U.S. outdoor recreation economy tops $1 trillion with 5 million jobs

This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium outdoor newsletter by Jason Blevins.

In it, he covers the industry from the inside out, plus the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.

Outdoor recreation has a new tagline: a trillion-dollar industry.  

The new measurement of the outdoor recreation economy by the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows outdoor businesses in 2022 earning $563.7 billion, accounting for 2.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product and employing 5 million workers.

Spending on outdoor recreation — defined by the bureau as gross output — reached $1.1 trillion, a 19% jump from 2021. 

This is the sixth year the federal government has analyzed outdoor recreation. And the numbers continue to reveal an economic…