Who Goes To Sturgis? Survey Results Tell Story

What’s your image of those who attend the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota? If you pegged them as being older, more proper than hard-core bikers, affluent and educated, well, you’d be right. You’d also be on target if you said rally-goers were mostly Harley-Davidson riders.

The results of a city-commissioned survey done during the 2013 rally show that of the 400,000 riders who attended, most are older than 40, have college educations and have annual household incomes that top $75,000.

Sturgis rally director Brenda Vasknetz tells the “Meade County Times-Tribune” that nearly 2,000 attendees were surveyed during the eight-day event last year.

The results showed:

– About three-quarters were between 41 and 65 years of age, while one in 10 were 66 and older.

– About 60 percent have a household income of more than $75,000, with 10 percent having a household income of $200,000 or more.

– About three-quarters have some college education, with more than 15 percent having an undergraduate degree and more than five percent having a post-graduate degree.

– Nearly one third work in technical or professional occupations. Nearly another third are in management or executive positions or own their own business. Only slightly more than 10 percent describe themselves as tradesman or laborer.

– Nearly 80 percent own their own home, and nearly 30 percent own a home with no mortgage.

– About 44 percent are women.

– Most attendees (between 35 and 40 percent) spend from $100 to $199 per day. Almost  30 percent spend less than $100 per day, while about 11 percent spent more than $300 per day.

– About half ride to Sturgis, with nearly the other half coming by car, truck or RV, presumably with their motorcycles in tow.

– Nearly 25 percent of those attending come from the East.

– More than 50 percent said their reason for attending was “vacation,” while 30 percent cited the “tradition” of the event. Last year’s rally was the 73rd annual gathering.

And…

–  About two-thirds of attendees own a Harley-Davidson. The next brand, with less than 10 percent, is Honda, followed by Yamaha and custom, and then Victory.

Complete results of the survey may be found here.