Fitness spans gyms, studios, personal training, group instruction, equipment and everyday physical activity. The statistics below focus mainly on the United States and distinguish facility participation from public-health guideline attainment, while keeping measurement years and survey definitions explicit.
Key Fitness Industry Statistics
The most useful headline figures cover the industry’s reach, workout formats, participation gaps and workforce:
- In 2024, 77 million U.S. residents age 6 and older were fitness-facility members, according to a rolling 12-month estimate.
- In 2024, U.S. fitness facilities served nearly 96 million customers age 6 and older, using the broader customer definition.
- In 2024, fitness-facility membership penetration was 24.9% of Americans age 6 and older.
- In 2024, total fitness-facility customer penetration was 31.0% of Americans age 6 and older.
- In 2024, 43.4% of U.S. fitness-facility members used treadmills.
- In 2024, 32.1% of U.S. fitness-facility members used dumbbells or free weights.
- In 2024, 22.6% of U.S. fitness-facility members used personal training.
- In 2024, 32.3% of U.S. fitness-facility members used small-group training.
- In 2024, 47.2% of U.S. adults age 18 and older met federal aerobic-activity guidelines.
- In 2024, 52.3% of U.S. men age 18 and older met aerobic-activity guidelines, compared with 42.4% of women.
- In 2024, 54.0% of U.S. adults ages 18–34 met aerobic-activity guidelines, compared with 38.4% of adults age 65 and older.
- In 2024, 56.5% of U.S. adults at 400% of the federal poverty level or above met aerobic-activity guidelines.
- In 2024, 32.3% of U.S. adults without a high-school diploma or GED met aerobic-activity guidelines.
- In 2024, 51.9% of adults in the U.S. West met aerobic-activity guidelines, compared with 44.1% in the South.
- In 2024, 49.8% of U.S. adults without disabilities met aerobic-activity guidelines, compared with 22.4% of adults with disabilities.
- In 2022, 13.9% of U.S. adults age 65 and older met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines.
- In May 2023, 279,450 U.S. exercise trainers and group fitness instructors were employed.
- In May 2023, the mean annual wage for U.S. exercise trainers and group fitness instructors was $51,270.
- From 2025 to 2035, BLS projects 7% employment growth for fitness trainers and instructors in the United States.
Contents
- Fitness facility membership and customer reach
- Fitness equipment and workout-format trends
- Personal training and small-group coaching
- U.S. aerobic activity by demographic and socioeconomic group
- Fitness participation by geography, health and access
- Fitness workforce, wages and employment outlook
Fitness Facility Membership and Customer Reach
The Health & Fitness Association’s 2024 figures measure a rolling 12-month participation rate from a nationally representative survey of 18,000 U.S. residents age 6 and older. They are estimates of participation and customer reach, not a census of unique gym visits.
| Measure | 2024 U.S. estimate | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Facility members | 77 million | Age 6+, rolling 12-month participation |
| Total facility customers | Nearly 96 million | Broader HFA customer definition |
| Membership penetration | 24.9% | Americans age 6+ |
| Customer penetration | 31.0% | Includes aggregator, pay-as-you-go, insurance and employer-program users |
Membership rose 5.6% year over year in 2024, while the broader customer measure reached nearly 96 million. The membership and customer percentages should not be treated as interchangeable: the latter includes people accessing facilities through several nontraditional payment or benefit arrangements.
Source: Health & Fitness Association, “How 77 Million Fitness Members Work Out: New HFA Data Reveals Shifting Equipment, Training, and Membership Trends”. The HFA figures are survey estimates for U.S. residents age 6 and older.
Fitness Equipment and Workout-Format Trends
Equipment use shows how facility members combine established cardio and strength formats with newer or expanding activities. These are self-reported participation percentages among U.S. members, not sales shares or equipment-market revenue.
| Activity or equipment | Earlier measure | 2024 measure | Period covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treadmills | — | 43.4% | 2024 members |
| Dumbbells or free weights | — | 32.1% | 2024 members |
| Resistance machines | 31.4% | 26.6% | 2021 to 2024 |
| Ellipticals | 23.2% | 18.8% | 2021 to 2024 |
| Yoga | 20.2% | 21.8% | 2023 to 2024 |
| Pilates | — | 8.1% | 2024 members |
| Pickleball | 3.3% | 8.1% | 2021 to 2024 |
Treadmills were the most commonly reported item in the supplied 2024 measures, at 43.4% of members, followed by dumbbells or free weights at 32.1%. Resistance-machine participation and elliptical participation were lower in 2024 than in 2021, but the HFA data is descriptive and does not establish why those changes occurred.
Yoga increased from 20.2% to 21.8% between 2023 and 2024, while pickleball rose from 3.3% in 2021 to 8.1% in 2024. Pilates reached 8.1% in 2024, giving the activity the same reported participation percentage as pickleball that year.
Source: Health & Fitness Association, “How 77 Million Fitness Members Work Out: New HFA Data Reveals Shifting Equipment, Training, and Membership Trends”. Percentages are self-reported HFA member participation measures.
Personal Training and Small-Group Coaching Statistics
Coaching is a substantial part of facility participation, but the available measures describe use and session frequency rather than total coaching revenue. In 2024, 22.6% of facility members used personal training and 32.3% used small-group training.
