Corvette Demographics: Income, Age, Gender and More
Who buys Corvettes? We look at Corvette demographics by generation
In this article we compare owners of C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 Corvettes. Image courtesy GM Media.
Our demographic articles on this website get a lot of traffic, but we get asked where are the demographics on Corvette owners? Well, here they are. We dig into demographics by Corvette generation, starting with the most recent, the Corvette C8 that started with the 2020 model year. We show you the profile of the average Corvette owner.
To come up with Corvette demographics we dug into the database of just over 400,000 Corvette owners to do some analysis you won’t find anywhere else on the internet. We cover the demographics for C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 generations of Corvettes.
This isn’t a poll of Corvette owners. It’s data from the database of Corvette owners, eliminating polling error. This gives you a true profile of the average Corvette owner.
We can only go back to model year 1981 in the database. Before that, VINs weren’t standardized making it very difficult to get ownership records on older Corvettes. That means we only have a few thousand records for C3 owners (there are no 1983 Corvettes) so we excluded them and earlier generations. We just go back as far as the 1984-1996 C4 Corvette for this analysis.
Who owns C8 Corvettes?
The big news with C8 Corvette/Corvette Stingray demographics is that General Motors succeeded in reaching a younger demographic with the new mid-engine design. The C8’s angular, contemporary design, mid-engine layout, and exceptional performance has attracted a younger buyer than the traditional, older Corvette buyer of years past.
For C8 the average Corvette owner is older, similar to other Corvette generations, but the C8 beats other generations for 25-44 and 45-54 year olds. The C8 is pulling in a lot of Millennials (28 to 43 years old) and Gen X (44 to 59 years old) buyers, along with the Corvette’s traditional Baby Boomer (59 to 77 years old) buyers.
This analysis pulls in 25,071 records of C8 owners, or as the statisticians put it, “n=25,071.” That gives us a margin of error of less than 1% at a 95% confidence level.
C8 age breakdown
Overall, the C8 (and C7, scroll down) owners are the youngest of all Corvette generation owners. Only about a third of C8 owners is over 65 (and only 46% for C7), compared to 62% for C6 owners, 65% for C5 owners and 68% for C4 owners.
Here’s the C8 age breakdown:
- 44 and under: 15%
- 45 to 54: 22%
- 55 to 64: 26%
- over 65: 37%
C8 home ownership, income and kids
C8 Corvette owners are overwhelmingly home owners. 99% own their home, and only 1% rent.
What about household income? Hello, you young high-rollers. C8 owners definitely skew towards high household income.
51% of C8 owners have a household income over $125,000. We only have the beginning of that income range, but only 13% have household income in the next tier down of $100,000 to $124,999. That tells us that the upper range is pretty broad. We’d guess from the numbers that there are plenty of C8 owners with over $200,000…even over $300,000 household income. It’s been reported that the median income of a C8 owner is $214,000.
Here’s the breakdown of C8 household income:
- Under $50,000: 10%
- $50,000 to $74,999: 9%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 17%
- $100,000 to $124,999: 13%
- over $125,000: 51%
There aren’t many kids at home, either. Only 29% of C8 owners have kids at home, 71% don’t. But, this generation of Corvette owners has the highest percentage of kids at home of all the generations, which correlates to the lower age.
C8 demographics by gender
Gender? It’s 90% guys. Surprised? Despite some reports on the internet of the C8 having a higher ratio of female owners than previous generations, the C8 definitely skews towards male ownership. Read below for gender comparisons on earlier generations.
Who owns C7 Corvettes?
Next, let’s look at the 2014-2019 C7 Corvette/Corvette Stingray and the average Corvette owner. This analysis pulls in 78,349 records of C7 owners, or n=78,349. That gives us a margin of error for C7 statistics of less than 1% at a 95% confidence level.
C7 age breakdown
These Corvette owners are just a bit older than the C8 gang, even though GM supposedly marketed the C7 to younger buyers. 46% are over 65 vs. 37% for C8. As we said above, C7 and C8 owners are the youngest of all Corvette generation owners.
Here’s the age breakdown:
- 44 and under: 11%
- 45 to 54: 16%
- 55 to 64: 26%
- over 65: 46%
C7 home ownership and income
Like C8 Corvette owners, C7 owners are overwhelmingly home owners. 98% own their home, and only 2% rent.
C7 owners have high household income, but not quite as high as C8. Here’s the breakdown of household income:
- Under $50,000: 15%
- $50,000 to $74,999: 11%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 19%
- $100,000 to $124,999: 13%
- over $125,000: 43%
There aren’t many kids at home, either. Only 23% of C7 owners have kids at home, 77% don’t.
C7 demographics by gender
C7 owners are 81% male/19% female.
Who owns C6 Corvettes?
Here are 2005-2013 C6 Corvette owners. This analysis pulls in 130,819 records of C6 owners, or n=130,819.
C6 age breakdown
These owners are older than C7 and C8 owners, with the majority over 65.
Here’s the age breakdown:
- 44 and under: 5%
- 45 to 54: 11%
- 55 to 64: 23%
- over 65: 62%
C6 home ownership and income
Like C7 and C8 Corvette owners, C6 owners are overwhelmingly home owners. 99% own their home, and only 1% rent.
C6 owners’ household income is almost a match to C7. Here’s the breakdown of household income:
- Under $50,000: 14%
- $50,000 to $74,999: 11%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 19%
- $100,000 to $124,999: 12%
- over $125,000: 44%
There aren’t many kids at home, either, which correlates to their age. Only 20% of C6 owners have kids at home, 80% don’t.
C6 demographics by gender
C6 owners are 82% male/18% female.
Who owns C5 Corvettes?
Here are 1997-2005 C5 Corvette owners. This analysis pulls in 96,189 records of C5 owners, or n=96,189.
C5 age breakdown
These owners are getting a little older than the C6 owners above. Like C6, the majority is over 65.
Here’s the age breakdown for C5:
- 44 and under: 3%
- 45 to 54: 10%
- 55 to 64: 22%
- over 65: 65%
C5 home ownership and income
We sound like a broken record: C5 owners are overwhelmingly home owners. 98% own their home, and only 2% rent.
Household income for C5 owners is a little lower than C6. Here’s the breakdown of household income:
- Under $50,000: 16%
- $50,000 to $74,999: 12%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 21%
- $100,000 to $124,999: 12%
- over $125,000: 38%
As for kids at home, C5 is a match with C6. Twenty percent of C5 owners have kids at home, 80% don’t.
C5 demographics by gender
C5 owners are 80% male/20% female.
Who owns C4 Corvettes?
Here are 1984-1996 C4 Corvette owners. This analysis pulls in 75,696 records of C5 owners, or n=75,696.
C4 age breakdown
These owners are even older than the C5 owners above, with nearly 7 out of 10 over 65.
Here’s the age breakdown for C4:
- 44 and under: 3%
- 45 to 54: 8%
- 55 to 64: 21%
- over 65: 68%
C4 home ownership and income
We sound like a broken record: C4 owners are home owners and 98% own their home, with only 2% renting.
Household income for C4 owners is the lowest of the generations reported in this article. Here’s the breakdown of household income:
- Under $50,000: 23%
- $50,000 to $74,999: 17%
- $75,000 to $99,999: 24%
- $100,000 to $124,999: 11%
- over $125,000: 26%
As for kids at home, C4 owners have the lowest percentage of the generations in this article, correlating to their age: Twenty two percent of C4 owners have kids at home, 78% don’t.
C4 demographics by gender
C4 owners are 79% male/21% female.
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