The Outdoor Recreation Economy is Outpacing Domestic Growth

Heading out the door? Read this article on the Outside app available now on iOS devices for members!
Download the app.

The U.S. Department of Commerce just released its latest assessment of the outdoor recreation industry’s contribution to the national economy. The result? $1.1 trillion in total economic output during 2022. That’s more than oil and gas extraction, and mining, combined.

Nationwide, outdoor recreation was responsible for 2.2 percent of total Gross Domestic Product in 2022, and five million jobs. That’s 3.2 percent of total national employment.

“[This] shows that sustained investment in outdoor recreation and protection of our shared public lands and waters pays huge dividends for our local and national economies and quality of life,” states Jessica Turner, President of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a trade group.

Locally, the economic output and jobs provided by outdoor recreation can be even higher. In Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, Vermont, and Massachusetts, it’s responsible for more than four percent of each state’s GDP.

The outdoor recreation economy is also growing faster than the domestic economy, as a whole. Between 2021 and 2022, outdoor recreation grew at 4.8 percent, while total economic growth was only 1.9 percent. Job growth in outdoor recreation during the same period was double the total national rate.

Turner says this new data should help the industry better lobby for the protection of America’s public lands and waters, since they’re what makes outdoor recreation’s economic contribution possible.

“To ensure that this success is sustainable and that our public lands and waters will continue to be accessible to all Americans for generations to come, we will continue to work together with leaders on the passage of America’s Outdoor Recreation Act (AORA) by the end of this year,” explains Turner.

Complete with bipartisan support, AORA aims to help public lands and waters cope with record visitation, while modernizing access to them. A suite of initiatives like expanded parking facilities, online pass sales, infrastructure improvements, and simplified management will make getting outdoors easier for the public, more trackable for industry and government partners, and easier to manage across the patchwork of responsible agencies. It does all that while remaining cost neutral for taxpayers, and without restricting access for any user group.

“Outdoor recreation is not a nice to have—but a necessity for healthy people, places, and economies,” states Turner.