted 20,467 campgrounds with RV-accessible sites. “RV-accessible” does not necessarily mean that every site offers full hookups, and the page does not fully detail the public/private counting method.
The infrastructure count helps explain why RV industry scale depends on more than vehicle production. Campgrounds, site access and related services determine whether ownership can become actual overnight travel, but the available count is an estimate of campground facilities rather than a measure of available spaces or occupancy.
The same RVIA material reports the older 11.2 million-household ownership estimate and the associated 10-year and 20-year comparisons. Because the 2025 owner profile used a different methodology and reports 8.1 million households, those older comparisons should not be combined with the newer estimate.
Camping Participation and Outdoor-Hospitality Trends
RV travel sits within a larger U.S. camping market. RVIA’s Experiential Travel And New Adventures Fuel Interest In Camping And Outdoor Hospitality In 2023 reported that about 92 million U.S. households identified as campers in its 2023 report, using 2022 participation data.
| Outdoor-hospitality measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Households identifying as campers | 2022 participation | About 92 million |
| Households taking a glamping trip | 2022 | More than 10 million |
| Campers interested in a glamping trip | 2023 | About four in ten |
| Change in glamping-trip interest | 2023 vs. prior year | 7% increase |
| Increase in camping households | 2022 vs. 2021 | About 1.5 million |
| Additional daily travel expense | 2022 vs. 2021 | $19 per day |
More than 10 million households took a glamping trip in 2022, while about four in ten campers expressed interest in taking one in 2023. The report described glamping-trip interest as up 7% from the prior year, but its page excerpt does not clarify whether that change is relative or measured in percentage points.
Camping households increased by about 1.5 million in 2022 compared with 2021. Campers also spent an additional $19 per day on travel expenses in 2022 compared with 2021; this is an average change in daily travel expense, not total trip spending.
National-Park Visitation and RV Overnight-Stay Statistics
The National Park Service’s Annual Visitation Summary Report for 2025 recorded 323,014,305 recreation visits and 1,386,749,187 recreation visitor hours across the U.S. National Park System in 2025. Recreation visits are official visitor-use estimates, not unique visitors.
NPS reported 2,535,130 recreation-vehicle overnight stays, compared with 3,119,939 tent-camper overnight stays and 1,502,650 concessioner camping overnight stays. The total of 13,016,586 overnight stays across listed categories includes lodging, camping, RV, backcountry, miscellaneous and non-recreation categories, so it should not be treated as an RV total.
| NPS region | 2025 recreation visits |
|---|---|
| Intermountain | 53,197,701 |
| Pacific West | 62,147,570 |
| Southeast | 72,437,648 |
| Northeast | 55,567,675 |
The regional figures show the scale of national-park visitation but are not RV-specific counts. Likewise, RV overnight stays are stays rather than unique RVs, vehicles, households or people, so they describe use of the park system during 2025 rather than the size of the RV owner population.