I want to make this clear these are UNOFFICIAL numbers.
As of this posting Anthrocon has made nothing official
Attendance: 13,644 (they broke MFF’s attendance record by three!)
Fursuiters in Parade: 3,127
Amount donated to charity: $51,064 (and counting!)
Okay folks now get this Anthrocon jumped by 3,742 which makes it the largest jump (when made official) in furry history. But also the 2nd con this year to increase attendance by more than 3,000 FWA being the previous one to do so which itself was a record.
Up until this year some were saying Anthrocon was a slowly dying con. With bare minimum increases in attendance only a few 100s at best. Less Dealers and artist applying for spots. Less fursuiters.
But this year changed all of that, it seems that old friendly competition is back between MFF and Anthrocon as in who will be the biggest.
Will MFF break 16,000? Only time will tell.
Furry Times 
A couple of obvious reasons: after covid and the rest of the craziness of the last few years, folks are ready to let go and party again. And Pittsburgh has by now totally embraced AC as part of the city’s culture, so more locals who aren’t necessarily furries are coming now.
My theory though is it’s blowback from the “litterboxes in schools” moral panic. A lot of people are just learning about the fandom because of it, and like what they see: “man, this looks like something I’ve gotta be part of myself”.