You probably know a friend who goes to a bunch of festivals a year, and you wonder to yourself, “How do they afford it?!” Well, according to a new study from CompareCards by Lending Tree, nearly a third of them can’t.

1,019 Americans were surveyed in July 2019 about their time at festivals. In a shocking result, nearly one-third (32%) of millennials who attended a music festival in the past year took on debt to do so, and nearly one-fourth (23%) of survey respondents, regardless of age, said they were in festival-related debt.

Of the respondents, 53% attended at least one music festival in the past 12 months; and of those who attended at least one, 28% said they spent at least $500 on music festivals.

A GA ticket to Ultra in 2019 started at $300, while a GA ticket to EDC started at $319. A more “main stream” festival like Coachella starts at $429. None of that includes travel, lodging, or food, which can exponentially increase the price of any trip, especially for those coming in from out of town.

All that taken into consideration, a separate study found that going to concerts leads to a more happy, satisfied life. So, maybe going into debt — if only a bit — isn’t all that bad. At the end of the day, your mileage may vary.

See the full report here.

photo by kurthoop for Escapade