How many snowboarders? Some answers from the NSGA

Periodically I get e-mail from people–usually middle-school students, it seems–looking for information on the number of people who snowboard.

It’s hard to get definitive answers. Much of the information is from surveys taken by trade associations. Since the associations want to offer their research as a membership benefit, they are sometimes cautious about distributing their findings free of charge, and may give away some but not of the information you’re interested in. Further, different associations use different measuring tools, meaning that the results may not line up from survey to survey. Finally, the associations don’t always ask the kinds of questions you’d like answers to.

With those limitations in mind, today I’ll review a few findings from the National Sporting Goods Association.

Total number of riders nearing number of downhill skiers

First, the National Sporting Goods Association says, in its 10-year survey, that snowboarding is on an upward trend. It estimates the number of people, age 7 and up, who engage in a whole host of activities, ranging from aerobic exercise to yoga, at least twice in a year.

Here are the numbers for snowboarders:

YEAR … Participants (millions)
1998 … 3.6
2000 … 4.3
2002 … 5.6
2004 … 6.6
2006 … 5.2
2008 … 5.9

Despite snowboarding’s legacy as a “hot” or “sexy” sport, it draws a fairly limited number of people. There are many more people engaged in walking for exercise (96.6 million), bowling (49.5 million), and golf (25.6 million), among other activities. Among board sports, skateboarding draws more participants (9.8 millions), while surfing isn’t mentioned.

Among snow sports, downhill skiing is the biggest sport (6.5 million). Cross-country skiing (1.6 million) lags far behind both downhill skiing and snowboarding.

One interesting finding is that snowboarding is drawing closer to skiing in popularity. In 1998, there were 2,139 skiers for every 1,000 snowboarders. In 2008, that ratio has dropped significantly, with only 1,102 skiers for every 1,000 skiers. In 2004, the number of snowboarders was actually greater the number of skiers, though that may have been a statistical anomaly.

One fact to point out is that it’s possible for a person to participate in snowboarding, downhill skiing, and cross-country skiing.

Snowboarding still a niche sport among 45 to 54-year olds

How many of those snowboarders are 40 and up? The NSGA doesn’t provide those numbers. Instead, it provides estimates of the number of 45 to 54-year olds engaging in various sports, both in 1997 and 2008.

While the number of snowboarders in this age range increased 34 percent, its growth was far behind that of skateboarding, which at 243 percent was the fastest-growing of the 36 sports listed. (Snowboarding was 21st.)

In 2008, there were 146,000 snowboarders aged 45 to 54. That’s less than the number of people playing basketball (1.6 million), hockey (228,000) and even tackle football (275,000), though more than the number of skateboarders (127,000). Snowboarding is still a niche activity within this age group.

Snowboarding is still dominated by boy and young men

Overall, snowboarding is predominately a male activity, according to the NSGA report, “2007 – 2002 Participation by Mean Age – Male & Female.” The report, which measures participants 7 and up, says that in 2007, 74 percent of snowboarders were men or boys, with a median age of 21.6 years old. The median age of female participants was even lower, at 18.8 years. By comparison, 61 percent of downhill skiers were men or boys, with an average age of 33.6. The median age for females was actually higher, at 35.8.