Car camping is measured through several related lenses rather than one universal national category. The broadest recent U.S. estimate counts 42.3 million vehicle-accessible camping participants in 2025, while public-land records count overnight stays and industry reports measure household spending and camping adoption.
Key Car Camping Statistics
The most useful headline figures span participation, public-land use, spending and safety:
- 42.3 million U.S. participants took part in vehicle-accessible camping in 2025, among the population ages 6 and older.
- Vehicle-accessible camping added more than 2 million U.S. participants from 2024 to 2025, according to the Outdoor Industry Association’s latest annual comparison.
- Vehicle-accessible camping added 6.2 million U.S. participants from 2020 to 2025, using the Outdoor Industry Association’s activity definition.
- Camping participation reached 36.082 million U.S. participants in 2020, an OIA/PAC survey estimate for ages 6 and older.
- Camping participation measured 35.985 million U.S. participants in 2021, using the OIA/PAC activity definition.
- National Park Service units recorded 3,119,282 tent-camper overnight stays in 2025 across the United States.
- National Park Service units recorded 2,535,130 RV-camper overnight stays in 2025 across the United States.
- Camping spending reached $61 billion in 2024 in the North American camping market covered by KOA’s report.
- Camping households averaged $200 in daily spending in 2024, according to KOA’s survey.
- Daily camping spending was $43 higher per household in 2024 than in 2023, in KOA’s reported comparison.
- More than 11 million new households camped in 2024 compared with 2019, according to KOA’s industry estimate.
- New campers represented approximately 5% of all campers in 2024, using KOA’s definition of a new camper.
- One in five campers took a first solo trip in 2024, based on KOA’s surveyed camper population.
- Yellowstone recorded an average of 648,015 vehicle-accessible campground overnight stays per year from 1979 through 2023, based on park records.
- Yellowstone’s vehicle-accessible campground grizzly-bear injury rate was one injury per 29,160,667 overnight stays from 1979 through 2023, an author-derived rate.
- Yellowstone’s vehicle-accessible campground injury rate was lower than its backcountry campsite rate, with a reported rate ratio of 0.016 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.002–0.144.
Contents
- Key Car Camping Statistics
- Car Camping Participation Scale and Recent Growth
- Car Camping Participation Trends in OIA Data
- NPS Tent, RV and Vehicle-Accessible Camping Data
- Car Camping Costs and Household Spending
- Car Camping Access, Demographics and Related Participation
- Vehicle-Accessible Campground Use and Safety Outcomes
Car Camping Participation Scale and Recent Growth
The Outdoor Industry Association’s 2025 report provides the closest broad participation measure for car camping: vehicle-accessible camping, defined as camping within vehicle access. It is broader than sleeping inside a car, so the figure includes campers who reach a site by vehicle and sleep in tents or other accommodations.
The report estimated 42.3 million U.S. participants in 2025 among people ages 6 and older. It also reported more than 2 million additional participants in the 2024–2025 comparison and a cumulative increase of 6.2 million from 2020 through 2025. 2025 Outdoor Participation Trends Report
These figures describe participation, not trips, nights or households. The OIA summary also reported that camping gained more than 2 million participants in its latest annual comparison, but that broader wording groups gateway activities and does not provide a separate camping-only increase.
The same report recorded related changes in outdoor participation. Seniors’ participation rose 7.4%, youth participation rose 5.6%, and core outdoor users increased by 5 million in the latest annual comparison; each measure covers outdoor recreation broadly rather than car camping specifically. 2025 Outdoor Participation Trends Report
Car Camping Participation Trends in OIA Data
The longer OIA/PAC series shows how reported camping participation changed across selected years. Values below are survey estimates for U.S. participants ages 6 and older, and the source table reports the activity values in thousands.
| Year | Camping participants | RV camping participants |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 31.375 million | 16.168 million |
| 2010 | 32.667 million | — |
| 2012 | 29.982 million | 15.108 million |
| 2013 | 29.269 million | 14.556 million |
| 2017 | 26.262 million | 16.159 million |
| 2018 | 27.416 million | 15.980 million |
| 2019 | 28.183 million | 15.426 million |
| 2020 | 36.082 million | 17.825 million |
| 2021 | 35.985 million | 16.371 million |
The camping series also reports 31.961 million participants in 2011 and 28.660 million in 2014. These figures are not a dedicated car-sleeping series, and RV camping is a related vehicle-accessible category rather than car sleeping. 2022 Outdoor Participation Trends Report
The 2020 value is explicitly a pandemic-year estimate, so it should be read with that period’s context rather than treated as a normal baseline. The 2021 estimate remained at 35.985 million, while the supplied series does not provide every intervening year in the table used here.
