2026 Hiking Report

The Hiking Boom Isn’t Slowing Down

Hiking is now the most popular outdoor recreation activity in America, and for once the headline and the underlying story point the same direction. A record 63.4 million Americans went hiking in 2024, 20.5% of the population ages 6 and older, capping a climb that has nearly doubled the hiking community since 2012 and added more than 13 million new participants since 2019. But the more telling number sits beneath the surface: even as the base expands, hikers are getting out more often, not less. 16.7 million are now “core” hikers who hit the trail 13 or more times a year, and that segment is growing faster than participation overall — a 7.6% five-year average annual growth rate for core hikers versus 5.2% for hiking as a whole. In a category where rising participation usually comes with falling frequency, hiking is doing something rare: growing on both fronts at once.

OIA’s 2026 Hiking Report is now available. The report breaks down hiking participation by demographic, region, income, age, and education, examines hiking’s role as the primary gateway into the broader outdoor industry — over 90% of hikers also take part in other activities — and highlights where the biggest opportunities lie, from middle-aged adults to the untapped growth among communities of color still facing access and safety barriers on the trail. Check out the report for the key findings and what they mean for the industry.