Age at Youtopia 2015

Youtopia, the San Diego regional burn, is younger than Burning Man.  Both in history (10ish versus 30ish) and in average age (33 versus 37).

Here is a breakdown of age at Youtopia 2015 and Burning Man 2014

There is lots of good discussion and data about age at Burning Man over at the Black Rock City Census.  The most surprising thing to me about their post was that the average age of people attending the big burn is getting older at roughly one year per year despite a third of burners being new every year.  The average age at the burn was 35 in 2012 – not so far from Youtopia’s current 33.

More fun facts!

The average age of people who had been to Youtopia before was 33 versus 31 for first timers.  The average age of a Youtopian who had been to the big burn before was 34 versus 30 for folks that haven’t been yet.

Surprisingly, the people who answered the question “With which political party are you affiliated?” with “yo mama” and “MY DIYUCK” were both in their early 20s.

The census was completed by roughly 10% of Youtopians, and included detailed questions.  On the other hand data from the ticketing system includes every single person, but only recorded birthday, zip code, and arrival time.

Here is the breakdown of age of every person who attended Youtopia 2015:

The median age is 35, slightly higher than the census estimate and exactly the same as Burning Man in 2012.

This is especially impressive, as Burning Man doesn’t have that many kids and young adults – they report just 1.4% of attendees are under 20.  Youtopia is more than double that, at 3.6%, and 106 people under 18.

I had expected that older folks were more likely to fill out the census form, since it was primarily a daytime activity and involved actual pens and paper.  As it turns out, people 22-28 were twice as likely to fill out the census as all other age groups. Yeah, I double checked.  People in their 20s evidently love forms.

Finally, children under ten sucked at filling out the census, with a zero percent response rate.  Pull it together kids!  There is no excuse for being illiterate!