- It's no secret that Taylor Swift helped prop up the US economy over the last year.
- The typical Swiftie is spending $1,300 to go to the Eras Tour but might make under $50,000.
- Swifties skew female, Democratic, millennial, and likely live in the suburbs.
In "The Archer," Taylor Swift asks who could ever leave her, but who could stay?
While that's more of a rhetorical question — although fans at the Eras Tour have been enthusiastically declaring that yes, they'll stay — survey data suggests that a majority of Americans don't seem to care about her one-time bad reputation, and do identify as Swift fans.
A March survey from decision intelligence company Morning Consult of 2,204 US adults found that 53% identify as Swift fans. This comes after a whirlwind year for the pop star, who released two rerecorded albums and helped prop up the US economy with her Eras Tour.
"The top line takeaway from the survey that we conducted is that more than one in two Americans are Taylor Swift fans," Ellyn Briggs, brands analyst at Morning Consult, told Business Insider. "So it's really a broad spectrum."
Morning Consult also collected demographic information on those who identified as Swift fans. And while a fair share of the majority-female Swifties aren't high-earning, they're still in a demographic that's ready to spend on Swift.
"There's a lot of demand for spending in the pandemic's wake, and women who are on the borderline of not being able to afford large discretionary purchases — and women in general — will still make them if it's something that they find truly resonant and truly important to them," Jaime Toplin, a financial services analyst at Morning Consult who authored a report on women's spending over the summer, told Business Insider.
And if there's one thing that Taylor Swift fans were ready to do this year, it was flashing their dollars at the singer. The Washington Post estimates that her Eras Tour has given the US a $5.7 billion boost, with Swifties spending around $93 million per show.
The demographics of Swift fans offer a glimpse into the spending power that has been touted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. So who are the typical Swift fans?
Swifties lean female and white, make under $50,000, and are suburban millennials
Just under three-quarters of self-identifying avid Swift fans are white, while 13% are Black and 9% are Asian, according to Morning Consult's survey.
Additionally, while Swift fans skew female, 48% of those Swift fans are male. Similarly, avid Swift fans are concentrated in the suburbs, with 55% living in suburban communities, and a fairly even split among urban and rural areas; 26% are city dwellers, while 21% are rural.
And, in line with Swift's own political proclamations, 55% of avid Swift fans are Democrats. The remainder of the fans are equally split among identifying as Republicans and independents.
What's more, even as many Swift fans are spending thousands on the Eras Tour, most are not high-earners. Just about half of Swift fans make under $50,000, while 25% make between $50,000 and $100,000, and the other quarter make $100,000 or more.
That's a fairly stark figure when compared to the $1,300 that Swifties spend on average to attend the Eras Tour, per research company QuestionPro. However, while some Swifties that Business Insider previously spoke to said they were spending several thousand dollars to attend the Eras Tour, some were able to keep their costs in the hundreds.
Swifties also lean millennial, with that generation making up 45% of self-proclaimed avid fans. Additionally, 23% of those fans are baby boomers, and 21% are Gen X. Meanwhile, just 11% of that fan group are Gen Z. However, Briggs noted that the survey only took the pulse of Americans 18 or older — meaning that the younger Gen Z contingent is not necessarily reflected.
"Millennials are in their peak spending years in a lot of ways," Toplin said. "They're in the workforce. They own homes, they're earning money, they have income to spend."
And Briggs noted that TikTok has been a big driver of the culture of the Eras Tour, from friendship bracelets to showing off outfits. That may mean that Swift has cultivated more of a Gen Z fanbase since the time of the survey.
"It's a perfect storm of cultural happenings to keep the conversation going," Briggs said. "I think Gen Z, if we ran this survey again right now, it would be definitely a higher share."
And as the Eras Tour begins its international leg, and the rerelease of Reputation (Taylor's Version) looms, Swifties are ready for it. Or at least their wallets are.