New HFA Data Shows How 77 Million US Fitness Facility Members Work Out
Posted: October 30, 2025 in IHRSA
The Health and Fitness Association
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Health & Fitness Association (HFA) releases the 2025 US Health & Fitness Consumer Report: Expanded Insights, the second installment of its annual national study of fitness participation and facility usage.
Where the first volume, Headline Trends, offered a high-level snapshot of industrywide membership and participation growth in 2024, the new companion report dives deeper into how Americans use their fitness facilities, including the equipment they use, which activities they choose, and how behaviors differ across gender, age, income and ethnicity. Based on a nationally representative survey of 18,000 US residents, the two volumes together provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how consumers engaged with the US fitness sector last year.
Membership across US fitness facilities reached a record 77 million in 2024, reflecting the continued expansion of structured exercise environments nationwide. Expanded Insights shows that the in-club experience continues to center around treadmills and free weights, even as preferences evolve. At the same time, more members are gravitating toward activities that emphasize balance and longevity, with yoga participation rising from 20% to nearly 22% year-over-year and Pilates exceeding 8%. Racquet sports are also enjoying a renaissance, with pickleball participation among fitness facility members more than doubling from 3% in 2021 to 8% in 2024.
The report also shows that professional coaching continues to play a key role in how members engage with their facilities. Nearly one-quarter of members (23%) used a personal trainer in 2024 and one-in-three (32%) took part in small-group training. Yet even as more people use these services, they are doing so less frequently, averaging 21 personal training sessions per year, down from 28 in 2019. Women drove much of the year’s growth in personal training, up 16% year-over-year to 7.3 million, while teens and Gen X adults led gains in small-group formats.
These evolving habits are also reflected in how people choose and combine their memberships. More than a quarter of members now belong to more than one facility, with over 75% of studio users maintaining at least one additional membership.
“The new report illustrates how Americans are blending equipment, formats, and coaching in ways that are reshaping how facilities serve their members,” said Anton Severin, vice president of research at HFA. “We’re seeing greater variety in how people train and a stronger focus on longevity, recovery, and balance—clear signs that fitness has become a lifelong pursuit rather than a temporary phase.”
The 2025 US Health & Fitness Consumer Report: Expanded Insights is based on nationally representative survey data and covers a wide range
of topics of strategic relevance to operators, suppliers, policymakers, and advocates, including:
- Member demographics by facility type, gender, age group, income, and race/ethnicity;
- Overlap between facility types and multi-membership patterns;
- Attendance frequency and engagement intensity across member segments;
- Tenure and retention benchmarks by age, gender, and club type;
- Membership fee patterns;
- Studio specialization and trends across six studio subtypes;
- Personal training and small group training participation among members;
- Fitness equipment utilization and activity participation among members.
Premium and standard HFA members and industry partner members can access the report for free via their HFA profile. Membership includes access to a wide range of research, advocacy, and business resources.
The report is available to non-members for $299.
