How rare is an audiophile

I am a Primary Care Physician have practiced about 35 years.  Once you get a patient for a year or so you start to learn about their interests.  I have known exactly 1 Audiophile in that time.  Amongst my colleagues in that time, perhaps one more, although I’ve known several that bought expensive gear just because they have to have “the best” of everything, even if they are clueless about how to use it

Hasn't music appreciation been removed from Grammer, Middle and (except for Band) High School? The communists know, you have to get to kids when they are young else they are lost. This goes for music as well.

In Catholic school second grade, we gathered, without notice, in the assembly hall. For a good two hours listened to about twenty classical musicians play. Overwhelming and inspiring. In high school, we'd listen to the same (classical) music day-after-day. Our wise music teacher borrowed this technique from top 40 radio until we started to "appreciate" what we were hearing.

After pursuing high end audio and being an executive (meaning circulating with lots of other management and thousands of employees) I have never randomly met one that I know of. Not one. So, the number is small. 300K… that probably is not a bad guess.

Urgent message to all audiophiles: less tweaking and  listening and step up  the breeding or else.

@ezstreams 

What does your system consist of?

A good sign for the continuing viability of the audiophile hobby is the upward trend of LP sales! Plus the stability of the print subscriber base for Stereophile and TAS. 

I know three people who have gear and only two regularly listen. The other ones wife won't let him enjoy himself. They all have vintage gear and don't believe whatsoever that power cords, interconnects, speaker wires or anything for that matter can make a difference. They don't have an external dac or believe that a tube preamp will make a difference with there ss amps. They don't frequent any audio forum. 
I know one other guy who has several hundred grand of totl gear, he has a serious setup. He's a complete nut who often upgrades, I can't afford his used gear. 

I deal with several people on a daily basis and the first thing I ask them is about audio gear and records, no one has any interest at all and threw away there records 30 years ago.
 

The only local Audiophiles I know are the guys at Natural Sound in Framingham MA

Take the total number of subscribers to Stereophile and TAS for a good ballpark estimate!

It's extremely small. The high end watch industry is likely 50,000 times larger than the hi-end audio industry.

Yeah, I really don't know any locally...  none of my co-workers, friends , or family.   

I guess your question is what percentage of the U.S. population are audiophiles.  In my experience 1 in 1000 is a bit high.  Probably more like 1 in 5,000.