The $1.3 Trillion Backyard

An Economy Measured in Trailheads

The BEA's Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account is the federal government's definitive measurement of what happens when Americans go outside. It applies the same input-output methodology that underpins the National Income and Product Accounts — the framework used to calculate GDP itself — to every recreational activity that takes place outdoors. Fishing, camping, boating, hunting, skiing, RV travel, outdoor concerts, gardening: all of it, counted.

The latest data, covering 2024, shows the sector generated approximately $1.3 trillion in gross economic output and $696 billion in value added. That value-added figure represents 2.4% of U.S. GDP. The industry supports 5.2 million jobs — roughly 3.2% of total American employment.

To put that in perspective: outdoor recreation now generates more economic value than the entire mining industry, the utilities sector, and computer and electronic products manufacturing — combined. It employs more people than construction. The 2.4% GDP share may sound modest, but consider that the entire "information" supersector — all of publishing, telecom, broadcasting, and software — accounts for about 5.5%. A single cross-cutting recreational activity is nearly half that size.

Outpacing the Broader Economy

The headline number matters less than the trajectory. Real outdoor-recreation GDP grew 2.7% in 2024, outpacing the broader economy for the fourth consecutive year. The post-pandemic recovery has been extraordinary: 10.2% real growth in 2022, 3.6% in 2023, and 2.7% in 2024. Since 2012, the sector has expanded 43.3% in real terms and 84.2% in nominal terms.

This is not a pandemic bounce. The growth predates COVID-19 and has persisted through inflation, rising interest rates, and compressed consumer budgets. It is a structural shift in how Americans allocate spending — toward experiences, toward the outdoors, toward the places where those two things intersect.

What Drives a Trillion-Dollar Sector

The BEA breaks outdoor recreation into three tiers. The largest, at 48.5% of value added, is supporting activities — travel, tourism, lodging, food services, construction, and government expenditures. When a family drives to a national park, stays at a hotel, eats at a restaurant, and buys gas, that spending flows through the supporting-activities channel. It is the multiplier effect made visible.

Conventional outdoor activities account for 31.4%. Among them, the hierarchy is clear: boating and fishing leads at $36.8 billion in value added — with Florida ($4.2B), California ($3.1B), and Texas ($2.8B) dominating. RVing follows at $26.3 billion, anchored by Indiana's $4.7 billion RV manufacturing corridor around Elkhart. Hunting, shooting, and trapping adds $14 billion; snow activities contribute $7.7 billion.

Three industries dominate the supply side. Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services contributes $165.2 billion (25.8%) — the hospitality backbone of gateway towns and trailhead economies. Retail trade adds $156.3 billion (24.4%): from REI to local fly shops to gas stations selling fishing licenses. Manufacturing accounts for $86.7 billion (13.6%): boats, RVs, firearms, camping gear, bicycles, skis.

The Geography of Outdoor Dependence

The state-level data reveals which economies are most structurally dependent on outdoor recreation. Hawaii leads at 6.3% of state GDP, driven by water sports and tourism infrastructure. Montana, Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska all exceed 4%.

At the other end: Delaware, Connecticut, and New York each register 1.6% — not because their residents don't recreate, but because finance and services dominate those economies. Washington, D.C. sits lowest at 0.8%.

The fastest-growing states in 2024 tell a different story than the most-dependent ones. Massachusetts led at 6.9%, followed by Arizona (6.8%), Iowa (6.6%), Alaska (6.3%), and Nevada (6.1%). Employment grew in 49 of 50 states; only Indiana saw a decline (-4.8%), likely reflecting cyclical softness in RV manufacturing.

Why It Matters

The BEA data arms a specific policy argument: outdoor recreation is not a lifestyle amenity. It is critical economic infrastructure. The Recreation Roundtable uses these numbers to push for reauthorization of the Legacy Restoration Fund, full funding of the Recreational Trails Program, and passage of the bipartisan EXPLORE Act. Every dollar spent maintaining trails, managing public lands, and staffing ranger stations generates downstream returns through the supporting-activities channel.

For many rural communities, outdoor recreation has replaced extractive industries as the primary economic engine. Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska are simultaneously some of the most resource-dependent and most recreation-dependent states in the country. As mining and logging employment contracts, recreation employment grows. The substitution is not one-for-one — the jobs are different, the wages are different, the seasonality is different — but the direction is unmistakable.

"Outdoor recreation is a proven sustainable asset for American communities."

— Recreation Roundtable, March 2026

The 2024 data also reveals stress. Growth decelerated from 3.6% to 2.7%. Manufacturing-heavy segments — RVing and boating — underperformed as inflation and rising interest rates compressed budgets. But lower-cost activities like tent camping, hunting, and snowmobiling showed resilience. The sector is not immune to macroeconomic headwinds. It just weathers them better than most.

For the 57.7 million Americans who went fishing last year, or the families spending $60 a day in gateway towns, the numbers are not abstract. They are the motel that stays open through winter. The outfitter that hires a second guide. The trail crew funded by a federal program that someone in Washington must decide to renew. The $1.3 trillion backyard is not a metaphor. It is an economy — and it is growing.

Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account (2024 release) • Recreation Roundtable, March 2026 • BEA ORSA State Data Tables