2023 Annual Survey Results
Q1: Which of the following best describes your current occupation?
USPA members are diverse in the workforce. 10% of our members work in the sport of skydiving! Careers in
military (6%), health and medicine (6%), and engineering (7%) are especially prominent, with self-employed
members at 6%. Retirees account for 13% of the membership (up from 11% in 2022).
Retired, 13%
Skydiving, 10%
Engineering, 7%
Military, 6%
Health and
Medicine, 6%
Self-Employed, 6%
Construction, 5%
Business
and
Finance,
5%
Information
Technology,
5%
Aviation, 4%
Management, 3%
Sales, 3%
Education, 3%
Government, 3%
Q2: What is the highest level of education you have completed?
The USPA Member is educated. 57% have a Bachelor or Graduate degree.
Less than high school
degree…
High school degree
or equivalent
11%
Some
college but
no degree
19%
Associate degree
9%
Bachelor Degree
31%
Graduate Degree
26%
Trade School
2%
Q3: In 2023, what other activities (besides skydiving) did you participate in? (Select all that
apply)
USPA members are exceptionally active across various other sports. This chart shows that skydivers are likely
to also participate in hiking, indoor skydiving and camping. Other popular activities include running, cycling,
cross-fit/weightlifting and swimming.
50%
40%
39%
30%
28%
28%
27%
26%
24%
21%
21%
20%
19%
18%
18%
17%
16%
16%
15%
Q4: This year I
In 2023 USPA Members were active in the sport of skydiving! 32% attended a boogie, 29% bought new gear,
and 23% of members earned a new license. Only 17% attended a canopy course.
Q5: In 2024 I plan to purchase (check all that apply)
USPA members plan purchases in 2024 with 29% purchasing a main and/or reserve and 18% planning to
purchase a harness or container system.
Main and/or a
reserve parachute,
29%
Harness/cont
ainer system,
18%
Jumpsuit,
18%
AAD, 14%
Helmet, 14%
Altimeter, 13%
Wingsuit, 7%
GoPro/Helmet
Camera, 16%
I do not plan to make
skydiving gear
purchases in 2024, …
Q6: How many skydives do you have? Please include all instructional jumps (whole numbers
only)
USPA Member Average # of
Skydives: 2,008
USPA Member Median # of
Skydives: 550
Q7: In 2023, how many skydives did you make? Please include all instructional jumps (whole
numbers only)
USPA Members made slightly fewer jumps in the U.S. in 2023 than in 2022 with an estimated 3,650,000
skydives made.
This data is found by taking total number of jumps reported in the survey, multiplied by average number of members for the
year, then subtracting 25% to exclude jumps made by foreign members.
3,500,000
3,200,000
3,200,000
3,300,000
3,300,000
2,800,000
3,570,000
3,873,455
3,650,000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Q8: In which disciplines do you participate? (Check all that apply)
Members were asked to select ALL disciplines in which they most often participate. Unsurprisingly, almost half
of our members participate in Formation Skydiving (43%). The next most popular was Freeflying (38%),
Tracking (32%), Working Jumps (25%), and Angle Flying (20%).
2%
5%
5%
6%
6%
7%
9%
10%
13%
18%
19%
20%
25%
32%
38%
43%
Speed Skydiving
Currently a Student
Freestyle
Competition Training
Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS)
Classic Accuracy
Canopy Formation/Relative Work (CF/CRW)
Wingsuit Flying
None of the above
Big-Way Formation Skydiving
Canopy Piloting (CP)
Angle Flying
Working (AFF, tandem, coach, videography, etc.)
Tracking
Freeflying
Formation Skydiving (FS)
Q9: In 2023, how many malfunctions did you experience that required the use of a reserve?
(whole numbers only)
An estimated 12% of USPA Members reported using their reserve parachute in 2023. Some jumpers reported
more than one, bring the estimated total reserve rides in 2023 at 4,913.
This data is found by taking total the percentage of members who reported 1+ reserve rides on the survey, multiplied by
average number of members for the year.
12% 12% 12%
11%
13%
10%
12%
13%
12%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Q10: In 2023, how many skydiving injuries did you have requiring treatment at a medical
care facility? (whole numbers only)
6% of member reported that they experienced an injury that required medical treatment in 2023.
This data is found by taking total the percentage of members who reported 1+ injury on our survey, multiplied by average
number of members for the year.
6% 6% 6%
7%
5%
6%
7%
6%
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Q11: If you experienced an injury in 2023, did you take the opportunity to submit an incident
report so that others could learn from it? (Check all that apply)
12.5% of people who reported having an injury filed an incident report.
1%
7%
91%
1%
I experienced an injury and did fill out an incident
report
I experienced an injury and did not fill out an incident
report
I did not experience an injury in 2023
I filled out an incident report for someone else's injury
Q12: In 2023, did you participate in a USPA Safety Day event?
38% of USPA members attended a Safety Day event and only 14% of members reported being unaware of a
Safety Day event near them. 48% of members did not participate in a Safety Day event.
38%
48%
14%
Yes No I wasn't aware of one happening
near me
Q13: In your opinion, is the Parachutist Starter Magazine a valuable resource for new
skydivers?
95% of surveyed members familiar with Parachutist Starter Mag consider it to be a valuable resource for new
skydivers!
Q14: In your opinion, do you think USPAs webinars are a valuable resource for members?
(Canopy Safety with Greg Windmiller, Canopy Piloting Workshop with Kaz Sheeky, Ask a
Rigger with Shauna Finley, Canopy Piloting in Competition with Jeannie Bartholomew,
Getting Into Artistic Freefly and Freestyle with Jason Brigmon and Jake Carlton, 4-Way
Formation Skydiving with Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, Getting Ready for Your Instructional
Rating with Michael Wadkins and Sherry Butcher)
60% of members find USPA webinars valuable and we hope that the 38% who reported not knowing about
them will now attend one in 2024. USPA is also starting a webinar awareness campaign across all channels.
.
Yes, I think the
webinars are
valuable to
members, 60%
No, I do not think the
webinars are valuable to
members, 2%
I did not know about
any of the webinars,
38%
Q15: What topics would you like to see represented in USPAs 2024 webinar schedule?
While the comprehensive list gives us plenty of ideas for topics in 2024, the word cloud is a clear representation
of what our members would like to see: Canopy Safety.
Q16: Is there anything else you would like to share with USPA?
With almost 1,500 responses to our open-ended question, the consensus—as usual—is extremely positive!
Questions about age and gender are not included in the survey since we can grab it from our
own system:
USPA Member Age Distribution 2023
Male,
85%
Female,
14%
Non
Binary,
1%
USPA Gender Distribution 2023