A general Google search of how many visitors are on the Island at the height of the summer may lead to some misleading information. Wikipedia and some local groups predict there are as many as 200,000 visitors on the Island at any given time.
But a new study from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission estimates that the largest number of visitors at the height of the summer on a given day is likely 94,651. That includes seasonal residents, year-round residents, day-trippers, and even overnight guests at seasonal residents’ homes.
“This is the highest we estimate it could be,” Alex Elvin said, research and communications manager with the commission, and author of the report. “This is the most people there could reasonably be on the Island on a given day in August.”
The study notes that 94,000 is triple the number of visitors compared with 1970.
In previous studies, the commission estimated that since 2000, there have been in the range of 75,000 to 89,000. Elvin said that the number of visitors on the Island isn’t necessarily higher compared with prior years; they used a new methodology to arrive at their estimate.
In 2020, the commission sought guidance from the UMass Donahue Institute to help with the study. It used the 2020 Census, and leaned heavily on town assessing records to compile information.
Data was collected by reviewing the number of existing beds on the Island — residential, guesthouses, hotels — as well as the number of visitors coming for a day. Study authors note that day-trippers were among the hardest to quantify.
The study breaks down where seasonal residents normally live when not on the Island: The largest portion of off-Island mailing addresses were in Massachusetts, at 36 percent, followed by New York at 15 percent, Connecticut at 9 percent, and New Jersey at 6 percent. Every state except Nebraska and North Dakota has at least one seasonal resident on the Island, along with 11 other countries or territories.
The study also narrows down to each town where visitors go, with Edgartown, unsurprisingly, having the highest concentration.
