Recreational and Vacation Camp Revenue Benchmark

Average Recreational and Vacation Camp Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every recreational and vacation camp with paid employees, including children's summer camps, hunting and fishing camps and outdoor adventure retreats, and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing that total by the number of camps gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$1,306,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $3.7 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 2,840 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $1,306,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Recreational and Vacation Camps (except Campgrounds), NAICS 721214. The category covers overnight recreational camps and vacation camps, including children's summer camps, hunting and fishing camps and outdoor adventure retreats. Campgrounds and RV parks are counted in a separate category. Classified separately in group 7212: 721211 RV (Recreational Vehicle) Parks and Campgrounds. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Smaller cohort

RV (Recreational Vehicle) Parks and Recreational Camps, NAICS 7212, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 57.8 to 67.7 percent. This benchmark covers RV (Recreational Vehicle) Parks and Recreational Camps, NAICS 7212, as a whole, and this category accounts for 2,840 of the 7,729 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Recreational and Vacation Camps (except Campgrounds), United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 30.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a substantial share because counselors, guides, kitchen crews and maintenance staff are the product a camp sells, even though many of them work only for the season.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes food, insurance, property upkeep and the cost of a site that must be maintained through the months when no guest is present.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Recreational and Vacation Camps (except Campgrounds), United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 7.9 people, and the industry counted 1.1 employer establishments per firm. A camp staff swells during the operating season and shrinks to a caretaker crew afterward, so the annual average sits between the two, and the establishments per firm figure shows that most camps are single-site operations, with some organizations running several.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Recreational and Vacation Camp: what a short season does to an annual average.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• How long is the season? A summer camp may earn its whole year in eight to ten weeks, while a hunting camp runs in the fall and a retreat center may operate year-round. The revenue on this page is an annual total, and how many operating weeks produced it varies enormously.
• Nonprofit or commercial? Camps run by churches, youth organizations and charities appear alongside private for-profit camps in this category, with different pricing, donor support and goals. The average describes the category rather than either model.
• Where do seasonal staff come from? Counselors and guides are hired for a few months, often housed and fed on site, and recruiting them each year is a major task. Wages, housing and training for that workforce shape the payroll share more than the number of guests does.
• What does the property cost when it is empty? Cabins, docks, kitchens and vehicles need insurance, maintenance and winterization whether or not anyone is there, and waterfront or wilderness land carries taxes and access costs. Those year-round outlays are invisible in a receipts figure.
• How is the camp regulated and insured? Youth camps face licensing, background checks, health rules and liability insurance that vary by state and by the activities offered, from waterfront to horseback riding. Compliance and insurance are fixed costs that grow with the program.
• Which activities set the price? Specialty programs such as sailing, wilderness expeditions or sports academies command higher fees but need equipment, certified staff and small groups. The program mix behind a revenue figure ranges from a rustic cabin camp to a premium academy.