Gym accessibility is measured in several different ways: modeled proximity to parks and recreational facilities, reported availability, membership, visits, and physical-activity outcomes. The figures below cover U.S. counties, states, regions, demographic groups and a targeted rural-men sample, with dates and definitions kept explicit.
Key Gym Accessibility Statistics
The most useful national and subgroup figures include:
- In 2014, 77% of the U.S. population had modeled access to at least one park or recreational facility under the CDC’s geospatial definition.
- In 2014, 52% was the mean share of residents with access across 3,114 U.S. counties.
- In 2014, county access ranged from 0% to 100% across 3,114 U.S. counties.
- In 2014, 19.5% was the mean share of county residents living within a half-mile of a park in the U.S. county analysis.
- In 2014, 38.9% was the mean share living within one mile of an urban or three miles of a rural recreational facility.
- In 2024, 77 million Americans held fitness-facility memberships according to the Health & Fitness Association estimate.
- In 2024, nearly 19 million additional Americans used fitness facilities as non-members.
- In the first half of 2025, visits to U.S. commercial fitness facilities rose 3.5% year over year.
- In 2017–2020, 25.3% of U.S. adults reported no physical activity outside regular work in the previous month.
- In 2017–2020, Colorado had the lowest reported inactivity prevalence at 17.7% among states and territories.
- In 2017–2020, Puerto Rico had the highest reported inactivity prevalence at 49.4%.
- In 2024, 26.4% of U.S. adults met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines during leisure time.
- In 2024, 47.2% of U.S. adults met the aerobic guideline.
- In 2024, 58.5% of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher met the aerobic guideline, compared with 32.3% without a high school diploma or GED.
- In 2024, 51.5% of adults in large central metropolitan areas met the aerobic guideline, compared with 40.2% in nonmetropolitan areas.
- In 2024, 49.8% of adults without disabilities met the aerobic guideline, compared with 22.4% of adults with disabilities.
- In 2024, 32.1% of adults aged 18–44 met both activity guidelines, compared with 15.5% of adults aged 65 and older.
- In a 2023 study of 447 rural U.S. men, 44.4% used a gym and 27.3% reported no gym availability.
Contents
- National gym accessibility data
- Gym membership and facility-use trends
- Regional gym accessibility and inactivity statistics
- Racial and ethnic differences in physical activity
- Income, education and urbanization gaps
- Age and disability patterns
- Rural gym availability and preferred access features
National Gym Accessibility Data
The CDC’s 2014 measure defines access using census-block buffers: one-half mile to a park, one mile to an urban recreational facility, or three miles to a rural recreational facility. It is therefore a modeled exercise-opportunity measure, not a count of commercial gyms, memberships, prices or equipment quality.
| Measure | Result | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Mean county access | 52% | 3,114 U.S. counties, 2014 |
| National population access | 77% | United States, 2014 |
| Mean park proximity | 19.5% | County residents within 0.5 mile, 2014 |
| Mean recreational-facility proximity | 38.9% | Within 1 mile urban or 3 miles rural, 2014 |
The county distribution was wide: 19 counties had 0% access and 51 had 100% access, while the top 10% of counties reached at least 85%. District of Columbia residents had 100% modeled access in this measure, though that does not mean every resident had affordable, physically accessible or universally suitable gym entry.
State access ranged from 46% in Mississippi to 91% in Maryland. Regional averages were 86% in the Northeast, 77% in the West, 64% in the Southwest and 61% in the Southeast.
The same analysis found ecological associations between access and health indicators. Access correlated -0.47 with the percentage of adults reporting no leisure-time physical activity, -0.38 with premature death, -0.32 with fair or poor health, and -0.36 with obesity; it also correlated -0.24 with physically unhealthy days and -0.14 with mentally unhealthy days in the previous 30 days.
These are county-level correlations, so they do not establish that facility proximity caused an individual’s activity or health outcome.
Gym Membership and Facility-Use Trends
Commercial-facility participation provides a different view of accessibility. The Health & Fitness Association estimated that 77 million Americans held fitness-facility memberships in 2024, while nearly 19 million additional Americans used fitness facilities as non-members; these categories include gyms, studios and other fitness facilities.
Source: 2025 Fitness Industry Foot Traffic Trends: Budget Gyms Booming, Engagement Up Across All Segments.
| Facility segment | First-half 2025 result | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| All tracked U.S. facilities | +3.5% | Visits year over year |
| All users | +1.4% | Monthly visits per user year over year |
| High-value, low-price facilities | +3.8% | Total visits year over year |
| Mid-priced gyms | +3.7% | Total visits year over year |
| Luxury facilities | -0.9% | Average visits year over year |
| Boutique studios | +0.8% | Total visits year over year |
The HFA FIT Tracker recorded 193,000 visits per high-value, low-price location in the first half of 2025. Boutique-studio users visited 2.5 times per month on average during the same period.
