TL;DR: This post breaks down the latest gym membership statistics on industry growth, member demographics, attendance patterns, and retention — plus what each trend means for fitness business owners planning for 2026 and beyond.
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The U.S. fitness industry just hit a major milestone. Gym memberships reached a record 77 million in 2024, according to the Health & Fitness Association.
More people than ever are investing in their health, and the businesses that serve them need to keep up.
This is where gym membership statistics come in. Whether you run a single studio or manage multiple locations, the right data helps you benchmark your performance, spot trends before your competitors do, and make smarter decisions about where to invest next.
In this post, we’ll break down the most current numbers on membership growth, demographics, attendance, and retention. We’ll also dig into what each stat means for fitness business owners planning for this year and beyond.
Did you know? Many of the insights here draw on ABC Fitness’s Wellness Watch reports, which break down the fitness industry’s biggest trends based on exclusive consumer research and platform data from our 40 million members, 30,000+ gyms and studios, and 570,000+ personal trainers and coaches.
Combined with third-party research, these numbers give you a well-rounded view of where the market stands and where it’s heading. Let’s dig in!
Table of Contents
- The Fitness Industry Is Growing, Fast
- Who’s Joining: Gym Membership Trends by Demographics
- Gym Attendance Statistics: How Often Members Show Up
- Gym Membership Retention Statistics Every Owner Should Know
- What the Numbers Mean for Your Fitness Business
- FAQs: Gym Membership Statistics
The Fitness Industry Is Growing, Fast
As of 2024, one in four Americans aged six and older now belongs to a gym, studio, or fitness facility (HFA). And this growth isn’t limited to the U.S.
Globally, the health and fitness club market was worth $121 billion in 2024. By 2032, it’s expected to nearly double to $245 billion, growing at about 9.3% per year (Fortune Business Insights).
“The fact that memberships didn’t just bounce back but blew past pre-pandemic numbers shows how much people value in-person fitness.”
The growth over the past five years is especially striking. U.S. gym memberships jumped 20% between 2019 and 2024 (HFA). Keep in mind, this window included a global pandemic, lockdowns, and a boom in at-home fitness options. The fact that memberships didn’t just bounce back but blew past pre-pandemic numbers shows how much people value in-person fitness.
Here’s another gym membership trend worth paying attention to: studios are now the most popular facility type in the U.S., with 23.1 million members in 2024. Fitness-only gyms come in just behind at 22.2 million (HFA).
These numbers tell us consumers are choosing specialized, experience-driven fitness, which is exactly the kind of environment boutique operators are built to deliver.
📝 Read More: How Community Engagement Fuels Studio Growth (and How to Measure It)
What this means for gym and studio owners
The market is growing, but so is competition. More facilities are opening, fees are going up, and members have more options than ever. These gym membership statistics should feel both encouraging and motivating.
If you run a boutique studio, you’re in a strong position. The data confirms that people are drawn to the focused, community-driven experiences studios offer. If your business is built around a specific workout style or member experience, the market is moving your way.
There’s also a huge untapped opportunity. Only about 1 in 4 U.S. adults meet physical activity guidelines, according to CDC data. That means roughly 75% of adults aren’t getting enough structured exercise.
At the same time, more people want to be active. According to ABC Fitness’s Q1 2025 Wellness Watch report, 76% of consumers now identify as physically active — up 10% since 2021. So the demand for structured fitness keeps expanding, even among people who aren’t yet paying members.
This adds up to a clear opportunity for fitness business owners: more people want to move, most aren’t meeting guidelines, and studios are the facility type they’re choosing most. The window to grow your membership base is wide open.
Who’s Joining: Gym Membership Trends by Demographics
The people walking through your doors look different than they did five years ago.
According to the HFA, the typical gym member has trended younger, more male, less affluent, and more ethnically diverse in recent years. This reflects a real change in who’s choosing structured fitness.
The biggest driver? Gen Z. According to ABC Fitness’s 2025 recap, 47% of all new gym joins in 2025 came from Gen Z, and total new joins hit 7.2 million for the year.
That’s nearly half of all new members coming from a single generation.
Our Fall 2024 data adds more context. Younger generations are far more likely to use fitness facilities: 73% of Gen Z and 72% of Millennials compared to just 54% of Gen X and 42% of Boomers.
And, according to our Fall 2025 report, 60% of new joins to big box gyms come from members aged 18-35.
