2016 Full-Timers Survey

We spent most of January boondocking with a few other full-timers. People from different walks of life, but all sharing the same desire to live on the road and explore America.

We also witnessed a few interesting events last month: from people stressed about repairing their RV’s, to couples worried about their debt, to other couples with seemingly no financial troubles whatsoever. Despite similar lifestyles, everyone was in a different spot financially. I began to wonder what other full-timers spent each month. We’re a family of 5 with 3 kids under 7. When the kids were little, we spent about $500/month on groceries. But this past month, we spent $850. Is that a lot? I don’t know. (I just peeked in my fridge and I wouldn’t describe its contents as “extravagent”)

And since talking about finances is “taboo”, I created an annonymous survey for full-timers. We had 51 respondents to the survey.

My favorite take-aways:

• Most rigs are new purchases and most people spent $75k or more
• Families and couples spend about the same eating out
• Families spend 75% more than couples on groceries
• Families spend 128% more than couples on “Fun and Entertainment”
• Families spend 43% more than couples on campgrounds
• 30% of respondents were debt free
• 35% spent at least $1,000/month on debt

If you want to analyze the raw data yourself, here’s a CSV with all the responses.

There you have it. Just remember: this is not scientific, and it certainly doesn’t cover the 1,000,000+ people that claim an RV as their full-time residence. But I hope this information helps give you a small sense of how a few other full-timers spend their money.