Family Fun: Facts and Figures

Fishing is one of America's favorite outdoor recreational pastimes:

• More than 35 million Americans over the age of 16 enjoy fishing. This represents 17 percent of the U.S. population.


• There are almost 15 million youth anglers in America.


• Recreational anglers, ages 16 and older, spend over $37 billion a year to fish. This has tremendous economic impacts:


• $108.4 billion in industry output


• $28.2 billion in salaries and wages


• $2.4 billion in state income and sales taxes


• $3.0 billion in Federal income taxes


• 1.2 million jobs (full- and part-time)


• Recreational anglers, ages 16 and older, spend 625 million days fishing on 507 million trips a year. Of the days spent fishing, 82 percent are in freshwater and 17 percent are in saltwater.


• The average angler spends $1,072 to fish in a year's time.


• Approximately 61 percent of all anglers 16 years and older live in urban areas and 39 percent live in rural communities.


• Over a year, the average angler spends $151 for fishing tackle and other equipment; $436 for trip-related goods and services; and $106 for transportation.


• Freshwater fishing expenditures by anglers are estimated at $26.9 billion and saltwater fishing expenditures estimated at $8.7 billion.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and the American Sportfishing Association.