Mike Nolan has posted extremely interesting data about USCF Members by
sex and age. Thank you Mike Nolan.

USCF members by sex shows what many chess teachers have observed,
which is that among elementary school children, the girls are nearly
as interested in chess as the boys, but as the girls grow older they
lose interest quickly and almost all of them stop playing.

USCF members by age shows that the largest group of USCF members are
very young, under 12 (the peak age is 10), as they become teenagers,
they tend to drop out, by the time of their college years almost all
of them quit (the bottom age is 23), but when they reach their 30s
(and start having kids of their own), they start playing chess again.

Sam Sloan

Here is a breakdown of membership by sex, here it is by age group:

12/below, 5491 of 29,791 or 18.4%.

13-15, 1121 of 9031 or 12.4%.

16-19, 629 of 6771 or 9.3%.

20-24, 129 of 2208 or 5.8%

25-64, 1085 of 28,932 or 3.8%.

65+, 23 of 2172 or 1.1%

Overall: 8592 of 84,572 or 10.2%.

Here's a breakdown of members (excluding life members) by age
for 10/31/2005, 10/31/2006, 09/30/2007 and 10/31/2007:

Month 12/below 13-15 16-19 20-24 25-64 65+
---------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----
2005-10-31 28280 9386 6647 1788 19875 3261
2006-10-31 29928 9033 6896 1824 19650 3292
2007-09-30 28487 8636 6547 2120 20053 3451
2007-10-31 29631 8996 6746 2156 20202 3479


Here's that same data, including life members:

Month 12/below 13-15 16-19 20-24 25-64 65+
---------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----
2005-10-31 28286 9391 6661 1824 28617 4993
2006-10-31 29935 9037 6911 1858 28284 5225
2007-09-30 28491 8643 6560 2159 28532 5617
2007-10-31 29635 9003 6759 2193 28671 5662