There are somewhere between 10 million to 17 million birds kept as pets in the United States alone. Numbers vary based on who conducts the survey but in any case, there are a large number of pet birds. Birds are the third most popular companion pet behind dogs and cats.

Bird owners in the United States have been profiled by two different groups. The first is the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in their U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook published in 2002. Their survey was conducted by a company called NFQ Research who mailed out questionnaires to 80,000 households. These households were selected to be representative of all U.S. households. A total of 54,240 responses were received. Based on U.S. Census geographic data, the AVMA extrapolates totals for the entire United States. The AVMA has previous data from surveys conducted in 1991 and 1996 to use as comparisons to the 2001 survey.

The second profiling was done by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) and is published in the 2003/2004 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey (based on data collected from surveys in early 2002). The APPMA has been conducting surveys of pet owners every two years since they conducted the first survey in 1988. The 2002 survey was conducted by Ipsos-NPD, Inc. Initially, 45,000 two-page interviews were mailed out to Ipsos-NPD's HTI (Home Testing Institute) Consumer Panel to identify pet owners. 29,748 responses were received with 18,355 responding panel members being pet owners. Next 3,465 pet-owning panel members were mailed a detailed 12-page questionnaire that was specific to their type of pet (dog, cat, bird, fish, etc). Specifically 470 bird owners were mailed a questionnaire and 290 completed returns were received. Ipsos-NPD's panel is balanced both geographically and demographically to represent the U.S population. According to them:

Unlike other researchers, who select a panel balanced on geographic Census targets, the HTI panel is balanced by household size information. This is because research has shown that these factors, household size information, are more significant in determining marketplace behavior than are geographic factors. Ipsos-NPD has also developed a special panel balancing system. Demographic groups that are less likely to return the surveys are over-represented in outgoing samples and demographic groups that tend to over-return are under-represented. This provides a balanced return sample. (APPMA, 2002, pg. xi)

Using the AVMA data, along with previous surveys in 1991 and 1996, the following conclusions have been drawn: Birds are the third most popular companion pet owned, behind dogs and cats. 4.6% of all households own at least one bird, with households in the Pacific region having the highest concentration, averaging 6.3% of households as shown in the map below.

Figure 1: Percentage of Bird-owning Households in the USA.

 According to the AVMA, in 2001, there were over 10 million birds owned. This varies dramatically from the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) 2003-2004 survey that said that in 2002, there were 17.3 million birds owned by 6.7 million households.   (continued...)