Collectors and Hobbyists
–the DEMOGRAPHICS:
Who spends what on their hobby? Do men or women spend more? How old are they when they do this spending? What hobbies? Find some of the answers here. And what I don't know, I make up.
A while ago I wrote on The Psychology of Collecting: It's kind of a mental thing –running the gamut from a mild quirk to a full blown mental illness. I stress that we all have this quirk to one degree or another. (My own quirk, fr'instance, runs to books, tools and empty barbque sauce bottles.) But what was interesting was the number of people who seemed to find my ruminations on the topic interesting and wrote back. With this in mind, I offer another take on the world of people who are truly committed to their hobby, but this time with numbers. Not particularly valid numbers, but interesting numbers none-the-less.
SLICE #1 --the Most Popular Hobbies:
This is from Yahoo's GROUPS.... I'm not sure what the noun would be .... 'portal' perhaps. It's a list of bulletin-boards started by various hobbyists. Other hobbyists then surf along and post stuff –opinions, questions & answers, pictures of stuff they have made / collected / found / whatever. Pretty neat actually. People helping people and all.
With any statistical abstraction, it's important to ask yourself what does it really say. Seems to me that the following is not so much a picture of how many folks are involved in a given hobby, but rather how many people are involved in a given hobby AND are internet savvy. My own interest in woodworking –for instance- comes in a little lower then I might have suspected, but are the good-old-boys (and girls) who are into making saw-dust also computer geeks? Some are certainly, but not as many as electronic hobbyists for example. Computers operate –as I understand them- with electricity to one degree or another. Notice the popularity of ham-radio as a hobby. Comes in higher then wood-working, and these people can talk to one another on their radios for-goodness-sake. Why would they be attracted to posting things on the internet? Beats me, but numbers don't lie. Except -of course- when they do.
I begin with what Yahoo calls simply "Groups". Here are the number of bulletin-boards for each of Yahoo's groups -smallest to largest:
Groups:
Katrina 448
Government & Politics 95376
Hobbies & Crafts 96986
Health & Wellness 139550
Games 152085 Science 158060
Religion & Beliefs 204690
Romance & Relationships 234660
Computers & Internet 251322
Recreation & Sports 252405
Regional 255427
Family & Home 277112
Music 281020
Business & Finance 293101
Cultures & Community 313565
Entertainment & Arts 462565
Schools & Education 767769
Notice that Hobbies and Crafts really is not that big a category. More important -or more interesting then Government by a few percent, but bupkis compared to things like Entertainment and the Arts or Education. Let's have a look at just how Hobbies and Crafts breaks out.
Hobbies and Crafts:
Home Repair and Remodeling 1084
Models 8610
Other 17826
Collecting 18853
Hobbies 25113
Crafts 26446
Beginning with the smallest category, Models, (Home Repair etc doesn't have sub-categories), we have the opportunity to draw some totally unsubstantiated -yet interesting- conclusions about men & women and their hobbies.
MODELS:
Science Fiction 171
Military 209
Boats and Yachts 253
Rockets 370
Scale Modeling 536
Radio-Controlled 545
Aircraft 767
Horses 769
Cars, Trucks, and Motorcycles 1345
WarHammer 1423
Trains and Railroads 2187
COLLECTABLES:
From Models, we move on to Collecting. ("Other" doesn't have sub-categories either.) The list of Collectables is way too big to put on a bar-graph, so I offer the above just to give you a feeling of the relative popularity of a few selected collectables. The entire list –with numbers- follows:
Thimbles 8
Spoons 10
Food 11
Pencil Sharpeners 11
Snowglobes 11
Tazos 11
Salt and Pepper Shakers 16
Matchbooks 18
Corkscrews 18
License Plates 20
Cans 22
Buttons 26
Lighters 24
Magnets 25
Jewelry 33
Medical 34
Housewares 35
Marbles 35
Ephemera 39
Telephones 39
Phonographs 52
Lawn Mowers 65
Arrowheads 70
Baskets 71
Christmas Ornaments 72
Engines 79
Bottles 94
Pins 96
Fans 98
Radios 106
Stickers 115
Appliances 121
Glassware 121
Knives and Swords 135
Cameras 147
China and Pottery 155
Breweriana 209
Candles 224
Furniture 230
Militaria 266
Writing Instruments 271
Beanie Babies 271
Miniatures and Figurines 292
Autographs 395
Rocks, Gems, and Minerals 415
Patches 517
Tractors 525
