Consumer Demographics
This section presents demographic profiles of the average angler.
Details are provided for freshwater fishing, Great Lakes fishing and
saltwater fishing, and include information about age, income, race/ethnicity,
marital status and more.
There are many ways to portray the typical angler and it’s difficult
to place him or her into any one category. However, here is what the
current data says about the typical angler:
- The average angler is between 42 and 46 years old. Anglers in the
northern Plains states tend to be older than participants from other
regions.
- Anglers come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Although
the majority of anglers are Caucasian, the percentage of non-Caucasian
participants varies depending on the region and type of water being
fished. For example, more than 20 percent of saltwater anglers from
the West are non-Caucasian. In contrast, less than 10 percent of
saltwater anglers in the South Central part of the U.S. are non-Caucasian.
- One third of all anglers are women. Women are slightly better represented
in saltwater angling than in freshwater. The highest proportion of
women anglers are found in the South Central and Northern Plains
regions.
- Roughly 70 percent of anglers are married. Saltwater anglers are
more likely to be married than freshwater anglers.
- The typical angler has a larger annual income than the average
U.S citizen.
Angler Lifestyle Analysis
This section contains information regarding an analysis of state fishing license data to learn about people’s license buying habits. This project, completed in 2007, was conducted in partnership with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and ASA with funding from the Sport Fish Restoration Multi-State Grant program. The report analyzes the fishing license buying habits of people in 15 states over a five-year timeframe.
The following charts present greater details about anglers. The data in these charts comes from ASA’s Today’s Angler report, based on 2001 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data.
ASA and Southwick Associates are working to update this information based on the just-released 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.
Additional Resources
This section provides ASA-produced reports and documents as well
as a partial list of third-party Web sites relating to sportfishing.
Inclusion in this list does not indicate an endorsement by ASA
but is provided for information only. Recommendations for additions
may be sent to communications@asafishing.org.
ASA reserves the right to accept or reject these recommendations.
