Behind every Eagle Scout, there’s a story.

A story of perseverance. Of parents and adult volunteers offering guidance and support. Of merit badges, camping trips and service projects.

Multiply each individual Eagle Scout story by 52,160, and you’ll begin to see just how much impact Eagle Scouts had on their communities in 2018.

Exactly 52,160 young men — representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia — earned Scouting’s highest honor last year.

Let’s dive into the numbers.

Putting the number in perspective

With 52,160 Eagle Scouts, the Class of 2018 is officially the eighth-biggest Eagle Scout class in history.

For comparison, 2012’s record-setting class had 58,659 Eagle Scouts. (See the full year-by-year numbers later in the post.)

If all of those Class of 2018 Eagle Scouts wanted to gather to watch some Major League Baseball, there’s only place they could go.

With a capacity of 56,000, only Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles (seen above) is large enough to hold everyone.

Percentage of eligible Scouts earning Eagle

Exactly 6.49 percent of eligible Scouts earned Eagle in 2018. Here’s a look at the Eagle percentage over the last 10 years.

Year Eagle Percentage 2009 4.06 2010 5.02 2011 4.55 2012 5.55 2013 6.02 2014 6.01 2015 6.57 2016 6.24 2017 6.46 2018 6.49 Average 5.70

Below, see how the average has increased over time.

I see the increase as a good thing. A higher percentage means young people are staying in the program longer, and it means they’re leaving the program prepared for life.

Consider this: What would the world be like if 100 percent of adults had earned Eagle? That’s a world I’d want to live in.

A deeper dive into the numbers

Let’s look at the numbers behind the numbers:

Total number of Eagle Scout service project hours recorded in 2018

Region-by-region Eagle numbers

Number of Eagle Scouts per year, from 1912 to 2018

State-by-state Eagle rankings

The average age of 2018’s Eagle Scouts

As always, my thanks to the BSA’s Mike Lo Vecchio, who provides me with these Eagle Scout stats each year.

Total number of Eagle Scout service project hours recorded in 2018

Eagle Scouts, and the volunteers they led, completed 7,987,074 hours of work for Eagle Scout service projects in 2018.

That works out to 153.1 hours per project.

At the 2018 “value of volunteer time” rate of $24.69 per hour, that works out to $197.2 million worth of service to communities.

Year Total Hours Eagle Scouts Hours per Eagle Scout project 2018 7,987,074 52,160 153.1 2017 8,461,760 55,494 152.5 2016 9,156,368 55,186 165.9 2015 8,503,337 54,366 156.4 2014 8,127,532 51,820 156.8

Note: The real number is probably much higher. Many soon-to-be Eagle Scouts miscalculate the number of hours worked, thereby shortchanging themselves. Read this post for details.

Region-by-region Eagle numbers

Region 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Western 16,999 18,317 18,073 18,319 17,384 Southern 13,861 14,484 14,962 14,621 14,049 Central 10,681 10,913 11,017 11,227 10,320 Northeast 10,279 10,652 11,134 11,327 10,407 Total 51,820 54,366 55,186 55,494 52,160

Congrats to the Western Region for having the largest total yet again!

Number of Eagle Scouts per year, from 1912 to 2018

Fellow Eagle Scouts, how many others were honored in the year you earned Eagle?

1912 23 1913 54 1914 165 1915 96 1916 103 1917 219 1918 222 1919 468 1920 629 1921 1,306 1922 2,001 1923 2,196 1924 3,264 1925 3,980 1926 4,516 1927 5,713 1928 6,706 1929 6,676 1930 7,980 1931 8,976 1932 9,225 1933 6,659 1934 7,548 1935 8,814 1936 7,488 1937 7,831 1938 8,784 1939 9,918 1940 10,498 1941 9,527 1942 8,440 1943 9,285 1944 10,387 1945 10,694 1946 10,850 1947 9,733 1948 8,016 1949 9,058 1950 9,813 1951 10,708 1952 15,668 1953 9,993 1954 12,239 1955 14,486 1956 15,484 1957 17,407 1958 17,548 1959 17,360 1960 21,175 1961 24,637 1962 26,181 1963 27,428 1964 29,247 1965 27,851 1966 26,999 1967 30,878 1968 28,311 1969 31,052 1970 29,103 1971 30,972 1972 29,089 1973 46,966 1974 36,739 1975 21,285 1976 27,687 1977 24,879 1978 22,149 1979 22,188 1980 22,543 1981 24,865 1982 25,573 1983 25,263 1984 27,326 1985 27,173 1986 26,846 1987 27,578 1988 27,163 1989 29,187 1990 29,763 1991 32,973 1992 34,063 1993 33,672 1994 37,438 1995 31,209 1996 37,715 1997 40,296 1998 41,167 1999 47,582 2000 40,029 2001 43,665 2002 49,328 2003 49,151 2004 50,377 2005 49,895 2006 51,728 2007 51,742 2008 52,025 2009 53,122 2010 57,147 2011 51,933 2012 58,659 2013 56,841 2014 51,820 2015 54,366 2016 55,186 2017 55,494 2018 52,160

State-by-state Eagle rankings

Here are the 2018 state-by-state rankings, as well as the rank change from 2017 to 2018.

Example: The +2 for North Carolina means that state’s rank jumped up two spots: from No. 7 in 2017 to No. 5 in 2018.

