Burning Man, the infamous arts festival in the Nevada desert, turned 40 this year, and it’s showing some distinct signs of middle age. It’s not just the tech billionaires who show up to party, the chartered flights straight to the desert or the HBO documentary about behind-the-scenes power struggles. The tens of thousands of people who assemble each year to create a tent city in the wilderness appear to be growing older, and it doesn’t seem that they’re being replaced by as many younger “burners”, as festival participants are called.
People in their 20s used to make up nearly a third of the participants in this utopian experiment, in which volunteers build a new version of Black Rock City in the desert each year, party nonstop for a week and then burn much of the art they have created, including a massive effigy of the “Man.” Since the festival paused for two years during the pandemic, the number of attenders in their 20s has dropped sharply, falling to only 10% in 2025, according to estimates from the Black Rock City census, an annual participant survey that has been conducted in different forms since 2002. Meanwhile, the share of attenders in their 40 and 50s grew to nearly 42% last year. While data for 2026 is not yet available, the “preliminary 2026 census data suggest a slightly younger age profile than in 2025”, the organization said.
Burners are used to adapting to new circumstances, and they have weathered plenty of scorn and skepticism from what they call the “default world”. But a permanent shift in the event’s demographics could have big implications for what’s possible on the ground. As Burning Man’s spiritual seekers age, can the festival remain an evolving experiment in radical communal living?
Or is it doomed to become just another tech networking conference for the wealthy – one where almost everyone is high and a surprising number of people are naked? The number of deaths connected with the festival ticked upwards to three this year, all of them men over 50. Two of the men, one in his mid-50s and the other 51, died after receiving medical treatment.
A third man, aged 60, was found dead in the trailer he shared with his significant other. Local authorities said there were no signs of foul play in any of the deaths, and that more information about the causes of death would be released in about six to eight weeks, after they conducted the required autopsies and toxicology tests. The physical conditions can be punishing.
Since 1990, Burning Man has been held on Nevada’s Black Rock playa, a gorgeous, barren stretch of dusty land that was once a prehistoric lake. There is no vegetation, no running water – virtually no signs of life. The playa is prone to sudden, ferocious dust storms: participants are encouraged to carry dust masks and goggles.
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