What?? You've Got to Be Kidding Me with These Membership Numbers!

[InquisitiveScouter]

Just got this annual report in my inbox.

This cannot be...

Are you telling me, for the entire five boroughs of NYC, this council has only 8, 843 youth enrolled?  https://p6fb9goab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp

Yikes!

I double checked on the Council Dashboard in my. Scouting, and it is true...

So I ran some more numbers....  not quite perfect comparisons, but paints the picture.  Pulled data from  https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/brooklyn-ny-population-by-age/

Youth 5-19 in Queens:  375,462

Bronx:  289,810

Brooklyn: 469,947

Manhattan: 193,875

Staten Island:  91,517

Total youth 5-19 in the five:  1,420,611  (note that BSA uses 5 - 20 years old)

Market percentage = 8843 / 1,420,611 = 0.6225%

Our council has more than half that number, and we are a mostly rural geographic area.

Total youth population in combined counties in our council: 108,030

Total youth registered in our council: approx 4700 (exact number changed to protect the innocent)

Market percentage = 4700 / 108030 = 4.3506 %

So, if the analysis is close to correct, our council is doing about 7 times better in market share than Greater New York Councils?

Again... YIKES!

Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Edited Thursday at 12:21 AM by InquisitiveScouter

[Tron]

Yeah this is pretty much the same for every metro area. I am in a major metro and we're roughly 1/3rd the membership size that we were 5 years ago. If NYC is anything like what is going on in my area it's the money hustle for FOS that is now an 8-10 month part of the annual calendar, it's detracting from recruiting and retention. This months roundtable was a discussion about how we're not having a roundtable next month, instead we're having a "fundraising mixer". Next month will be the first roundtable I've skipped in 4 years; we're not even done with the main fall recruitment push and the paid scouters have already moved right back into FOS money hustle. 

[fred8033]

Sad, but not surprising.  Scouting is best when it involves "outings".  It's expensive and very time consuming to the country from the ultra urban NY areas.  I enjoy the stories of a parent scouter who told me incredible scouting stories from the 1980s where his patrol (on their own) took the subway to rail stations to get out the countryside for activities.  ... I really can't see that happening now.  Once they were stopped on the side of the road by the police as they walked to their target park.

[Jameson76]

I do wonder what the "Actual" BSA National Numbers are at this point.  Nobody really knows.  Nobody knows where to get the information.  Most people have stopped asking.  Main success is judged by funds raised.  Most of our council staff is focused on getting cash, to support all the staff that is raising cash.

In our district we have and continue to lose troops and packs, but not sure there is any effort to save any of them or figure a way to stem the tide.  We have not witnessed an actual DE or other council staff in the wild in forever.  It's not that we have a bad relationship, that would infer our units actually knew who they were, we literally have no relationship.  There are maybe 20 units in the district (though I think less) and one would assume they may come by annually to see what's up.  

In the end BSA (sorry SA) will likely not end with a bang, it will just not be around the professionals that were supposed to be the managers and provide vision will go raise money elsewhere.

[yknot]

4 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

I do wonder what the "Actual" BSA National Numbers are at this point.  Nobody really knows.  Nobody knows where to get the information.  Most people have stopped asking.  Main success is judged by funds raised.  Most of our council staff is focused on getting cash, to support all the staff that is raising cash.

In our district we have and continue to lose troops and packs, but not sure there is any effort to save any of them or figure a way to stem the tide.  We have not witnessed an actual DE or other council staff in the wild in forever.  It's not that we have a bad relationship, that would infer our units actually knew who they were, we literally have no relationship.  There are maybe 20 units in the district (though I think less) and one would assume they may come by annually to see what's up.  

In the end BSA (sorry SA) will likely not end with a bang, it will just not be around the professionals that were supposed to be the managers and provide vision will go raise money elsewhere.

I don't know exact national membership numbers but the latest I saw from earlier in the fall was around 915,000 and that was down about 90,000 from the same point the year before. There are some district positions that can access the membership totals on an ongoing basis and would know what the current number right now is. There used to be someone on here who would post them but I haven't seen him/her in awhile. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

37 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

I do wonder what the "Actual" BSA National Numbers are at this point.  Nobody really knows.  Nobody knows where to get the information.  Most people have stopped asking.  Main success is judged by funds raised.  Most of our council staff is focused on getting cash, to support all the staff that is raising cash.

In our district we have and continue to lose troops and packs, but not sure there is any effort to save any of them or figure a way to stem the tide.  We have not witnessed an actual DE or other council staff in the wild in forever.  It's not that we have a bad relationship, that would infer our units actually knew who they were, we literally have no relationship.  There are maybe 20 units in the district (though I think less) and one would assume they may come by annually to see what's up.  

In the end BSA (sorry SA) will likely not end with a bang, it will just not be around the professionals that were supposed to be the managers and provide vision will go raise money elsewhere.

 

16 minutes ago, yknot said:

I don't know exact national membership numbers but the latest I saw from earlier in the fall was around 915,000 and that was down about 90,000 from the same point the year before. There are some district positions that can access the membership totals on an ongoing basis and would know what the current number right now is. There used to be someone on here who would post them but I haven't seen him/her in awhile. 

Here is what I can see...

Post here if you want your specific council numbers, or I can see by state, also.  Also, if you want to know by program, sing out...

As of today, National level, all programs including Learning for Life, total youth registered is 877, 225.  Same month last year number was 986,520.

So, overall, drop is 109,295 Scouts, or 11.08% loss, from Dec 2024 to Dec 2025  I'll check these numbers again after 31 Dec, when many current registrations expire, and again after mid-March, when the 60 day grace period expires.

We are losing about 10% in our Troop, due to those turning 18.  Hope to gain those back during crossover season.

Please remind me

[Jameson76]

2 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

 

Here is what I can see...

Post here if you want your specific council numbers, or I can see by state, also.  Also, if you want to know by program, sing out...

As of today, National level, all programs including Learning for Life, total youth registered is 877, 225.  Same month last year number was 986,520.

So, overall, drop is 109,295 Scouts, or 11.08% loss, from Dec 2024 to Dec 2025  I'll check these numbers again after 31 Dec, when many current registrations expire, and again after mid-March, when the 60 day grace period expires.

We are losing about 10% in our Troop, due to those turning 18.  Hope to gain those back during crossover season.

Please remind me

Would like to know Year over Year for Georgia and also Atlanta Area Council

[InquisitiveScouter]

8 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

Would like to know Year over Year for Georgia and also Atlanta Area Council

State of Georgia:  Report database not rendering... had to find a work-around... pooled all data from all Georgia Councils: 091 - 101

091 = Chattahoochee

092 = Atlanta

093 = GA-Carolina  (so, covers some in SC)

094 = N/A number not assigned

095 = Flint River

096 =Central GA

097 = N/A  number not assigned

098 = South GA

099 = Coastal GA

100 = NW GA

101 = NE GA

Dec 2024: 39395  Dec 2025:  35,587  -9.67%

 

Atlanta Area Council - 092:

Dec 2024: 17277  Dec 2025: 15315   -11.36%