Music 579
Animals 590
Cards 646
Coins and Currency 739
Stamps 914
Antiques 981
Computers 1459
Collectibles 1494
Timepieces 2629
From collecting as a hobby, we move on to hobbies as a hobby(!!??!). One would suspect that collecting ought to be listed as a hobby, but t'aint so. To some degree, if only semantically, collecting is a hobby, but if you scroll up and compare the number of groups dedicated to collecting to those dedicated to hobbies, you find about 19 to 25 thousand. We might just say that collecting is so ubiquitous a hobby as to be something besides a hobby and have done-with-it. None-the-less, here are the numbers for HOBBIES:
HOBBIES:
Knotting 41(not a typo -tying knots)
Taxidermy 66
Dumpster Diving 94
Pyrotechnics 98
Duct Tape 112
Handwriting Analysis 127
Potato Guns 139
Bell Ringing 146
Puppetry 147
Juggling 204
Kites 204
Cocktails 219
Spying 272
Treasure Hunting 298
Rockets 370
Rocks, Gems, and Minerals 415
Pottery 458
Fighting 513
Smoking and Tobacco 586
Secondhand Shopping 610
Aquariums 646
Beer 944
Wine 991
Electronics 1126
Snail-Mail Pen Pals 2125
Amateur and Ham Radio 6341
Finally, we come to what Yahoo simply calls "Crafts":
CRAFTS:
Macrame 38
Gourd Art 56
Rock Painting 56
Lacemaking 59
Rug Hooking 61
Leatherworking 67
Blacksmithing 82
Egg Art 94
Basketry 98
Origami 138
Needlecrafts 223
Furniture Design 233
Polymer Clay 242
Candle making 325
Handcrafted Dolls 350
Mail Art 359
Spinning and Weaving 404
Ceramics 458
Woodworking 548
Jewelry Making 624
Soapmaking 656
Beading 761
Crocheting 1038
Sewing 1419
Quilting 2006
Rubber Stamping 2285
Knitting 2532
Scrapbooks 5574
SLICE #2 -How Much People Spend on their Hobbies:
This (these?) data come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is, by the way, a rare good use of our tax dollars and I'd urge you to check them out if you enjoy numbers, statistics, trends and what-not. I wasn't able to slice the data quite as fine as I'd like for 'hobbyists' but rather used the category of 'entertainment.' Here is what I found:
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment for the years of...
2003: 5.0%
2004: 5.0%
2005 5.1%
2005 is the most recent year for which I was able to find data. I'm guessing these numbers tell us more about the economy and people's willingness to indulge themselves. Up just a tad in '05
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment for ranked annual income quintile:
Overall: 5.1%
Lowest 20%: 5.1%
2nd 20%: 4.7%
Middle : 7.2%
4th 20% 8.4%
Highest: 7.8%
I'd have expected these number to go up more then they did. Appears that the richest people are actually less entertaining then the next to richest. Might have something to do with keeping up with the Joneses.
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by age:
Under 25: 5.0%
Age 25 - 34: 5.5%
35 - 44: 4.8%
45 - 54: 4.4%
55 - 64: 6.0%
65 & over: 7.3%
Looks like the best time to have fun is after you retire. Not a surprise, but nice to see it quantified.
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by members of household:
Single person: 4.8%
2 people: 5.2%
3 people: 5.3%
4 people: 4.7%
5 or more: 4.9%
These next tables need a little explanation. The Department of Labor and it's sub department, the Bureau of Labor Statistics deals with the modern "mixed / blended / extended / whatever" family by using what they call a "unit." A unit is 2.5 persons, 0.6 children under 18, 0.3 people over 65, 1.3 earners, and 2 vehicles. Don' ask me why, but it seems as good a solution as any. In any event, I don't know what to make of the numbers above. Considering the table below, it appears that newlyweds have a lot of fun, not so much after baby-makes-three, but when the little dear has grown up a tad, fun ensues again -or the little dear needs lots of expensive toys & crap to keep himself out'a trouble.
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by family make-up:
Hubby & wife only: 5.4%
Hubby & wife and oldest kid under 6: 4.6%
Same with kid between 6 & 17: 6.0%
Oldest kid over 18: 4.4%
"Other husband & wife" (?): 4.3%
One parent & one or more kid: 5.1%
Single Person: 4.7%
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by unit & employment:
Single -unemployed: 4.0%
Single -employed: 5.2%
Unit -no earner: 5.0%
Unit -one earner: 5.0%
Unit - 2 earners: 5.3%
Unit -3 earners: 4.7%
Not at all sure what to make of the previous. Unemployment doesn't seem to have much effect on how much we spend on having fun, A little, but not so much.