The income of today’s active consumer is shifting, too. Members earning over $75,000 per year still make up just over half of all memberships, but growth has accelerated among middle-income households (HFA). This means that, rather than being seen as a luxury, fitness is becoming a priority across income levels.
Finally, our Fall 2025 report shows that today’s active consumer skews single (50%) and urban (60%), with a near-even gender split: 52% men and 47% women.
The generational shift operators can’t ignore
Younger members have very different expectations from the Boomers who’ve been your most loyal visitors.
Nearly half of Gen Z respondents say community is the primary reason they stick with fitness (ABC Fitness, Fall 2025). They want to feel like they belong somewhere, not just swipe in and swipe out.
Millennials present a different challenge. According to our Fall 2024 report, 65% of Millennials have been members of their current club for 6 months to 3 years. That’s shorter than older generations, which means your retention strategy can’t wait. You need to engage these members from day one.
Then there are Boomers. They’re the most consistent visitors: 80% consider themselves active, and 36% visit their facility more than 12 times a month (ABC Fitness, Fall 2024). They’re loyal, but they make up the smallest share of new growth.
The bottom line for operators: you need to serve both ends of the spectrum. Build community and digital touch points to attract and retain Gen Z and Millennials. At the same time, don’t neglect the Boomers who keep your attendance numbers strong week after week.
📝Check Out: What Fitness Businesses Need to Know About Gen Z Members
Gym Attendance Statistics: How Often Members Show Up
Gym members are visiting less often than they used to. In 2024, the average member visited 1.5 times per week. This number was 2.1 in 2019 (HFA).
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Discover more But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Your members haven’t stopped working out, they’ve simply added more ways to do it. The HFA found that people are filling the gap with outdoor exercise, home workouts, and recreational sports.
ABC Fitness data tells the same story: 53% of active consumers exercise outdoors, and more than half work out at home. This means that people are still moving, they’re just not doing all of it at the gym.
Why this matters: visit frequency on its own doesn’t tell you whether a member is engaged or at risk of canceling. Gyms and studios that also track app usage, digital content, and other touchpoints outside the facility are the ones seeing the full picture.
That said, foot traffic is still a clear indicator of market growth. In fact, the HFA FIT Tracker shows 19 straight quarters of rising visits. Facilities averaged 184,000+ visits per location in 2025, up 4.2% from 2024. That matches the pre-pandemic peak in 2017.
“Nineteen consecutive quarters of growth and a strong finish to 2025 highlight how firmly fitness has established itself in Americans’ routines,” said HFA vice president of research Anton Severin. “Even in periods of economic uncertainty and seasonal softness, the industry continues to demonstrate steady momentum.”
HVLP gyms are doing even better, sitting 22% above where they were before the pandemic.
ABC Fitness logged over 600 million check-ins across its network in 2025. January alone saw 106 million check-ins and 1.9 million new joins. The pace held all year.
Check-ins rose 8% year-over-year in Q2 and another 5% in Q3, with studios slightly ahead of gyms at 6% vs. 4%. Even during the summer, typically the slowest stretch of the year, big-box gyms posted a 10% jump in new joins.
For context, gym check-ins in Q1 2024 were already up 60% over Q1 2023. Studio check-ins rose 22% over that same period. By then, overall facility use had nearly doubled pre-pandemic levels. The growth hasn’t slowed. It’s built on itself quarter after quarter.
Today, 44% of active consumers work out 12 or more times per month — an 18% increase year-over-year. Demand for guided fitness is rising too. Personal training clients grew 78% YOY in 2024, and 38% of Gen Z now work with a trainer or coach.
Gym Membership Retention Statistics Every Owner Should Know
Half of new gym members quit within the first six months (HFA). In fact, most are gone after just 90 days. This stat shows up everywhere, but what matters more is understanding what makes members leave and what keeps them around.
Group exercise is one of the best tools for keeping members. A study by The Retention People looked at 10,000 UK gym members and found that members who only use gym equipment are 56% more likely to cancel than those who take group classes.
How you welcome new members matters, too. In a well-known study, Dr. Paul Bedford found that 87% of members who went through a full onboarding process were still active after 6 months. For members who got little or no onboarding, only 60% stayed. After a full year, the gap got even bigger: 70% of onboarded members were still around vs. just 38% of those who weren’t.
