The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association recently released a study of sports participation, which included the sport of paintball. Below is information derived from that survey. American Sports Data, Inc., conducted this study in January 1999. The study sought information regarding 102 sport and fitness activities.  Those sampled were age 6 and over. The total usable returned questionnaires were 15,989, which were then balanced to reflect the latest US Census parameters (US population equaling 243,479,000), making each response representing 14,419 Americans.

Players that played at least once in 1998:  5,923,000
Players that played at least 15 times in 1998:  793,000
Players that played at least once in 1989:  less than 1,000,000

Gender:
Male = 74.4%
Female = 25.6%

Average age:
19

Age breakdown:
6-11 = 4.8%
12-17 = 52.3%
18-24 = 28.2%
25-34 = 10.8%
35-44 = 1.0%
45-54 = 3.2%

Race:
White = 68.1%
Black = 12.1%
Hispanic = 19.8%
(There was no category for Asian)

Geography: South = 46.5%
North Central = 25.8%
West = 15.5%
Northeast = 12.2%

Geography by population: +2,000,000 = 39.2%
500,000-1.999.999 = 12.1%
100,000-499,999 = 11.8%

Education level of players: College graduates = 10.0%
1-3 years of college = 7.6%
High school or less = 17.3

This page last modified February 11, 2007