These traffic figures describe tracked commercial-facility use, not all exercise locations. They also cannot show whether a person could afford a facility, reach it without a car, use its equipment, or obtain accommodations for disability.
Regional Gym Accessibility and Inactivity Statistics
The CDC’s BRFSS measure defines inactivity as reporting no physical activity or exercise outside regular work during the previous month. Across the United States, 52 jurisdictions and combined 2017–2020 data, 25.3% of adults were inactive by that definition.
Source: Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work.
| Region or jurisdiction | Inactivity, 2017–2020 |
|---|---|
| West | 21.0% |
| Northeast | 24.7% |
| Midwest | 25.2% |
| South | 27.5% |
| Colorado | 17.7% |
| Puerto Rico | 49.4% |
The regional inactivity rates do not isolate gym access. For comparison, the separate 2014 geospatial study found average modeled population access of 86% in Northeastern states and 61% in Southeastern states, using park and recreational-facility buffers rather than commercial-gym availability.
The CDC reported that 49 of 52 jurisdictions had sufficient data for its race and ethnicity inactivity results. This is a coverage statistic, not a participation rate.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Physical Activity
BRFSS results show different levels of reported inactivity outside work among U.S. racial and ethnic groups. These results describe activity behavior, not the presence or absence of a gym.
| Group | Inactivity, 2017–2020 |
|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic Asian adults | 20.1% |
| Non-Hispanic White adults | 23.0% |
| Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults | 29.1% |
| Non-Hispanic Black adults | 30.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino/a adults | 32.1% |
Source: Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work.
At least 30% inactivity was reported in 27 states for non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults, in 23 states and the District of Columbia for non-Hispanic Black adults, and in 25 states and Puerto Rico for Hispanic or Latino/a adults. These threshold counts are not national prevalence estimates and should not be read as direct measures of facility supply.
Income, Education and Urbanization Gaps in Gym-Related Activity
The 2024 National Health Interview Survey reported that 47.2% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older met the aerobic guideline, while 26.4% met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines during leisure time. Guideline attainment is an outcome measure, not a direct measure of gym affordability or distance.
Source: Aerobic Physical Activity Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2024 and Increase the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity — infographic.
Education differences were substantial:
- Aerobic-guideline attainment was 32.3% for adults without a high school diploma or GED.
- It was 38.6% for adults with a high school diploma or GED, 47.4% for adults with an associate degree or some college, and 58.5% for adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Regional aerobic-guideline attainment was 51.9% in the West, 48.4% in the Northeast, 46.4% in the Midwest and 44.1% in the South. By urbanization, the rate was 51.5% in large central metropolitan areas and 40.2% in nonmetropolitan areas.
These associations may reflect multiple factors, including resources, time, transportation, neighborhood design and opportunities beyond gyms; the supplied survey figures do not identify a single cause.
Age and Disability Patterns in Fitness Accessibility
In 2024, the share meeting both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines was 32.1% among adults aged 18–44, 22.6% among those aged 45–64, and 15.5% among adults aged 65 and older. The 18–44 rate was 16.6 percentage points higher than the 65-and-older rate in the Healthy People 2030 disparity calculation.
For aerobic activity alone, 54.0% of adults aged 18–34 and 38.4% of adults aged 65 and older met the guideline in 2024. Adults without disabilities had a 49.8% rate, compared with 22.4% among adults with disabilities.
The same CDC/NCHS report found aerobic-guideline attainment of 54.8% among adults with healthy weight, 49.8% among overweight adults, 44.3% among underweight adults and 38.0% among adults with obesity. By self-assessed health, the rates were 57.8% for excellent or very good health, 39.3% for good health, and 23.7% for fair or poor health.
These are self-reported activity, health, disability and BMI associations. They do not identify barriers inside particular gyms or prove that gym access produced the observed differences.
Rural Gym Availability and Preferred Access Features
A 2023 study of 447 rural U.S. men measured reported resource availability and use. The sample is targeted and small, so its percentages are not nationally representative of all rural residents.
Source: Physical Activity Among Rural Men: Barriers and Preferences.
| Resource | Used | Available but unused | Not available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gym | 44.4% | 28.3% | 27.3% |
| Park | 62.4% | 21.3% | 16.3% |
| Sidewalks around home | 68.9% | 7.8% | 23.3% |
| In-home exercise area | 64.5% | 11.1% | 24.4% |
| Outdoor recreational area | 54.6% | 18.2% | 27.2% |
The study also asked which program features respondents preferred or required:
- 81.0% preferred or required instructions on how to exercise.
- 78.1% preferred or required a program that could be done from home.
- 74.2% preferred or required a program incorporating physical activity into the daily routine.
- 71.2% preferred or required outdoor rather than indoor exercise.
- 70.1% preferred or required instructions about the benefits of exercise.
These preferences suggest that accessibility can involve guidance, location and format as well as a facility’s physical presence. They do not measure actual home-equipment ownership, program completion or the quality of available accommodations.