Contents
- US recreation spending statistics: U.S. household entertainment outlays
- US recreation spending statistics: Recreation equipment and membership budgets
- US recreation spending statistics: Recent changes in consumer entertainment spending
- US recreation spending: Outdoor recreation’s contribution to U.S. GDP, jobs, and compensation
- US recreation spending: Outdoor recreation value added by activity and travel
- Sources
US recreation spending statistics: U.S. household entertainment outlays
Household expenditure data offer one view of recreation budgets, though the available entertainment category is broader than any single pastime. In 2025, average annual entertainment spending was $4,084 per U.S. consumer unit. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines consumer units as financially independent families or individuals, or people who share major expenses. These are averages per unit, not totals for all U.S. households or spending by each individual. BLS, “Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025”
The same BLS table breaks out consumer units by military status. It reports average annual entertainment expenditure of $4,346 for all veteran and/or active-duty households, $4,449 for veteran-only households, $3,738 for active-duty-only households, and $4,048 for non-military households. The combined veteran and/or active-duty category includes households represented in the more specific groups; these figures describe group averages and do not establish why their spending differs. BLS, “Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025”
| Consumer-unit group | Average annual entertainment spending, 2025 |
|---|---|
| All consumer units | $4,084 |
| All veteran and/or active-duty households | $4,346 |
| Veteran-only households | $4,449 |
| Active-duty-only households | $3,738 |
| Non-military households | $4,048 |
Amounts are dollars per consumer unit. Source: BLS, “Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025”.
Entertainment is a broad spending label, so it cannot be read as a measure of karting, motorsports, or any one recreational activity. The comparisons are useful for describing the range of reported average outlays among the listed household groups. They do not provide the number of households in each group or a breakdown of what people purchased within entertainment. BLS, “Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025”
US recreation spending statistics: Recreation equipment and membership budgets
The BLS household-spending series reports separate averages for sports, recreation, and exercise equipment and for social, recreation, and health club memberships. In 2024, consumer units spent an average of $225 on equipment and $272 on memberships. Those category labels define the coverage; the figures do not isolate equipment for a particular sport or membership fees at a particular kind of venue. BLS, “The New Year and household spending”
The same series provides comparison points for 2021: average equipment spending was $282 per consumer unit, while average membership spending was $212. These are two-year observations, not a complete account of every year between 2021 and 2024. They show the reported amounts for the same named categories at those dates, without identifying what changed within either category or why. BLS, “The New Year and household spending”
| BLS expenditure category | 2021 average annual spending | 2024 average annual spending |
|---|---|---|
| Sports, recreation, and exercise equipment | $282 | $225 |
| Social, recreation, and health club memberships | $212 | $272 |
Amounts are dollars per U.S. consumer unit. Source: BLS, “The New Year and household spending”.
Equipment and membership spending are distinct household-budget measures. They should not be added to the entertainment averages above: the supplied figures come from different reporting years and category tables, and the available evidence does not establish how the categories overlap. A consumer unit may also include more than one person, so an average per unit is not an average per participant. BLS, “The New Year and household spending”
US recreation spending statistics: Recent changes in consumer entertainment spending
Average consumer-unit entertainment expenditures increased 13.2% from 2024 to 2025, according to the BLS annual percent-change table. The table does not mark this estimate with an asterisk. BLS uses that marker for changes statistically significant at the 95% confidence level, so the entertainment change is not identified there as statistically significant. BLS, “Consumer spending increased 4.3 percent from 2024 to 2025”
For context, average annual expenditures across all listed consumer spending categories increased 4.3% over the same 2024–2025 period. That overall figure is marked with an asterisk in the BLS table, indicating statistical significance at the 95% confidence level. The 13.2% entertainment estimate and the 4.3% overall estimate therefore have different significance markings in the source. BLS, “Consumer spending increased 4.3 percent from 2024 to 2025”
| Measure | Reported change, 2024–2025 | BLS significance marker |
|---|---|---|
| Entertainment | 13.2% | No asterisk |
| Average annual expenditures overall | 4.3% | Asterisk: significant at the 95% confidence level |
Source: BLS, “Consumer spending increased 4.3 percent from 2024 to 2025”.
