Woodwind Doubler Census 2021 results, part 1: demographics

Thanks to all who participated in my 2021 woodwind doubling survey, and to those who helped spread the word. I’m releasing the results in installments, so be sure to use my social media links, RSS feeds, etc. to keep up.

I got 284 responses, an improvement over 2011’s 187. The numbers for each of these questions don’t necessarily add up to exactly that number, since not everybody responded to every question.

Gender identity

I provided more options for gender identity than in 2011’s survey. Here’s the breakdown. (Percentages are of those who answered the question.)

2021 Data
Male	222	78%
Female	49	17%
Female, Transgender	1	~0%
Nonbinary/nonconforming	10	4%
Transgender, Nonbinary/nonconforming	1	~0%

2011 Data
Male	146	78%
Female	41	22%

Age

As was the case 10 years ago, the numbers skew toward the younger end. I’m not sure if this is affected by the survey being distributed primarily online. No respondents claimed to be younger than teenaged or older than in their 70s.

2021 Data
Teenage	22	8%
20s	72	25%
30s	67	24%
40s	40	14%
50s	41	14%
60s	35	12%
70s	6	2%

2011 Data
Younger than 20	19	1%
20s	54	10%
30s	31	29%
40s	36	17%
50s	33	19%
60s	12	18%
70s	1	6%

Region

I provided options for this that broke down by continent. A few of you island dwellers responded with “other” and specified locations in Oceania and the Caribbean. I probably need to rethink this question for 2031, but for purposes of data reporting I have lumped everyone together into continents for now.

The continued absence of responses from Africa and South America may be related to language barriers and/or other factors. I did get a few responses from Asia this year, which I didn’t in 2011.

2021 Data
Asia	3	1%
Australia	11	4%
Europe	20	7%
North America	249	88%

2011 Data
Australia	11	6%
Europe	12	6%
North America	162	87%

Which of these best describes where you live?

The “city, but not a ‘major’ one” option was added based on feedback from the 2011 survey. A few of you used the “other” option to explain more complicated living situations (such as multiple locations), and for reporting purposes I’ve taken the liberty of lumping those into the categories I thought were the closest match.

2021 Data
major city or metropolitan area	127	45%
city, but not a “major” one	69	24%
suburb or exurb	63	22%
rural or remote area	24	8%

2011 Data
major city or metropolitan area	93	50%
suburban area	66	35%
rural or remote area	23	12%
other	5	3%

Describe your current level of formal education (in any field).

“Less than high school diploma” is a new option this yea. The categories in the graph are abbreviated; the full text from the survey is in the data table.

2021 dATA
Less than high school diploma	8	3%
High school diploma or equivalent	6	2%
Some college	33	12%
Bachelors degree	70	25%
Some graduate school	18	6%
Masters degree	103	37%
Doctorate	38	13%
Other degree type or comparable certification	6	2%

2011 Data
High school diploma or equivalent	8	4%
Some college	28	15%
Bachelors degree	59	32%
Some graduate school	16	9%
Masters degree	53	28%
Doctorate	16	9%
Other degree type or comparable certification	6	3%

Thanks again for your participation and stay tuned for more survey results.