At a keynote session at the second annual Switchback Spring outdoor industry community event in New Orleans, Louisiana, Kelly Davis, OIA’s director of Research, gave a preview of the association’s 2026 Participation Report, showing that participation in the outdoors continues to expand, but the growth rate is slowing, and those participating in the outdoors are going out less often.
On the positive side, the data shows that 183.2 million Americans 6 years of age and older participated in the outdoors in 2025, marking a record 59 percent participation rate.
Davis noted that the pandemic has introduced scores of participants to the outdoors, with the industry adding 30 million people since reaching 153.6 million participants in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. Looking further back, outdoor participation increased by 42 million from 141.8 million in 2012.
Davis stressed, “So, we’re doing really well.”
However, she also noted that net growth in outdoor participants was up only 1.1 percent in 2025, from 181.1 million in 2024, marking significantly slower growth than the 2.9 percent average annual growth rate seen over the prior 3 years.
Davis said that while she is optimistic that outdoor participation still has legs for growth, the industry may be seeing signs of “saturation” after adding 30 million participants since 2019, and the focus should be shifting even more towards retention. She said, “It’s going to take more energy exponentially just to focus on new people, so it’s time to start focusing on the 183.2 million that are in the base here already, and the 30 million that have joined us since 2019.”
Kent Ebersole, president of OIA, likewise highlighted that the outdoor industry is already reaching a wide and increasingly diverse audience, with participants outnumbering Netflix subscribers in the U.S. However, he agreed the industry needs to do a better job of increasing frequency. He noted that OIA’s analysis found that a 10 percent increase in activities or outings would lead to a 30 percent increase in overall spending in the sector. Ebersole said, “This is not a reach problem, it’s a depth problem.”
OIA’s data showed the industry is doing a subpar job of encouraging frequency.
OIA’s participation data for 2025 found Americans are participating in 5 percent fewer outings per year than in 2019.
Davis said the reduction in outings is partly due to the pandemic, because newbies to the outdoors are expected to be “more casual” as they first explored. But she said average outings are significantly below 2012 levels, underscoring the challenges the industry continually faces in converting casual participants into core ones.
Indeed, core or more frequent outdoor participants declined by 3.9 million in 2025. In 2024, the outdoor industry saw a 5 million jump in core participants, but that proved to be a brief spike, and in 2025, the industry appeared to revert to its decade-long decline.
Davis said retention is an urgent challenge.
“‘It’s time to take care of the people that are in our base,” said Davis. “It’s time to start talking about doing it more, time to start talking about being outdoors a little bit more, and it’s easy, it’s about selling happiness.”
Looking at age groups, bright spots in OIA’s 2025 participation data included seniors (+65), who saw an increase of 800,000 outdoor participants, bringing the age group’s total to 12.1 million since 2016. Hiking, birding, wildlife viewing, and fishing are seeing the strongest growth among activities with seniors.
Another promising age group is children ages 6 to 12, who saw a 5 percent growth in outdoor participation in 2025, reaching 22.6 million participants. Two in three households with children participate in outdoor recreation.
On the downside, young adults (18 to 34) were found to be disengaging with the outdoors. The 18–24-year-old subset saw a 1.3 percent dip in outdoor participation in 2025, while the 25-to-34-year-old subset experienced a 2.8 percent decline.
OIA’s findings confirmed that the outdoors remains increasingly inclusive, with members of the Hispanic population increasing their outdoor participation by 6.5 percent in 2025 and 53.4 percent of women participating in the outdoors, a record high. The survey also found that across all income and education levels, outdoor participation grew in 2025.
Among activities, hiking remains Americans’ favorite, with 63.6 million participants in 2025. Road running was second, with 52.3 million participants, and stood out for year-round healthy participation compared with other outdoor pursuits.
The third most popular outdoor activity was freshwater fishing, with 42.6 million participants. The activity is seen as offering strong multi-generation appeal.
Close behind was camping, with 42.3 million participants in 2025. Camping was found to stand out as a gateway activity, with more than 90 percent of campers participating in other outdoor activities. Rounding out the Top 5 was road bicycling (paved surface), with 41.2 million participants in 2025 and a consistent participation base.
Image courtesy Switchback/Diversified Communications
