The U.S. fitness industry counted 33,232 employer firms running 40,786 fitness and recreational sports centers in 2022, with 649,964 employees and $37.9 billion in receipts. Most of those businesses are small: 84 percent have fewer than 20 employees, yet the 16 percent with 20 or more take in 73 percent of the revenue. Every figure below comes from the Census Bureau or the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How many gyms and fitness centers are there in the United States?
There are 33,232 employer firms classified as fitness and recreational sports centers (NAICS 713940) in the United States, operating 40,786 establishments, according to the Census Bureau's 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses. That category covers gyms, health clubs, boutique and group-fitness studios, climbing gyms, swim and racquet clubs and similar membership facilities. Because a firm can own several locations, the gap between 33,232 firms and 40,786 establishments is a rough measure of how many multi-site operators exist.
A second Census category, sports and recreation instruction (NAICS 611620), adds 18,708 firms and 19,658 locations with $11.7 billion in receipts: martial arts schools, dance and gymnastics instruction, personal training studios and sports camps that bill for coaching rather than for membership access. Counting both, the employer side of the U.S. fitness business is roughly 52,000 firms and 60,000 locations, before the independent trainers who work for themselves.
How much revenue does the average gym make?
Fitness and recreational sports centers averaged about $1.14 million in receipts per firm in 2022 ($37.9 billion across 33,232 firms), or about $929,000 per location. That average hides a very wide spread. A fitness business with fewer than five employees averaged about $212,000, one with five to nine employees about $406,000, and firms with fewer than 20 employees as a group about $365,000.
The 5,266 firms with 20 or more employees averaged about $5.25 million each and took in $27.7 billion, which is 73.1 percent of the whole industry's receipts. In plain terms, the big-box chains and multi-site clubs earn most of the money, while the typical independent gym or studio is a sub-$500,000 business. Sports and recreation instruction firms averaged about $626,000, with those under five employees averaging about $241,000.
How small is the typical fitness business?
Nearly half of all fitness center firms, 15,825 of 33,232 or 47.6 percent, have fewer than five employees, and 27,966 (84.2 percent) have fewer than 20. Sports and recreation instruction is even smaller: 59.4 percent of firms have fewer than five employees and 89.3 percent fewer than 20.
Employment runs the other way. Firms with fewer than 20 employees provide 143,724 of the industry's 649,964 jobs, or 22.1 percent, while the 15.8 percent of firms with 20 or more staff employ the other 78 percent. A boutique studio with a handful of instructors and a national chain with hundreds of locations sit in the same Census category, and the data shows how differently they are built.
What do fitness businesses spend on payroll, and what do trainers earn?
Fitness and recreational sports centers paid $12.1 billion in annual payroll in 2022, or 31.9 percent of receipts; for firms with fewer than 20 employees the ratio was 28.5 percent. Sports and recreation instruction businesses ran at 32.4 percent. Payroll is therefore a smaller share of revenue than in service industries such as salons or healthcare, which is one reason a gym's economics turn more on rent, equipment and member retention than on wages.
On the workforce side, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 388,400 fitness trainer and instructor jobs in 2025, with a median pay of $47,160 a year ($22.67 an hour). Employment is projected to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, adding about 28,500 jobs, which the BLS describes as much faster than average. 55 percent of trainers work in fitness and recreational sports centers and 15 percent are self-employed, so a meaningful share of the industry's labor is contracted rather than on payroll.
What these numbers mean for financing a gym or studio
The data describes a capital-intensive business with modest payroll and a long tail of small operators. Equipment, build-out and lease deposits come before the first membership dollar, and member counts in a new location take months to reach break-even, so most independent owners finance the opening and the first expansion rather than fund them from cash flow. Equipment purchases are usually handled with equipment financing, where the machines themselves are the collateral, while build-out and marketing are more often covered by a term loan, a line of credit or revenue-based funding sized on monthly membership receipts.
Our guides on business funding for gyms, funding for fitness studios, funding for yoga studios and funding for martial arts schools cover the products that fit each model. The Broker Shop is a funding broker, not a lender: one application is matched to the lenders among 50+ whose guidelines fit your business, and those lenders compete for the deal. Checking your options won't affect your credit score, and it is free to apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many gyms are in the U.S.?
The Census Bureau's 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses counts 33,232 employer firms operating 40,786 fitness and recreational sports centers, the category that includes gyms, health clubs and fitness studios. A further 18,708 firms with 19,658 locations are classified as sports and recreation instruction, such as martial arts schools and personal training studios, for roughly 52,000 employer firms and 60,000 locations in total.
What is the average revenue of a gym?
Fitness and recreational sports centers averaged about $1.14 million in annual receipts per firm in 2022 ($37.9 billion across 33,232 firms) and about $929,000 per location, according to Census SUSB data. The typical independent operator is much smaller: a fitness business with fewer than five employees averaged about $212,000, and one with five to nine employees about $406,000, while firms with 20 or more employees averaged about $5.25 million.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses, firms, establishments, employment, payroll and receipts by NAICS 713940 and 611620, by enterprise size · Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook, Fitness Trainers and Instructors (2025 employment, median pay, 2025–35 projections, employment by industry)
Found these figures useful? You are welcome to cite or link to this page. Suggested attribution: “Fitness Industry Statistics 2026,” The Broker Shop — thebrokershopinc.com/fitness-industry-statistics-2026.html. Every figure links to its original primary source; averages and shares are computed from the Census totals named above.
Fund the build-out before the memberships arrive
Equipment, lease deposits and the ramp to break-even all come before the first full month of dues. One 2-minute application is matched to the lenders whose guidelines fit a gym or studio. It's free, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
See What I Qualify For →The bottom line: The fitness industry is 33,232 firms and 40,786 locations earning $37.9 billion, where the 16 percent of operators with 20 or more employees collect 73 percent of the revenue; the independent gym or studio that competes with them is usually a sub-$500,000 business whose growth is paced by how it finances equipment and build-out.