The median US motorcycle owner is now over 50

The median age of a motorcycle owner in the United States has crossed 50. In 1990 it was 32.

That single comparison is the clearest description available of what has happened to motorcycling over three decades, and the cohort figures underneath it are starker than the median suggests. Ownership among under-18s fell from 8% to 2% across that window. The 18-to-24 group fell from 16% to 6%.

Two groups are moving the other way. Women are the fastest-growing ownership group, reported at 19% of owners overall and 26% among Millennial owners. Female riders skew younger, with a median age of 39, are more likely to have taken formal training, and — relevant to a site about parts — are reported to spend more annually on maintenance and accessories, at around $574 a year. Hispanic, Black and Asian American riding communities are also growing, and skew younger than the traditional base.

For anyone modifying a bike, the demographic shift has a practical edge. An older, wealthier median owner has historically pulled the aftermarket toward touring and cruiser accessories. A younger entering cohort buying smaller sport and adventure machines pulls it somewhere else — which lines up with what the 2025 sales figures showed, where every growing segment was at the small end.

A note on the provenance of these numbers, because it matters. The underlying source is the Motorcycle Industry Council's Owner Survey, which has tracked US rider demographics for decades and is not published openly. The figures here come from industry and trade coverage reporting on it, not from reading the survey itself, and they should be treated as directionally reliable rather than precise. Where different outlets report slightly different values, that is why.

Sources: Motorcycle demographics and market shift, Riders Share — https://www.riders-share.com/blog/article/motorcycle-rider-demographics-market-shift-2026 The ageing rider and market strategy, CSM Research — https://www.csm-research.com/the-aging-rider-crisis-how-demographic-shifts-are-reshaping-motorcycle-market-strategies/