Hi @chilepower,
I believe that is the normal behavior for the BuddyPress member count, because BuddyPress will only count members that are considered as “active”. A member is considered active only if they logged in at least once. On the other hand, WordPress will count all your users regardless, which is why you see more users in the backend compared to the frontend directory.
I hope this information helps you get a better understanding of the way BuddyPress works ?
Best regards,