Eagle Scout Class of 2019: Behind the largest Eagle class ever

More young people became Eagle Scouts in 2019 than in any other year in the 108-year history of the prestigious award.

Exactly 61,353 young men earned the Eagle Scout award last year, beating the previous record of 58,659 set in 2012, the 100-year anniversary of the award first being presented.

It’s worth noting that this is the last year I’ll be able to type “young men” when referring to the newest Eagle Scout class.

Last year, we reported that the BSA will honor the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in late 2020. This class is open to any young woman who passes her board of review between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2020, and has submitted her postmarked Eagle application to the National Office no later than Nov. 2, 2020.

As an Eagle Scout (Class of 1999), I have to say it will be such a thrill to watch these impressive young women earn their Eagle badges later this year.

Speaking of impressive, let’s get back to the Eagle Scout Class of 2019.

Putting the number in perspective

The capacity of Soldier Field, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, is 61,500. That means this year’s Eagle Scout class would just barely fit inside, with room for 147 friends, family members or Scouting bloggers.

Never been to Soldier Field? Then try this: The Class of 2019 is so large that it wouldn’t fit inside any of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. Eagle Scout Day at the Ballpark? Better plan it for a doubleheader.

So why am I making such a big deal about the largest-ever Eagle Scout class? Because it’s a good thing to have so many new Eagle Scouts in the world.

As a Scout leader, you no doubt helped one of these young men discover new things about life, the natural world and himself. Now he’ll use those skills as he takes on life’s next chapter.

Think about that impressive Eagle Scout, and then multiply by 61,353. That’s 61,353 Eagle Scout service projects, 61,353 trained leaders and 61,353 more-prepared citizens.

Let’s break this record every year!

A deeper dive into the numbers

Let’s look at the numbers behind the numbers. We’ll cover:

• Total number of Eagle Scout service project hours recorded in 2019
• Region-by-region Eagle numbers
• Number of Eagle Scouts per year, from 1912 to 2019
• State-by-state Eagle rankings
• The average age of 2019’s Eagle Scouts

Thanks to the BSA’s Garfield Murden and Debbie Williams for providing these official numbers.

Total number of Eagle Scout service project hours recorded in 2019

Eagle Scouts, and the volunteers they led, completed 8,575,780 hours of work for Eagle Scout service projects in 2019. (The real number is probably even higher!)

That works out to 139.8 hours per project.

At the 2019 “value of volunteer time” rate of $25.43 per hour, that equals a staggering $218.1 million worth of service to communities.

As many city governments are forced to trim their budgets each year, Scouting often fills in the gaps through acts of service.

Region-by-region Eagle numbers

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

Number of Eagle Scouts per year, from 1912 to 2019

To my fellow Eagle Scouts: What’s your Eagle number? In other words, how many people became Eagle Scouts the same year as you? Mine is 47,582.

State-by-state Eagle rankings

Utah ruled once again, accounting for more Eagle Scouts than any other state in 2019.

Also of interest is the “Rank Change” column, which shows that Idaho and Nevada each had huge jumps last year.

• 0: No rank change.
• Positive number: The state saw its Eagle ranking rise from 2018 to 2019.
• Negative number: The state saw its Eagle ranking fall from 2018 to 2019.

Average age of 2019 Eagle Scouts

The average age of youth earning the Eagle Scout Rank in 2019 was 17.3. That’s about the same as it has been for the past six years.

Soldier Field photo via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.