- Women’s personal-training participation rose 15.9% in 2024 among U.S. women fitness members.
- Women represented an estimated 7.3 million personal-training participants in the United States in 2024.
- Members using personal training completed an average of 21 sessions in 2024.
- Members using small-group training completed an average of 23 sessions in 2024.
The session averages apply to members who used the corresponding service, not to all facility members. Likewise, the women’s participation figure is a subgroup estimate and should not be generalized to every U.S. woman.
Source: Health & Fitness Association, “How 77 Million Fitness Members Work Out: New HFA Data Reveals Shifting Equipment, Training, and Membership Trends”. HFA reports these as survey-based participation and session estimates.
U.S. Aerobic Activity Statistics by Demographic and Socioeconomic Group
CDC/NCHS reported that 47.2% of U.S. adults age 18 and older met federal aerobic-activity guidelines in 2024. The measure covers leisure-time aerobic activity among the civilian noninstitutionalized population, not gym membership; the federal benchmark is 150–300 minutes of moderate activity, 75–150 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equivalent combination per week.
| Group | Meeting aerobic guidelines in 2024 |
|---|---|
| All adults age 18+ | 47.2% |
| Men | 52.3% |
| Women | 42.4% |
| Ages 18–34 | 54.0% |
| Ages 65+ | 38.4% |
| Non-Hispanic Asian adults | 47.9% |
| Hispanic adults | 43.8% |
| Non-Hispanic Black adults | 41.4% |
Socioeconomic differences were also visible in the 2024 estimate. Guideline attainment was 35.4% among adults below 100% of the federal poverty level and 56.5% among adults at 400% of the federal poverty level or above; it was 32.3% among adults without a high-school diploma or GED and 58.5% among adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The categories describe survey associations, not causal effects. Hispanic adults may be of any race, and the income and education classifications follow NHIS definitions.
Source: CDC/NCHS, “Aerobic Physical Activity Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2024”.
Fitness Participation by Geography, Health and Access
Participation varied across location, disability status and self-reported health in the 2024 CDC/NCHS measures. Adults in large central metropolitan areas had a 51.5% guideline-attainment rate, compared with 40.2% in nonmetropolitan areas; the West was at 51.9% and the South at 44.1%.
- 49.8% of adults without disabilities met aerobic-activity guidelines in 2024, compared with 22.4% of adults with disabilities.
- 38.0% of adults with obesity met aerobic-activity guidelines in 2024.
- 23.7% of adults reporting fair or poor health met aerobic-activity guidelines in 2024.
BMI category, self-rated health and activity are observational measures. These figures do not show that one condition caused another, and they are not measures of facility availability or gym affordability.
For older adults, the combined measure is stricter because it requires both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. In 2022, 13.9% of U.S. adults age 65 and older met both guidelines.
| Older-adult subgroup | Meeting both guidelines in 2022 |
|---|---|
| Ages 65+ | 13.9% |
| Ages 65–74 | 16.8% |
| Ages 85+ | 6.2% |
| Older men | 16.9% |
| Older women | 11.5% |
| Metropolitan areas | 14.7% |
| Nonmetropolitan areas | 10.0% |
Among adults age 65 and older, combined-guideline attainment ranged from 6.4% below 100% of the federal poverty level to 21.4% at 400% of that level or above. It ranged from 4.5% among those below high-school education to 25.6% among those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Source: CDC/NCHS, “Aerobic Physical Activity Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2024” and CDC/NCHS, “Physical Activity Among Adults Age 65 and Older: United States, 2022”. Older-adult estimates are age adjusted unless noted and are descriptive.
Fitness Industry Workforce, Wages and Employment Outlook
BLS counted 279,450 exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in the United States in May 2023. This occupation code excludes athletic trainers and coaches classified under separate codes, so it does not represent every fitness-industry job.
| BLS measure | May 2023 |
|---|---|
| Employment | 279,450 |
| Mean hourly wage | $24.65 |
| Mean annual wage | $51,270 |
| Median annual wage | $46,480 |
| 90th-percentile annual wage | $80,740 |
By industry, other amusement and recreation industries employed 188,370 exercise trainers and group instructors, while fitness and recreational sports centers employed 183,990. These industry categories are not synonymous with all fitness facilities, and the counts should not be added as a complete industry total.
State employment counts included 39,470 in California, 19,030 in Texas and 18,720 in New York in May 2023. Those are observed state estimates for the occupation, not rankings of total fitness-industry employment.
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reports a 7% projected employment increase from 2025 to 2035 and about 68,000 average annual openings over that period. The openings figure includes replacement openings and is a forecast, not a count of realized hires.
For May 2025, the occupation-wide median annual wage was $47,160. The lowest 10% earned less than $28,800, while the highest 10% earned more than $83,100; these thresholds describe wage distribution rather than typical earnings for every trainer or instructor.
Source: BLS, “Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: 39-9031 Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors” and BLS, “Fitness Trainers and Instructors: Occupational Outlook Handbook”. BLS occupation and industry categories do not cover every fitness-industry job or business, and projected employment and openings are forecasts.