Inside America’s obsession with RVs

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In 1960, John Steinbeck set out across America in a custom-built recreational vehicle (RV) with just his poodle for company. Steinbeck’s mission was to learn more about the country he’d already spent decades writing about — and his biggest discovery may have been the most obvious. A lot of people want to pack up and go in an RV, poodle or no. “Nearly every American hungers to move,” the Nobel Prize winner concluded.

RVs are popular because they allow for just this sort of movement. But we’re mistaken if we assume the urge is solely American. In fact, RVs of various types — true motorhomes, fifth wheels, pop-up campers, and toy haulers, to name just a few — are popular around the world. Smaller, sleeker models are traversing British and European roads, a more niche scene is crisscrossing Russia, and the Chinese market is among the world’s fastest-growing. It makes sense that the capital of RVing would be a moving target, with the data suggesting Australia has the highest rate of RVs per capita, and New Zealand a close second in the rearview. For more on RVs, pull in and park your camper below.

2: Europe’s rank in the global RV market (after No. 1 U.S.), with Germany the biggest single-country consumer within Europe.

20 to 40: Length of the average U.S. RV, measured in feet. Size varies hugely because there are so many types. The towable Jayco Jay Flight is among the most popular, and comes in within this range.

30: Average number of days each year that U.S. RV owners spend in their RVs.

48.42: Percentage of the total global RV market that the U.S. represents — in part because of the sheer size of the U.S. population — as of 2025. But other countries have greater concentrations of RV ownership.

49: Average age of an RV owner in the U.S. In recent years, ownership has become younger and more diverse, helped along by YouTube and TikTok accounts detailing #rvlife.

The idea of a home on wheels has been around a long time. Modern-day RVs have their ancestors in covered wagons of the old west as well as Romany “vardo” caravans. Later, camping took off as a pastime. Once automobiles became common in the early 1900s, hobbyists began improvising their own RVs, starting with ready-made cars, trucks, and vans, and adding their own custom builds.

Unsurprisingly, the frustrations of straight camping played a role. In 1928, a Detroit bacteriologist named Arthur Sherman spent an hour failing to erect his family’s tent trailer in the rain. He got soaked and inspired at the same time, deciding to build a solid-body trailer so as to never fold a pole again. Sherman unveiled his creation (he dubbed it the “Covered Wagon”) at the 1930 Detroit Auto Show and sold 118 units on the spot, at $400 a pop. By 1936, Sherman’s company was moving 6,000 units a year. Within five years, the wider industry was moving 20,000.

Today’s $50-billion-a-year industry runs on the same idea — roughing it, just not too much — with more than eight million U.S. households owning some kind of RV. Thor Industries, a descendant of Detroit’s long-ago tinkering scene, has grown into the industry’s dominant manufacturer, but the secondary market is even bigger. This past spring, new RV sales fell almost 17% even as used sales climbed. If Steinbeck were alive today, he might conclude that hard-pressed shoppers still long to move, but want to mitigate the depreciation hit of new RVs. Less poetic, more accurate.

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation ― a burning desire to go, to move, to get underway, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every state I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.” ―John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley: In Search of America

1904: The first known RV is hand-built onto a car chassis, complete with bunks, icebox and radio. Glamping before its time!

1930: Arthur Sherman debuts his "Covered Wagon" trailer at the Detroit Auto Show, selling 118 units on the first day and launching the industry as we know it.

1966: The first Winnebago rolls off the line, its price intended to undercut costlier competitors. Nowadays, the brand name functions as shorthand for the whole category.

2020: The COVID-19 pandemic sends RV sales to record highs, as Americans look for a way to keep moving. It’s a boom the industry has been chasing and failing to repeat ever since.

2021: RV influencers begin taking off on TikTok, capitalizing on the COVID travel trend and the overall growth of the platform. Some accounts now boast more than a million followers, showing the RV dream is alive, well, and photogenic.

In 2024, a luxury RV maker unveiled a top-of-the-line model running nearly $3,000,000 — described as a “penthouse on wheels,” and priced like it, too. How does this compare to average pricing? In the U.S., RVs typically range from $20,000 to $100,000 for towables and $50,000 to $600,000 for true motorhomes.

On TikTok, you’ll find numerous influencers living in RVs, including this 22-year-old who’ll let you watch her clean her luxury model .

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