We examine the cost of living in the cities with the largest numbers of EAs. Most cities with large EA populations are very expensive to live in. This may pose a barrier to EAs wishing to live and work in cities with lots of EAs

We estimate that 6.5-8.8% of EAs live in the San Francisco Bay Area and 5.3-7.3% live in London. Both are much larger than the next largest EA centre (New York). More EAs in our sample live in ‘Loxbridge’ (London, Oxford and Cambridge) than the SF Bay Area. The total percentage of EAs living in Loxbridge and the SF Bay Area combined is estimated to be between 14.5% and 19.5% (roughly 1-in-7 to 1-in-5). 50% of EAs live in the top 22 cities, 80% live in the top 100 cities out of 340 cities total. Almost a third (32%) of highly engaged EAs live in the SF Bay Area, London or Oxbridge. The share of EAs living outside the SF Bay Area, London or Oxbridge appears to be steadily growing with time.

It is uncertain how many people there in the EA community and what proportion of these the EA Survey manages to sample. We compare EA Survey numbers to other data sources and estimate that we sampled around 40% of highly engaged EAs, and fewer less engaged EAs. Based on this, we estimate there are around 2315 highly engaged EAs and 6500 (90% CI: 4700-10,000) active EAs in the community overall.

There are many ways of measuring engagement in EA, from membership of various groups to a range of actions such as donating to or working on an EA cause area. Self-reportedly highly engaged EAs tend to participate in a wide variety of activities and be members of multiple EA groups (e.g., local group, EA Facebook, EA Forum, GWWC). The most common activities that EAs engaged in were donating (81% of EAs), reading an EA book (64%), and changing careers based on EA principles (51%). A narrower slice of EAs previously worked at an EA organization (13%), posted on the EA Forum (13%), received 80,000 Hours career coaching (12%), or currently work at an EA organization (10%) . Self-reported engagement seems to be well correlated with activities undertaken and lower levels of engagement were related to nonmembership of EA groups (local group, EA Facebook, EA Forum, GWWC).

More respondents’ level of interest in EA increased over the last year (43%) than decreased (18%). The most common reasons for interest increasing were local EA groups (14%), the respondent being new to EA (12%), the local EA community more broadly (10%), or career change (10%). The most common reasons for interest decreasing were people being too busy (18%), a perceived mismatch between the person’s cause preferences with that of the overall EA community (12%), or finding diminishing returns from involvement in EA (10%). The most commonly cited barriers to further involvement in EA were lack of job opportunities that were a good fit (29%), no close friends in EA (28%), and it being too hard to get an EA job (23%).

Personal Contacts (14%), LessWrong (9.6%) and 80,000 Hours (9.6%) are still the main ways most people have heard of EA over time. In recent years (2018-2019), 80,000 Hours (17%) is the single largest source for people first hearing about EA, followed by Personal Contacts (15%). 80,000 Hours (47.8%), GiveWell (42.7%) and Personal Contact (34.8%) had the highest percentages of EAs saying they were important for getting them involved in EA.

EAs in the survey reported total donations of $16.1M USD in 2018. The median annual donation in 2018 was $683.92. The median annual donation in 2018, excluding those who joined EA in 2019 was $990. This is higher than the median annual donation in 2017 of $832, excluding those who joined EA in 2018. 1.3% of donors accounted for 57% of donations.

74% of EAs in the survey currently live in the same set of 5 high-income English-speaking western countries as in 2018. The share of EAs living outside of the USA and Europe is slightly larger (4%) than in 2018 and larger among newer EAs than veteran EAs. 40% of EAs live in cities with fewer than 10 other fellow EAs. While Global Poverty is a high priority cause area for EAs around the world, EAs in the USA appear to prioritize Cause Prioritization less than their peers elsewhere and EAs outside the USA and Europe appear to prioritize Climate Change more. When pressed to choose only one of the traditional broad cause areas of EA (Global Poverty, Animal Welfare, Meta, Long Term Future, Other) the Long Term Future/Catastrophic and Existential Risk Reduction is the most popular among EAs in the USA and Europe. EAs living outside of the USA and Europe reported the largest shares of non-engaged or only mildly engaged EAs, possibly stemming from their obstacles to participating in “high engagement activities”.

The most popular career paths that effective altruists in the survey (EAs) plan to follow are in earning to give roles (38%) and working at EA organizations (37%). 50% of EAs have only one planned broad career path. Two of the top four significant barriers to becoming more involved in EA were not enough job opportunities that seemed like a good fit for me (29%) and too hard to get an EA job (23%). 462 (38%) EAs have at least 3 years work or graduate experience in the most popular skills highlighted as important talent needs for EA in a recent 80, 000 Hours/CEA survey of EA leaders. 1,014 (58%) EAs want to become more involved in the community by pursuing a career in an EA-aligned cause area.

Global Poverty remains the most popular single cause in our sample as a whole. When pressed to choose only one of the traditional broad cause areas of EA (Global Poverty, Animal Welfare, Meta, Long Term Future, Other) the Long Term Future/Catastrophic and Existential Risk Reduction is the most popular (41%). 42% of EAs have changed their cause area focus since they joined the movement. A majority (57%) of those who changed cause moved away from Global Poverty, and a majority (54%) moved towards the Long Term Future/Catastrophic and Existential Risk Reduction.

This is the first in a series analysing the results of the 2019 EA Survey. We collected 2,513 valid responses from EAs in the survey. EAs in this year’s survey look demographically much like those in past years. A majority are between the ages of 25-34. 71% reported their gender as male. 87% reported that they identify as white. 86% reported being agnostic/atheist/non-religious. 46% reported being vegan or vegetarian. 72% affiliated with the Left or Center Left politically. Over 90% have attained or are in the process of completing a post-secondary degree. 20% have attended one of the top 20 universities in the world for their undergraduate studies.