Your staff plays a big role in retention. One report from the HFA found that when staff had just 2 interactions with a member each month, that member made 1 extra visit the following month. That extra visit cut their cancellation risk by 33%! And 90% of members said they value communication from staff.
The business case for member retention is simple. Research by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company found that a 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25% to 95%. In fitness, where signing up a new member costs 5-25 times more than keeping one you already have, the math clearly favors retention.
These are longstanding industry benchmarks. Here’s what fresh data from our 2025 year-end report adds:
- Studios that focused on member engagement cut cancellations by 6% year-over-year
- Pilates studios saw cancellations drop 8.8%, even though new sign-ups fell 6.1% (This means a more committed member base can deliver better results than chasing volume)
- Across the broader network, check-ins rose 8% year-over-year at gyms and studios
Operators who put energy into keeping members engaged are winning on retention.
Why community is the new retention strategy
More than half of active consumers (57%) say social connection is the main reason they join a fitness community (ABC Fitness Fall 2025).
43% say they’ve gotten more involved in their fitness communities this year. And nearly half of Gen Z say community is the reason they stick around.
Instead of trying to compete on price or facilities alone, this is a data-backed case for investing in group programming, community features, and engagement tools.
📝 Check Out: Why Fitness Communities Drive Retention at Scale
What the Numbers Mean for Your Fitness Business
The gym membership statistics, trends, and retention data covered in this post all point toward clear actions for operators. Here’s what the numbers are telling us:
- The market is growing — and so is competition. Gym memberships in the U.S. are at an all-time high. Plus global revenue on pace to double by 2032. The opportunity is real, but standing still isn’t an option.
- Gen Z is your growth engine. They made up 47% of all new joins in 2025. They expect digital-first experiences, community, and flexibility.
- Retention beats acquisition on ROI. A 5% improvement in retention can boost profits by 25-95%. Acquiring a new member costs 5–25x more than keeping one.
- Onboarding is your highest-leverage window. Members who go through a full onboarding process retain at 87% after six months. Without it, this number drops to 60%.
- Group exercise keeps members longer. Gym-only members are 56% more likely to cancel than those who take group classes.
- Staff interactions move the needle. Just 2 interactions per month reduces cancellation risk by 33%.
- Visit frequency isn’t the whole story. Members are exercising more than ever, just across more channels. Track app usage, digital engagement, and class bookings alongside check-ins to grasp the bigger picture.
- Community drives loyalty. 57% of active consumers say social connection is why they join. Nearly half of Gen Z say it’s why they stay.
- Engagement-focused studios are outperforming. Studios that invested in engagement cut cancellations 6% YoY in 2025, even as new sign-ups slowed.
ABC Glofox helps fitness businesses act on these trends with automated nurturing and check-ins to reduce 90-day attrition, a premium branded app for member engagement, built-in booking and scheduling, and real-time reporting to spot at-risk members early.
FAQs: Gym Membership Statistics
What percentage of the population goes to the gym?
About 1 in 4 Americans (24.9%) aged six and older belonged to a gym, studio, or fitness facility in 2024 (HFA).
What percentage of gym members actually use their membership?
An estimated 67% of gym memberships go unused or are rarely used. Only about 18–20% of members attend regularly, defined as three or more times per week.
What is the average gym membership retention rate?
The annual retention rate is about 66.4%, meaning roughly 1 in 3 members cancel each year (HFA 2025 Benchmarking Report). Half of new members quit within their first six months.
How often does the average gym member work out?
The average member visited 1.5 times per week in 2024, down from 2.1 in 2019 (HFA). However, 44% of active consumers now work out 12+ times per month when you include activity outside the gym (ABC Fitness Q1 2025).
How many people have a gym membership in the U.S.?
A record 77 million Americans held a gym membership in 2024, up 20% from 2019 (HFA).
How much does the average gym membership cost?
The average monthly gym membership was $69 in 2024, up from $65 in 2023 (HFA 2025 Benchmarking Report).
Build a Stronger Fitness Business with ABC Glofox
These gym membership statistics are clear: the fitness industry is growing, members are more active than ever, and the businesses winning on retention are the ones investing in engagement.
Whether you’re a boutique studio owner or managing multiple locations, the right tools make all the difference.
ABC Glofox gives you everything you need to turn these trends into results — from automated member nurturing and a premium branded app to real-time reporting that helps you spot at-risk members before they cancel.
Book a free demo and see how ABC Glofox can help you grow today.
