Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2023
On November 20, 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released new statistics on outdoor recreation for the nation, all states, and the District of Columbia. These statistics measure the economic activity associated with outdoor recreation, the size and scope of the outdoor recreation sector, and the sector's contribution to each state economy and to the U.S. economy overall.
The following charts present highlights on overall trends, outdoor recreation by activity, and outdoor recreation by industry in 2023. Additional data and information can be found on the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account webpage on BEA's website.
In 2023, the outdoor recreation sector generated $639.5 billion in current-dollar value added, a $52.7 billion (or 9.0 percent) increase from $586.9 billion in 2022. This sector accounted for 2.3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), unchanged from 2022, which had marked a return to pre-COVID–19-pandemic levels last seen in 2019.
The outdoor recreation sector supported 5.0 million jobs in 2023, with total compensation of $293.9 billion, up from 4.8 million jobs and $269.6 billion in compensation in 2022.
The outdoor recreation sector grew faster than the overall U.S. economy along all measures for which BEA prepares outdoor recreation estimates, including inflation-adjusted measures.
In 2023, 5 states accounted for more than a third of U.S. outdoor recreation value added, while the top 10 states contributed over half.
The contribution of outdoor recreation to state GDP ranged from 6.3 percent in Hawaii to 1.6 percent in New York, Delaware, and Connecticut, while it accounted for 0.8 percent of GDP in the District of Columbia. Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, and Montana had outdoor recreation shares at least double the national share.
In most states, the outdoor recreation sector grew faster than the overall economy in 2023. Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Alaska experienced the largest increases in outdoor recreation value added, while Indiana was the only state where recreation value added declined.
Outdoor recreation employment and compensation also increased in all states and the District of Columbia in 2023, except Indiana. Alaska had the largest increases in both compensation and employment.
In 2023, $201.0 billion (or 31.4 percent) of total outdoor recreation value added was generated by conventional activities (such as fishing and hiking), $128.3 billion (or 20.1 percent) from “other outdoor recreation activities” (such as gardening or attending an outdoor concert), and $310.2 billion (or 48.5 percent) by supporting activities (such as trips and travel).
Supporting activities—notably, trips and travel—were the primary drivers of the 9.0 percent increase in total outdoor recreation value added, jointly contributing 5.3 percentage points. In contrast, RVing partially offset this growth by subtracting 0.7 percentage points.
Among conventional activities, boating/fishing—the activity with the largest value added nationally—increased from $34.3 billion in 2022 to $36.8 billion (or 7.5 percent) in 2023. RVing—the second-largest activity—declined from $30.7 billion in 2022 to $26.3 billion (or 14.3 percent) in 2023.
The composition of outdoor recreation activities varies widely across states, influencing the states' growth patterns. Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Alaska—the three fastest growing states in outdoor recreation value added in 2023—have larger shares of value added by supporting activities, in particular, trips and travel. Trips and travel was the leading contributor to growth in all three states. In contrast, Indiana has a large share of value added by conventional activities, in particular, RVing. RVing was the leading contributor to the decline in outdoor recreation value added in Indiana.
Boating/fishing and RVing were the conventional activities with the largest outdoor recreation value added in most states. Exceptions were hunting/shooting/trapping in Wyoming, motorcycling/ATVing in Wisconsin, and snow activities in Colorado, Utah, and Vermont.
The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services industry accounted for the largest share of total outdoor recreation value added in 2023, generating $165.2 billion in value added, or 25.8 percent, of total outdoor recreation value added. The next-largest industry was retail trade, with $156.3 billion in value added, or 24.4 percent.
The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services industry and the retail trade industry also accounted for just over half of total outdoor recreation value added and nearly 75 percent of total outdoor recreation employment.
Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services and retail trade were the industries with the largest outdoor recreation value added in most states. Exceptions were transportation and warehousing in Alaska and Hawaii and manufacturing in Indiana and Louisiana.
Compared to the private sector, the outdoor recreation value added generated by the government sector is small but has varying impacts at the state level. The role of the government sector in outdoor recreation is more evident in states with large federally owned natural spaces (such as national parks). Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and North Dakota were states where the outdoor recreation share of total value added generated by the government sector was at least double the corresponding national value in 2023.