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by housing:
Home-owner w/ mortgage: 5.0%
Home-owner w/out mortgage: 9.3%
Renter: 4.2%
Urban: 45.2%
Suburban: 5.4%
Rural: 7.0%
Now this is interesting. Evidently a mortgage is a particularly onerous thing. Or does it tell us more about retired folks? The 4.2% for the poor renter surprises me a little. And look how much fun the rural folks are having. Is this because this is where all the retired people live, or is it too boring otherwise in the country?
Expenditures on entertainment by education, (in $1,000's):
| HS drop-out | HS Diploma | HS & some college | Associates degree | Bachellor's degree | Master's & beyond | |
| Total Expenditures (in $1000's) | $27.4 | $38.1 | $43.9 | $49.7 | $61.4 | $72.8 |
| Entertainment Spendinmg: | $1.2 | $1.9 | $2.4 | $2.7 | $3.2 | $3.8 |
| % of income spenton entertainment: | 4.4% | 4.9% | 5.5% | 5.2% | 5.2% | 5.2% |
I decided to include the absolute numbers in this one. I have to -I'm a teacher and therefore a big fan of staying in school.
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by race:
White: 5.4%
Hispanic: 3.7%
Afro-American: 3.7%
Asian: 3.4%
I was thinking about not including the race stuff because I find it all a little overdone and distasteful. But then I had a closer look at the numbers. Here's the kicker -the Asian income is the highest in the bunch, yet their entertainment expenditures are the lowest. Are they are too busy learning and earning to be bothered with fun & games?
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by region:
Northeast: 4.8%
Midwest: 5.3%
South: 4.9%
West: 5.6%
No surprises here -we have more fun out west then the rest of the country. Apparently by a goodly amount too!
Portion of expenditures spent on entertainment by job type:
Managers & professionals: 5.2%
Technical, sales, and clerical: 5.2%
Service workers 4.3%
Construction Workers: 5.3%
Operators, fabricators, & Laborers 5.1%
Retired 4.2%
Now this surprises me. I thought we had seen from above that retired folks spent more of their money on entertainment then us working stiffs. But this slice puts them down there below the poor service workers. Don't know what to make of this. I double checked and all, so I have to conclude there is something about their definitions or methods that I don't understand. Such is part of the fun of statistics.
SLICE #3 -Some Random Facts / Fact-lets:
According to Craft and Hobby Association, sewing is the largest hobby in America with related purchases of about $2 billion and and wood-working is second with sales of $1 billion.
Also, The U.S. craft and hobby industry was tracked in 2006 at $30.2 billion for annual retail sales. 57 percent of US households participated in crafts that year and the annual spending per crafting household averaged $476.
Sales to scrap-booking fans ran $2.55 billion in 2004. Scrap-Booking In America sez.... "Scrap-bookers are most likely to be females between the ages of 30 and 50. Eighty-two percent have a college education and nearly 50 percent are employed full time. 24.5% of US homes did some scrap-booking in 2004."
....and....
"The average value of scrapbook-related tools and supplies owned by scrapbook enthusiasts has increased by 80 percent to $1,853."
The combined sales for Hobby Lobby and Michaels, by the way, is about 5 1/2 billion dollars. You do a little math and this works out to $18 for every man, woman, and child in America. Do a little more math, (& make an assumption of who spends money in such places), and you find that every woman in America spends -on average- $54 in just these two stores. And I can hear it now -some woman somewhere is making the snotty comment about men, boys, toys and Home Depot. Admittedly, the per-capita sales for Home Depot, and Lowes -and just these two businesses- is $457. Now I don't know about the store in your neighborhood, the ones I go to have bigger and bigger aisles selling fru-fru appliances and the aisles selling tools, RPM, horse power, and such-like men's 'toys' are getting smaller and smaller. I suppose it'sjust a matter of time before lumber is gone to make room for a line of clothing. Norm Abrams and Al Borland each having thier own lines of flannel shirts perhaps?
Lest all of this seem unrelentingly silly, consider the history of crafts and hobbies -or as much of it as I'm old enough to remember. Remember giant resin grapes / balls in the early 60's? Stained glass in the late 60's candle-making in the early 70's, (according to one source, candle making peaked in the late 90's at just under $2 bullion in annual related sales). Macramé was in the late 70's, but in the early 80's we were all too busy with blow-driers and disco-dancing as I recall. Then along came computers and a hot economy and we were all entirely too busy to do hobbies till this scrap-booking thing came along.
I'd love to hear from you about what you might remember as the trendy hobbies from the past. E-mail me at wharvey904@hotmail.com