United States

Country Insights

Record Participation Meets a New Prevention Agenda

By Anton Severin, Vice President of Research, Health & Fitness Association

Industry Performance and Market Dynamics

An increasingly health-aware public drove broad growth across the US fitness market in 2025. According to HFA's US Fitness Industry Traffic Tracker, commercial facilities averaged more than 184,000 visits per location annually, and fourth quarter 2025 marked the industry's 19th consecutive quarter of visitation growth. Inactive memberships dropped to a record low of 4.6%, signaling that Americans are not only joining facilities but actively engaging with them.

Growth varied across market segments. HVLP gyms and premium lifestyle clubs led the momentum, while boutique studio and mid-market operators maintained a strong presence. Planet Fitness led the HVLP category, while Crunch Fitness, EōS Fitness, and Chuze Fitness also expanded. Premium operators posted strong results, led by Life Time's 14.3% revenue increase to nearly US$3.0 billion and continued expansion from Equinox and The Bay Club Company.

In the studio category, Xponential Fitness grew system-wide sales, while Club Pilates and HOTWORX led in unit gains. In the mid-market, Anytime Fitness and LA Fitness anchored the segment, alongside brands such as 24 Hour Fitness, Workout Anytime, and Gold's Gym.

Institutional investment and brand acquisitions also defined the market throughout 2025 and into early 2026. Crunch Fitness attracted a majority stake from Leonard Green & Partners, while TSG Consumer Partners acquired EōS Fitness. The Bay Club Company pursued acquisitions across the West Coast, and Xponential Fitness sold CycleBar and Rumble to Extraordinary Brands as part of broader studio-segment consolidation.

On the consumer side, demand for resistance training, mind-body practices, and social wellness shaped the market. The 2026 HFA US Health & Fitness Consumer Report shows that free-weight usage grew faster than any other equipment category, while pickleball participation among members surged 21.3% to 7.6 million participants. Mind-body formats, including yoga and Pilates, continued their upward trajectory, while standalone cardio and traditional high-intensity formats softened.

Broader demographic trends are also reshaping facility programming and design. Gen Z adults ages 18 to 24 recorded the highest penetration rate of any age cohort at 35.5%, while adults 65 and older emerged as the fastest-growing membership segment. Penetration rates rose across all income levels and racial and ethnic communities, reinforcing the industry's expanding role as accessible public health infrastructure.

Policy, Advocacy, and Public Health

The policy environment for the US health and fitness industry continued to evolve in 2025 and 2026. At the state level, lawmakers introduced more than 160 bills affecting fitness facilities, resulting in 21 enacted laws across a wide range of policy areas. Legislative activity largely centered on consumer protection requirements, including click-to-cancel mandates, automatic renewal regulations, pricing transparency, and biometric data privacy. At the same time, the industry successfully defeated or amended proposals involving membership taxes, contractor classification, liability waivers, and operational requirements through coordinated advocacy efforts. These trends underscore the increasingly complex regulatory landscape facing operators across the United States.

At the federal level, Congress continued to recognize physical activity as an important component of preventive healthcare. Bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act, legislation that would permanently authorize the development and publication of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans on a regular ten-year cycle, ensuring continued federal leadership on evidence-based physical activity recommendations. Additional bipartisan momentum continued behind the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act, which would allow Americans to use pre-tax Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to pay for qualified physical activity expenses. The inclusion of similar language in the House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act demonstrated continued congressional support for expanding access to physical activity through the tax code, even though the provision was not included in the final enacted legislation.

Significant progress also occurred within federal healthcare policy. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continued integrating physical activity into clinical care by establishing reimbursement for standardized physical activity assessments as part of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit through the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. This marked the first time Medicare formally recognized assessment of physical activity as a reimbursable preventive service, representing an important milestone in treating physical activity as a routine clinical risk factor and strengthening connections between healthcare providers and community-based exercise resources. At the same time, national health data standards advanced through the inclusion of standardized physical activity measures within Health Level Seven (HL7), laying the foundation for more consistent documentation and interoperability across electronic health records.

Collectively, these developments reflect a fundamental shift in US public health policy toward prevention, chronic disease management, and the integration of physical activity into healthcare delivery. As policymakers increasingly recognize exercise as an evidence-based intervention, health and fitness facilities are becoming more firmly established as essential partners in improving population health and reducing healthcare costs. HFA's research on the intersection of exercise and GLP-1 therapies reinforces this shift. The research found that pairing GLP-1 medications with structured exercise can significantly reduce the loss of lean muscle mass commonly associated with weight loss medications while improving long-term health outcomes. Combining GLP-1 therapy with regular exercise is projected to avoid up to US$28 billion in cumulative medical and societal costs over 10 years and generate a nearly 1,600% return on investment over 30 years. These findings strengthen the case for recognizing health clubs and fitness facilities as critical components of the healthcare ecosystem and essential partners in delivering healthier populations while lowering long-term healthcare expenditures.

Economic and External Context

The sector's growth occurred against a mixed macroeconomic backdrop. US real GDP grew by 2.1% in 2025, a modest deceleration from 2024's 2.8% expansion. Unemployment closed the year at 4.4%. Despite mixed economic results across industries, the fitness sector held firm as consumers continued to prioritize health, mental wellness, and community connection.

An HFA survey from December 2025 showed consumers intending to allocate an estimated US$60 billion toward health and fitness goals in 2026, treating gym memberships as a protected household expense even amid broader economic pressures. Operators must nevertheless navigate potential supply-chain adjustments, continued wage pressure, and the cost of expanding or modernizing facilities.

Outlook and Key Drivers

The US health and fitness industry entered 2026 positioned for continued expansion, supported by robust consumer commitment, sustained institutional capital, and growing recognition of fitness as part of the prevention infrastructure. The most important commercial growth drivers include continued strength in HVLP and premium models, expansion of strength and mind-body training, active aging programming, social and sport-based fitness formats, and investment in data and personalization.

The industry's long-term commercial momentum is increasingly intersecting with the medical continuum. As prevention, obesity care, active aging, and chronic disease management receive greater policy attention, commercial fitness facilities are evolving from exercise venues into partners within the public health system. Operators that successfully integrate health-tracking technology, structured exercise support, and clinical prevention partnerships will be best positioned to lead the next phase of growth.

Risks remain. Regulatory complexity, affordability constraints, operating-cost pressure, and uneven access to facilities could temper growth if not addressed. Even so, the industry's record participation levels, strong visit trends, and expanding policy relevance suggest that the US market is entering a new phase in which fitness is increasingly positioned as both a consumer service and a core contributor to national health.