The Dyrt reports that of 81.1 million Americans who went camping in 2024, four out of five (79.6 percent) either camped the same amount or more despite high inflation. These statistics are from the company’s newly released 2025 Camping Report, in which it looked at the latest trends, topics and figures for the U.S. camping industry.
In this year’s annual report, The Dyrt compiled the results from surveys it conducted with three groups, including thousands of members of The Dyrt camper community, a representative sample of U.S. residents and camping property managers across all 50 states.
“For years, I’ve been saying that camping is an inflation-proof activity, The Dyrt Founder Sarah Smith wrote in the report. “Last year, that was put to the test. While some campers saved money by camping less, others increasingly turned to camping as a more affordable travel option. To see that 80 percent of campers either camped more or the same amount shows how resilient our industry and community really are.”
Campground rate hikes dropped in 2024 as well. The percentage of campgrounds that increased rates fell from 45.3 percent in 2023 to 38.9 percent in 2024. Among those campgrounds that did increase rates last year, inflation was the No. 1 reason cited by 78.7 percent of property owners and managers surveyed.
“Inflation at the beginning of the camping season threatened to restrict our plans thanks to cost increases in two primary areas: fuel and food,” said a camper from Ohio. “We wanted to travel to the Western U.S., but finding inexpensive campgrounds that fit our needs and wants, and camping budget, was going to be a challenge. So, we decided to give serious boondocking a try to see if we could make it work with our rig and if we liked the no-reservations-required style of camping. We loved it!”
Other respondents in the 2025 survey turned to camping to get more for the money.
“I realized at the start of 2024 that I hadn’t left my home state in over a decade and decided it was time to do something about that,” a surveyed respondent said from Colorado. “The biggest obstacle was how expensive travel can be, especially when you’re staying in hotels. Inflation has obviously made that problem even worse. By camping, I was able to afford trips to Moab, the Black Hills and Ouray over the span of six months.”
The Dyrt reports that it has over one million campers actively using its camping app that lists all of the public and private campgrounds, RV parks, and free camping sites in the United States, along with user-generated campground reviews.
Image courtest The Dyrt
