Good stats on working from RV?

[TherapyBound]

Does anyone know (or know where I can find) the number of people who worked from an RV in 2018? I'm guessing it's fairly significant, but I can't seem to find reliable stats.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Try Workampersnews.com

[Carlos]

How would it be counted?  And what does "work from RV" mean exactly?  Full timers?  If we work a few days a month from the RV does that count?  It seems like an impossible stat to gather reliably.

 

[TherapyBound]

People whose job/career is performed while on the road rather than while living in a sticks and bricks. Those who live in an RV and work remotely during whatever time frame their job/career is performed. If that means a few months, that's fine. If it means forever, that's fine too. 

The job/career could be Workcamping or seasonal harvesting, it could be an individual-owned (or couple-owned) small business, or it could be a person or persons whose company allows them to work remotely, and as such, they live in an RV and perform their work while traveling.

[Carlos]

Our plan is to do a few days or a week a month.  I don't know how anyone would count that, however.  When we had a boat in a marina, we'd consistently do about a week a month on board when the weather was good.  Again, I don't know how anyone quantifies that.

[TherapyBound]

I'm not sure that's what I'm looking for. Many people  who go on vacation "work remotely" during their vacation, but that's not what I'm referring to.

If you LIVE IN an RV and work WHILE TRAVELING (rather than living in an RV that's parked in a campground or other location year-round), that counts. If you LIVE IN an RV for a period of time SO THAT you can perform your work, that counts.

Working from an RV while on vacation doesn't count. 

[Carlos]

Well that's just it; what's "vacation?"  We own a business and we work when we want to, from anywhere in the world.  We plan to run this business while traveling.  We simply don't have "vacation" versus "life" separation at all.  We're not the only ones, and the Xscapers have groups of people just like us.  That's why I think it's hard to find that number.  Although I'd be very interested in knowing also, and don't mean to rain on the parade.

 

[TherapyBound]

Is the RV an essential part of the business in that you do not perform the job anywhere EXCEPT during the time you're living in the RV? That's what counts.

For example, seasonal harvesters LIVE in the RV while harvesting. They do not harvest during the time they live in their sticks and bricks. Same for Workcampers. Same for small business owners who live in an RV full time. That's what I mean. 

[Carlos]

Ahhhhh, gotcha.  No, our business is tech, where we do it can be anywhere.  But this is where I misunderstood you, which makes it sound like it applies to us also:

 

Quote

 or it could be a person or persons whose company allows them to work remotely, and as such, they live in an RV and perform their work while traveling.

 

[Kirk W]

6 hours ago, Bigthinkers said:

If you LIVE IN an RV and work WHILE TRAVELING (rather than living in an RV that's parked in a campground or other location year-round), that counts. If you LIVE IN an RV for a period of time SO THAT you can perform your work, that counts.

I am pretty sure that you will not find any statistics that have documentation to support them on what you are asking. I do know that the numbers are increasing as are the numbers of families and working people who have an RV as their only home is increasing as we see more of that each year at Escapade. If you follow the X-scapers on Facebook you will also see ample evidence of it, but who would keep such data or even know about it? Our son telecommutes to his job as a software designer, and he does work remotely when traveling some of the time, but he is not an RV owner. This is an example of the difficulty you would have in collecting such data. The construction industry has long had numerous people who live in an RV and move from job to job as one project ends and another begins. We have had people on these forums who support themselves completely by working in campgrounds and other seasonal positions, allowing them to follow the weather. I also know an Escapee who works as a seasonal park ranger in Yellowstone in the summer and in Everglades in winter with a month or so in between to travel north and back south again. But not all seasonal park employees live in RVs. Your question is a very good one, but I have no idea where you would ever find data on it that was more than speculation. 

[Carlos]

Another datapoint is the people who live in an RV for work, but they don't own it.  Companies provide them on site.  They stay there until the job is done.  The workers leave, the company moves the RVs to the next place, and hires people again.

 

[TherapyBound]

It's a curiosity. We've been able to track down a lot of stats through various RV associations, but not that stat (actually, it could be a set of stats, from which a person could make a rough guess on the overall stat they're looking for). With just over 1 million full-timers in the US, and just over 500,000 rigs sold in 2018, you'd think that would be an interesting set of data to collect. I do think it could be done, and I suspect at some point some organization will put the time into doing so. But, apparently, not today! 😄

Thanks for the comments! It was a long shot, but I thought I'd take it anyway.  

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, Bigthinkers said:

With just over 1 million full-timers in the US,

May I ask where you got that number? I have been trying to find some documentation on the number of fulltimers and find even less now than was the case in years past. If you have one, could you share a link to the source of this data?  Back in November, the Washington Post published an article stating that but they list no source of the information. 

[TherapyBound]

8 hours ago, rm.w/aview said:

Touching on the construction segment presented, when I began booming in the 70's many chased the work with their RV while others would use motels, knowing what job(s) would be following the current one by planning ahead. Some had sticks & bricks that they would see occasionally while others had a PMB, and at face value it seems that there was only two categories that one could be counted in, employed or unemployed. It seems that a survey would be necessary, assuming everyone responds, to obtain a useable statistic of working from an RV.

Yes, I agree. It's a movable feast, if you'll pardon the pun. It's an interesting number, but it would take some doing to get it. Neither of the associations we've been in contact with have any such stats. A real curiosity, but probably ONLY a curiosity, since the number must fluctuate rather dramatically according to too many factors to make any "head count" overly reliable. 

[TherapyBound]

50 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

May I ask where you got that number? I have been trying to find some documentation on the number of fulltimers and find even less now than was the case in years past. If you have one, could you share a link to the source of this data?  Back in November, the Washington Post published an article stating that but they list no source of the information. 

Let me find out if it's okay to attribute the quote to them. If it is, I'll happily share the source (editing to add, it won't be a link; it was through phone contact).  That number is for 2018.