Fewer single people are going to Burning Man

Black Rock City, where Burning Man 2023 is underway, has no money, formal government or commerce. But it does have a census.

With the notable exceptions of 2020 and 2021, when Burning Man was canceled due to the pandemic, volunteers have conducted the Black Rock City Census annually since 2002. In August, the Census Team released data from 2022’s census, a project resulting from the combined efforts of nearly 200 volunteers.

Before continuing, a quick disclaimer about the results. “Census” implies counting every Burner, so it’s a bit of a misnomer. It would be more accurate to call the census a “survey,” since the data was collected from a sample of Burners. (For more on the methodology, there’s an in-depth explanation on the census website.) 

The census is comprehensive and long; collected below are some of the key findings:

More Burners are in relationships, and fewer are single. In one of 2022’s most dramatic demographic shifts, the percentage of single Burners fell from 33% in 2019 to 25.6%, while the percentage of Burners in relationships, married or unmarried, grew from 60% to 67.8% total. All the while, the percentage of people who responded “it’s complicated” remained relatively stable, falling from 7% to 6.6%.

The festival’s gender distribution may be balancing out. Burning Man still skews male, but the gender gap appears to be shrinking. From 2018 to 2022, the proportion of male burners fell from 58.7% to 54.3%, while the proportion of female burners climbed from 39.6% to 43.6%. This is a reversal of the trend from 2016 to 2018, when the gender gap grew. The number of gender nonconforming folks (listed on the survey as “other identity) also steadily climbed since 2017, from 1.6% to 2.1% in 2022. 

A jump in high-earner Burners. From 2019 to 2022, the proportion of Burners raking in $100,000 or more rose, as did the proportion of Burners who reported no income (albeit only by .6%). All other income groups fell. Burners making anywhere from $1 to $99,000 per year still comprise more than half of BRC’s population, but that number is down from last year, 63.4% to 55.9%. 2023’s Burn could disrupt this trend, as cheaper Burning Man tickets attract more middle- and low-income Burners.

In 2022, there were more Burners of color. When asked, “Do you consider yourself a person of color?” the proportion who responded “yes” went up from 10.5% in 2019 to 13.3% in 2022, and respondents who said “no” dropped from 83.7% to 81.7%. 

More bisexual and pansexual Burners. The percentage of Burners who self-identified as heterosexual dropped from 64.9% in 2019 to 60.4% in 2022, corresponding with increases in the proportions of bi- or pansexual Burners (12.4% to 15%) and asexual Burners (0.4% to 2.5%). The proportion of gay, lesbian or homosexual Burners increased modestly, from 8.3% to 8.7%.

Fewer Burners are volunteering. The Census asked Burners whether they had volunteered in a series of categories in the past year: human rights initiatives, political campaigns, art projects, “self-initiated good deeds,” Black Rock City and so on. Across all categories, the proportion of Burners who volunteered in the past year dropped from 2019 to 2022. In most categories, the decrease is within the range of a couple percentage points. Fewer Burners reported feeling inspired to volunteer after Burning Man – a drop from 55.2% in 2019 to 49.9% in 2022.

While even small shifts in this census are worth considering, the two-year absence does make it hard to parse out genuine trends. Is 2022 just a weird year for Burning Man as the festival comes off the heels of a global pandemic? Or does it mark a series of new normals for the festival? Perhaps a future census will tell.