The Burning Man Census for 2023 is now out, just as Burners are arriving on the playa for another late-August week of revelry in the Black Rock Desert. And many of the demographic trends seen in the 2022 census are continuing.

It should be noted that in what was, by all accounts, one of the most challenging and unpleasant years at Burning Man, in the very muddy August of 2023, a large portion of the people there were Burning Man virgins. According to the newly released Burning Man Census data from last year, the proportion of virgins to the playa jumped above 40% for the first time since 2013, to 44%. And this might do something to explain why overall ticket-sale numbers were down this year — a lot of those virgins were probably like "Hell no, I'm never doing that again."

You may recall that the annual burning of the man had to be delayed from Saturday to Monday due to rain and mud, and many Burners, and their vehicles, were stuck in the mud that whole last weekend, unable to leave until Monday or later.

In other demographic news, in 2023, Burning Man became majority female for the first time in its history — a marked change from a decade ago, when the festival was closer to 60% male.

Much as we noted last year, the trend in the Burner population is to be more queer, homo, or non-binary than in years past. A whopping 68.5% of Burners said they were straight/heterosexual back in 2013, but that percentage went down to 57.7% in 2023. The year prior, it was 60.0%.

17.4% of attendees called themselves bisexual or pansexual, and another 10.4% said they were bicurious or heteroflexible in 2023. And those identifying as gay or lesbian rose to 8.7% — up from 7.2% a decade earlier.

The festival also continues to be predominantly white, with small percentages of people of color attending in all categories.

And, no surprise here: Most Burners identify as Democrats, however the next largest percentage identifies as independent or politically unaffiliated. The proportion of those identifying as Democrats went up significantly since 2013, from 43% to nearly 65% in 2023, likely due to the horrors of the Donald Trump era. The percentage of those identifying as Republican was 4.1%, down from 6.7% a decade earlier.

Also similarly to last year, the percentage of Burners making high six-figure incomes continues to rise, while the percentage of middle-class Burners making $99K or less continues to fall. Burning Man is an expensive undertaking, and for those who only get a couple weeks of paid vacation a year, it may be becoming less of a priority.

The overall Burner population fell last year compared to 2022, and it may fall slightly again this year. This is following trends with music-festival attendance nationwide, which appears to be on the wane, but it also may reflect other issues including the economy.

As of last week, Burning Man tickets were not sold out, and it was the first time in 14 years that this had happened.

Burning Man organizers have conducted a census every year going back to 2002, however they have been using a similar methodology since 2013. This involves both a random sampling of questionnaires completed on the playa, and an online survey that's taken after the event. They say the result is an informed estimate of the demographics at each year's event, but not a precise accounting.

Previously: Burning Man Has Gotten Richer, Queerer, Slightly Less White

Photo: Kalaman