Youth Flee Burning Man: "A Retirement Home in the Desert"

Discussion of recent data on Burning Man attendance trends, including a New York Post article and Black Rock City census figures showing a decline in younger participants and a rise in attendees in their forties and fifties. The conversation covers historical context from past events, personal experiences at the festival, and comparisons to other gatherings.

Additional analysis explores organizational challenges, succession planning, and broader cultural shifts affecting participation. The episode also touches on related events and movements that have evolved over time.

Episode Transcript

Malcolm Collins:Hello, Simone. I’m excited to be here with you today. You, as somebody who had gone to Burning Man in the past, we’re gonna be going over an article and some new statistics. and the article is titled, Burning Man has become a wrinkled sausage fest for aging millennial men data shows. And the data is extreme. This article is, by the way, from the New York Post, and we’ll be going through it, commenting on it, and bringing in additional data. Right. Burning Man, the nine day celebration of art, music, and anarchistic hijinks in the Nevada Desert has been steadily shrinking since its 2019 peak. But the share of people in their forties and fifties is on the rise, data shows. The number of free loving revelers flocking to the playa I love they put it in quotation marks like you got

Simone Collins:Oh, New York Post. Come on.

Malcolm Collins:Where each year a city is built on bare sand and razed after a week of drug fueled closing optional partying. No. One of the, posts I found, on Twitter, because I was looking at analysis on this, was a guy who had regularly gone to Burning Man who said the number of attractive naked women has dropped 95% over

Simone Collins:the years. 95. That’s a statistic for you. No. No.

Malcolm Collins:It dipped to about 70,000 last year after peaking at close to 80,000 according to last year’s census of Black Rock City, the ad hoc municipality that hosts the burn. But the oldies are proving that they have more stamina than the kids in 2014. Oh. Burners under 30 made up thirty percent of the playa. The number plunged by more than half to 14 in 2025.

Simone Collins:Oh my god. That’s actually quite That’s remarkable. Yeah. That’s

Malcolm Collins:Oh, and and that’s an old age. We’re not talking under, like, 20 or 25. Under 30. 30 is less than 14% now.

Simone Collins:That’s really different from how I remember it.

Malcolm Collins:When you went, you said it was would be the majority. Right?