The 2025 military-status table also reports average entertainment spending of $4,084 for all consumer units and $4,048 for non-military households. These are level estimates for 2025, while the 13.2% figure measures a change from 2024 to 2025. They answer different questions: one compares an annual average across two years, and the other gives annual amounts for two household groupings in one year. BLS, “Veteran and active duty military spending in 2025”; BLS, “Consumer spending increased 4.3 percent from 2024 to 2025”
US recreation spending: Outdoor recreation’s contribution to U.S. GDP, jobs, and compensation
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures outdoor recreation through the value added by outdoor recreation-related production. In 2024, the sector generated $696.7 billion in value added, up 4.0% from $670 billion in 2023. BEA also reported that outdoor recreation value added accounted for 2.4% of U.S. current-dollar gross domestic product in 2024. These are production and GDP measures, not household outlays on leisure. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”; BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Economic Statistics, U.S. and States, 2024”
The sector supported approximately 5.2 million U.S. jobs in 2024, with total compensation of $324.3 billion. BEA’s job count covers full-time and part-time jobs related to outdoor recreation. Compensation refers to wages and benefits paid to employees in those jobs. Neither measure is interchangeable with household spending, and the job figure should not be interpreted as a count of unique people. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”
Taken together, value added, GDP share, jobs, and compensation describe different aspects of the sector’s economic footprint. Value added measures production after intermediate inputs; GDP share puts that value in the context of national output. Jobs and compensation describe employment and employee pay. These measures help explain why outdoor recreation appears in economic accounts, but none identifies how much a typical household spends on recreation. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”; BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Economic Statistics, U.S. and States, 2024”
US recreation spending: Outdoor recreation value added by activity and travel
BEA’s 2024 activity breakdown separates outdoor recreation into conventional core activities, other core activities, and supporting activities. Conventional outdoor recreation generated $205.4 billion in value added; other core outdoor activities generated $132.6 billion; and supporting activities, including trips and travel, generated $358.6 billion. These are current-dollar value-added amounts. They describe production associated with the sector’s activity groups, rather than the amount consumers paid directly for recreation. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”
BEA also reports selected activities as shares of total outdoor recreation value added. Boating and fishing accounted for 5.5% in 2024, while guided tours and outfitted travel accounted for 3.7%. These are specific shares within the broader total; they should not be confused with the dollar amounts for the three larger activity groupings. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”
| Activity measure | 2024 value or share | Measure type |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional outdoor recreation | $205.4 billion | Value added, current dollars |
| Other core outdoor activities | $132.6 billion | Value added, current dollars |
| Supporting activities, including trips and travel | $358.6 billion | Value added, current dollars |
| Boating and fishing | 5.5% | Share of total outdoor recreation value added |
| Guided tours and outfitted travel | 3.7% | Share of total outdoor recreation value added |
Source: BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”.
A separate BEA table reports real outdoor recreation value added by activity in millions of chained (2017) dollars. In 2024, trips and travel represented $252,920 million, while local trips and travel represented $62,207 million. These figures use a real-dollar measure, so they should be kept distinct from the current-dollar amounts above. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Economic Statistics, U.S. and States, 2024”
The release defines trips and travel by distance from home. “Trips and travel” covers trip expenses at least 50 miles from home, including food and beverages, lodging, shopping and souvenirs, and transportation. “Local trips and travel” covers those kinds of trip expenses less than 50 miles from home. The distance threshold and included expense types are part of the category definitions; neither line is simply a count of trips or a household budget total. BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Economic Statistics, U.S. and States, 2024”
Together, the BLS and BEA measures show household outlays in selected consumer categories alongside the production footprint of outdoor recreation. The categories, units, and reference years differ, so the figures are best read within their respective definitions: annual dollars per consumer unit for BLS household spending, current-dollar value added and shares for BEA sector results, and millions of chained (2017) dollars for BEA’s real travel measures. BLS, “The New Year and household spending”; BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Statistics for 2024”; BEA, “Outdoor Recreation Economic Statistics, U.S. and States, 2024”