The Number Of Americans Who Own A Grill Might Surprise You

In 2019, the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association released the results of a survey that found seven out of 10 American adults own a grill while Canadian grill owners include eight out of 10 people. 

Somewhat more interestingly, the number of people who owned grills during the previous census doubled that of those who actually used them. In the "Adult Participation in Selected Leisure Activities by Frequency," which can be found under Section 26 of the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Census until 2012, 79 million or 34.7% of respondents stated that they used their grill in the 12 months previous. Only 5.5% used the grill twice or more in one week while those who grilled once a week was 5.7%. Those who grilled a couple of times a month was 8.7%, and those who grilled once a month was 4.7%.

While the fact there are more owners than users should not surprise, the size of the gap might. 

Of course, a decade has allowed for even more people to buy grills, but for the grill-making industry, these numbers simply are not high enough. In 2018, a study done by The Freedonia Group predicted that by 2021, the demand for grills will grow to $2.6 billion annually, marking a 2.4% expansion each year.

In the press release announcing this study's publication, Matt Breuer, an analyst, explains where the growth was expected to occur in such a saturated market: "Multiple grill ownership continues to expand the market's potential somewhat, but 79% of US adults still only own one grill, and only so many households will ever want more than one grill." Similarly, the fact grills tend to be durable products limits the maximum number owned.

Why one would want more than one grill is not touched upon. One can only presume that it is to inflate the number of Americans who own grills to the truly surprising number of half the number of grills owned. Even then most would likely remain unused.