Rank State Eagle Scouts Rank Change 2017 Rank 1 Utah 5373 0 1 2 California 5149 0 2 3 Texas 4223 0 3 4 Pennsylvania 2346 0 4 5 North Carolina 1991 2 7 6 New York 1945 -1 5 7 Virginia 1890 -1 6 8 Ohio 1735 0 8 9 Florida 1636 1 10 10 Illinois 1618 -1 9 11 Georgia 1562 1 12 12 Arizona 1519 -1 11 13 New Jersey 1380 0 13 14 Missouri 1263 0 14 15 Michigan 1195 2 17 16 Washington 1191 0 16 17 Idaho 1190 -2 15 18 Maryland 1051 1 19 19 Massachusetts 972 -1 18 20 Indiana 914 2 22 21 Colorado 912 -1 20 22 Minnesota 887 -1 21 23 Wisconsin 873 1 24 24 Tennessee 808 -1 23 25 Connecticut 626 0 25 26 South Carolina 604 1 27 27 Oregon 603 3 30 28 Kansas 585 -2 26 29 Alabama 531 -1 28 30 Kentucky 478 3 33 31 Iowa 473 0 31 32 Nevada 465 -3 29 33 Oklahoma 437 -1 32 34 Nebraska 395 1 35 35 Louisiana 373 -1 34 36 Mississippi 326 0 36 37 Arkansas 251 0 37 38 Hawaii 238 0 38 39 West Virginia 211 1 40 40 New Hampshire 199 2 42 41 Rhode Island 174 -2 39 42 New Mexico 165 -1 41 43 Montana 155 0 43 44 Wyoming 146 1 45 45 Maine 141 -1 44 46 Delaware 110 1 47 47 Alaska 102 1 48 48 North Dakota 102 -2 46 49 South Dakota 102 0 49 50 Vermont 91 0 50

Scouts didn’t just earn Eagle in one of the 50 states. Here are the numbers for BSA members who earned Eagle in Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and the BSA’s Transatlantic and Far East Councils.

Puerto Rico 206 Transatlantic 127 Far East 77 Washington DC 25

State-by-state Eagle rankings (population adjusted)

I used publicly available data to find the number of under-18 boys in each state, as of 2017 (the most recent year available).

That allowed me to create the following population-adjusted list.

Notice that Utah remains No. 1, but less-populous states like Idaho, Wyoming and Rhode Island jumped into the top 10.

Rank State Eagle Scouts Under 18 Population Percent Unadj. Rank 1 Utah 5373 926,699 0.580% 1 2 Idaho 1190 443,792 0.268% 17 3 Wyoming 146 136,483 0.107% 44 4 Virginia 1890 1,869,176 0.101% 7 5 Arizona 1519 1,633,490 0.093% 12 6 Missouri 1263 1,382,971 0.091% 14 7 Pennsylvania 2346 2,664,515 0.088% 4 8 North Carolina 1991 2,302,346 0.086% 5 9 Connecticut 626 743,826 0.084% 25 10 Rhode Island 174 207,332 0.084% 40 11 Nebraska 395 475,733 0.083% 34 12 Kansas 585 712,538 0.082% 28 13 Maryland 1051 1,347,506 0.078% 18 14 Vermont 91 116,825 0.078% 50 15 Hawaii 238 305,744 0.078% 38 16 New Hampshire 199 258,773 0.077% 41 17 Washington 1191 1,645,816 0.072% 16 18 Colorado 912 1,261,833 0.072% 21 19 Massachusetts 972 1,369,955 0.071% 19 20 New Jersey 1380 1,979,018 0.070% 13 21 Oregon 603 873,619 0.069% 27 22 Minnesota 887 1,298,657 0.068% 22 23 Wisconsin 873 1,282,644 0.068% 23 24 Nevada 465 685,463 0.068% 32 25 Montana 155 228,889 0.068% 43 26 Ohio 1735 2,605,235 0.067% 8 27 Iowa 473 731,947 0.065% 31 28 Georgia 1562 2,514,698 0.062% 11 29 Indiana 914 1,573,409 0.058% 20 30 North Dakota 102 175,772 0.058% 48 31 Texas 4223 7,366,039 0.057% 3 32 West Virginia 211 369,718 0.057% 39 33 California 5149 9,060,136 0.057% 2 34 Illinois 1618 2,897,185 0.056% 10 35 Maine 141 252,634 0.056% 45 36 Alaska 102 184,928 0.055% 47 37 Michigan 1195 2,176,649 0.055% 15 38 South Carolina 604 1,104,674 0.055% 26 39 Delaware 110 204,484 0.054% 46 40 Tennessee 808 1,507,502 0.054% 24 41 Alabama 531 1,095,473 0.048% 29 42 South Dakota 102 214,856 0.047% 49 43 Kentucky 478 1,010,539 0.047% 30 44 New York 1945 4,154,497 0.047% 6 45 Mississippi 326 713,567 0.046% 36 46 Oklahoma 437 959,285 0.046% 33 47 Florida 1636 4,201,983 0.039% 9 48 Arkansas 251 705,540 0.036% 37 49 New Mexico 165 488,090 0.034% 42 50 Louisiana 373 1,108,403 0.034% 35

The average age of 2018’s Eagle Scouts

This number has remained pretty steady over the past five years.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Western 17.03 17.06 17.08 17.05 17.02 Southern 17.29 17.34 17.31 16.88 17.31 Central 17.36 17.38 17.45 17.36 17.40 Northeast 17.56 17.57 17.55 17.53 17.54 Overall Average Age 17.31 17.34 17.35 17.21 17.32