Trade / United States

How many fitness and recreational sports centers are in the United States?

41,556 establishments with paid employees in 2023, +13.8% since 2017, employing 708,273 people.

UNITED STATES · 2023

41,556

fitness and recreational sports centers

Employees: 708,273
Average per site: 17.0
Change since 2017: +13.8%
Under 5 employees: 41%

By state

Click a column heading to sort. The last column compares the trade's share of a state's employer businesses with its share nationally: 1.00x is the national average.

Filter states

#	State
1	California	5,371	86,970	+22.2%	1.05x
2	Texas	3,465	53,039	+36.8%	1.04x
3	Florida	2,791	39,978	+25.7%	0.87x
4	New York	2,498	45,436	−4.1%	0.93x
5	Pennsylvania	1,637	27,888	+8.1%	1.07x
6	Illinois	1,621	32,618	+5.8%	1.01x
7	New Jersey	1,495	28,262	−0.7%	1.26x
8	North Carolina	1,415	23,688	+16.8%	1.10x
9	Ohio	1,294	22,860	+10.3%	1.02x
10	Massachusetts	1,230	25,109	+0.5%	1.35x
11	Virginia	1,220	21,975	+13.1%	1.16x
12	Georgia	1,186	18,346	+12.3%	0.91x
13	Washington	1,054	19,125	+13.6%	1.05x
14	Colorado	972	15,231	+23.7%	1.07x
15	Michigan	930	17,829	+10.7%	0.82x
16	Wisconsin	836	17,773	+16.9%	1.16x
17	Arizona	813	16,141	+24.1%	1.00x
18	Tennessee	786	12,702	+27.0%	1.05x
19	Minnesota	748	14,939	−1.2%	0.97x
20	Indiana	739	12,675	+14.9%	0.96x
21	Maryland	704	14,580	−1.7%	0.99x
22	Missouri	697	12,441	+13.0%	0.93x
23	Connecticut	578	11,064	−3.2%	1.30x
24	South Carolina	574	8,457	+18.8%	0.94x
25	Oregon	555	8,219	+8.4%	0.91x
26	Louisiana	509	6,186	+8.3%	0.94x
27	Alabama	495	6,802	+21.9%	0.94x
28	Oklahoma	410	6,655	+19.9%	0.86x
29	Iowa	398	7,093	+7.3%	0.96x
30	Kentucky	390	6,699	+7.1%	0.83x
31	Utah	367	7,579	+35.9%	0.77x
32	Nevada	345	6,406	+20.6%	0.90x
33	Nebraska	304	5,439	+10.1%	1.08x
34	Kansas	302	6,209	+3.1%	0.80x
35	New Hampshire	292	4,732	+17.7%	1.50x
36	Arkansas	257	2,724	+26.0%	0.73x
37	Mississippi	255	3,147	+0.8%	0.85x
38	Idaho	233	3,672	+30.2%	0.81x
39	Montana	215	3,058	+25.0%	1.02x
40	New Mexico	201	2,729	+6.3%	0.90x
41	Maine	189	2,650	+24.3%	0.88x
42	Rhode Island	178	2,609	+9.2%	1.21x
43	Delaware	170	2,956	+16.4%	1.15x
44	District of Columbia	121	2,175	−2.4%	1.02x
45	West Virginia	118	1,566	−7.8%	0.66x
46	South Dakota	114	1,846	−4.2%	0.79x
47	North Dakota	112	2,168	+15.5%	0.89x
48	Hawaii	99	1,873	+19.3%	0.61x
49	Vermont	92	1,445	−6.1%	0.89x
50	Alaska	91	1,546	0.0%	0.83x
51	Wyoming	90	964	+8.4%	0.76x

Size of the businesses

Fitness centers in the U.S. by employees
Employees per site	Sites	Share
Under 5	16,986	40.9%
5 to 9	7,544	18.2%
10 to 19	8,082	19.5%
20 to 49	5,735	13.8%
50 to 99	2,055	5.0%
100 to 249	958	2.3%
250 to 499	151	0.4%

Questions

How many fitness and recreational sports centers are there in the United States?

41,556 establishments with paid employees in 2023 per the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, employing 708,273 people.

Which state has the most fitness and recreational sports centers?

California has the most with 5,371, followed by Texas (3,465) and Florida (2,791). Large states lead simply because they have more people and businesses; the last column shows the trade's share of a state's businesses against the national share.

Read this before using the number

Establishments with paid employees only. Self-employed people with no staff are not in these counts. The figures describe existing businesses, not demand or earnings. See the disclaimer.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (2023; change measured against 2017, 2019 and 2022). Establishments with paid employees only; employment and payroll carry Census noise infusion. Retrieved November 2, 2026. Method and sources.