NPS Tent, RV and Vehicle-Accessible Camping Data
National Park Service data measures overnight stays in NPS units, not the number of people who camped nationally. It offers an observed public-land view of tent and RV use, both of which can overlap with vehicle-accessible camping without being identical to sleeping in a car.
| Camper category | 2022 overnight stays | 2023 overnight stays | 2024 overnight stays | 2025 overnight stays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tent camper | 3,268,532 | 3,161,770 | 3,262,340 | 3,119,282 |
| RV camper | 2,566,942 | 2,566,383 | 2,673,636 | 2,535,130 |
The tent-camper and RV-camper categories are recorded separately in the NPS report. They should not be added to OIA participation estimates because participants and overnight stays are different units, and the NPS totals cover only the park system. Overnight Stays by Category and Year: 1979 to 2025
For contrast, NPS recorded 1,602,877 backcountry-camper overnight stays in 2025 and 1,755,518 in 2024. Backcountry camping is not car camping, but the separate category helps clarify why park overnight data must be interpreted by accommodation and access type.
Car Camping Costs and Household Spending
KOA’s 2025 report places 2024 camping spending at $61 billion for the North American camping market covered by the report. This is an industry estimate for camping broadly, not a car-camping-only total, and its geography and inclusion rules follow KOA’s report.
KOA also reported an average of $200 per household per day in camping spending in 2024. That average was $43 higher than the reported 2023 daily amount, but it is a survey comparison rather than a controlled price index. KOA Report Reveals Strong Growth in Camping Industry, Emphasizing Affordability and Evolving Traveler Trends
Related subgroup figures show how spending varies across camping formats and age groups:
- Glamping households averaged $251 per day in 2024; glamping is not car camping.
- Gen Z campers averaged $266 per day in 2024; this is a generation-specific camping average, not a car-camping-only measure.
These figures can inform planning, but they do not establish a typical car-camping budget. Fuel, campsite fees, food and equipment are not separated in the supplied KOA measures, so a vehicle-based trip cannot be assigned a supported component cost here.
Car Camping Access, Demographics and Related Participation
Camping adoption expanded at the household level in KOA’s reporting. More than 11 million new households camped in 2024 compared with 2019, and new campers represented approximately 5% of all campers in 2024 under KOA’s definition.
The report also found that one in five campers took a first solo trip in 2024. A solo trip does not necessarily mean sleeping in a vehicle, so this is a related participation measure rather than a direct car-camping statistic. KOA Report Reveals Strong Growth in Camping Industry, Emphasizing Affordability and Evolving Traveler Trends
The distinction between people, households and trips matters when interpreting access:
- OIA counts participants ages 6 and older through survey-based activity estimates.
- KOA reports households and campers, with definitions specific to its industry research.
- NPS counts overnight stays in National Park Service units.
Because these populations and units differ, none of the sources supports a national car-camping household rate, a demographic breakdown for people sleeping inside vehicles, or a direct conversion between participants and nights.
Vehicle-Accessible Campground Use and Safety Outcomes
A peer-reviewed analysis of Yellowstone National Park provides a long historical comparison between vehicle-accessible campgrounds and backcountry campsites. From 1979 through 2023, vehicle-accessible campground overnight stays ranged from 448,286 to 791,382 per year and averaged 648,015 annually.
Over the same period, Yellowstone backcountry campsite stays ranged from 25,188 to 55,060 annually and averaged 41,231. The backcountry figures are a comparison category, not car-camping use. Risk of bear-inflicted human injury in Yellowstone National Park
The study reported these author-derived injury rates for the same 1979–2023 period:
| Setting and outcome | Reported rate | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle-accessible campground grizzly-bear injury | 1 per 29,160,667 overnight stays | Yellowstone vehicle-accessible campgrounds |
| Backcountry campsite grizzly-bear injury | 1 per 1,855,377 overnight stays | Yellowstone backcountry campsites |
| Backcountry campsite black-bear injury | 1 per 618,459 overnight stays | Yellowstone backcountry campsites |
The campground-versus-backcountry comparison produced a rate ratio of 0.016, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.002–0.144. These are rare-event, park-specific historical observations and should not be treated as a probability for every car-camping setting or as a national estimate of vehicle-camping accidents.
The evidence therefore supports a narrow conclusion: in Yellowstone’s recorded data, vehicle-accessible campground bear-injury rates were lower than backcountry campsite rates during the study period. It does not measure all safety outcomes, all hazards or all car-camping locations.