{"id":67231,"date":"2025-08-14T20:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67231\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T20:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T20:35:13","slug":"more-americans-are-playing-sports-especially-this-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67231\/","title":{"rendered":"More Americans Are Playing Sports\u2014Especially This One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Never mind the popular image of Americans as sedentary, housebound, and living on the couch. It turns out a whopping 80% of us are physically active, according to a new report<\/a> from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. That\u2019s 247 million people getting up and breaking a sweat as opposed to just 20%, or 62 million, who remain exercise averse. It\u2019s a continuation of a recent trend in the U.S.\u2014and it\u2019s fueled in part by the astonishing growth in one sport in particular. <\/p>\n

Pickleball saw a 46% increase in players from 2023 to 2024\u2014and a jump of 311% in just the past three years.<\/p>\n

The authors of the report surveyed participation in 124 sports and activities from 2019 to 2024, analyzing online interviews with 18,000 people. Far and away, the researchers found, the most popular physical activity Americans choose is walking for fitness<\/a>\u2014it\u2019s free, easy, and requires no investment at all beyond a comfortable pair of shoes. For more than 115 million active Americans, this is the exercise of choice. Next in line is trail hiking, with 63 million participants; treadmill running, at 56 million; free weights, also at 56 million; and jogging, at 51 million. Also making the top 25 are yoga (37 million), swimming (29 million), and wildlife viewing that requires considerable walking (21 million).<\/p>\n

Read More: What\u2019s the Least Amount of Exercise I Can Get Away With?<\/a><\/p>\n

In terms of the fastest-growing physical activities, \u201cracquet sports are number-one,\u201d says Alex Kerman, senior director of research operations and business development at the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. \u201cTennis has been doing pretty well, and pickleball is at an unprecedented level.\u201d Also growing quickly are pilates, trail running, and golf. <\/p>\n

The trends in the report are heartening for Americans\u2019 health, and, not for nothing, good news too for the marketers who supply the balls, helmets, paddles, and bats that keep us out on the greens, courts, tracks, and fields. \u201cProfitability among companies reached new heights,\u201d the authors of the report wrote, \u201cwith 65% reporting increased profitability in 2024\u2014the highest percentage recorded in the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what kickstarted the rise in Americans\u2019 activity levels, but Kerman believes the pandemic contributed. With people in sudden isolation\u2014and gyms, fitness centers, public pools, and golf courses closed for a time\u2014Americans filled part of their downtime with activities they could do masked or alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people were staying home, one of the only things they could do was exercise,\u201d says Kerman. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t do every form of activity, but you could go out for a walk or a run or a bike ride.\u201d As people began to socialize more, albeit while keeping their distance, sports like tennis and pickleball began to thrive. \u201cWe\u2019ve been tracking pickleball since 2014,\u201d says Kerman. \u201cIt\u2019s risen every single year, but you didn\u2019t see these enormous jumps til 2021 or 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

Income, too, plays a role in how active people are. Jogging, walking, and hiking<\/a> might be free, but activities like skiing<\/a>, golfing, and scuba diving can be pricey, and that showed up in the study\u2019s results. Among people with an annual income of $25,000 or less at the time of the study, just over 63% were active in 2024. One bracket higher, in the $25,000 to $49,999 cohort, that figure was over 73%. The numbers rise steadily into the $100,000 and up bracket, where 87% qualify as active. <\/p>\n

Read More: What Experts Think About the Japanese Walking Trend<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCost is the largest barrier to participation,\u201d says Kerman. \u201cThere\u2019s a significant difference between the lowest income level and the highest. In the past few years that gap has gotten smaller, which is great, but it clearly is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rising tide of active Americans is lifting the boats of the recreation sector. Last year, the industry expanded by 2.9%, beating the rise in the GDP, which was 2.8%\u2014an important benchmark of growth. \u201cThis was just the fourth time in 15 years where the industry grew more than the GDP,\u201d says Kerman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report does come with some important qualifiers. The 80% of the population labeled as active was inflated by including people who engaged in a sport or activity as little as once a year. Roughly 77 million Americans, aged six and over, are considered casual participants, which is about 30% of the 247 million people classified as active. And since 20% of us are not active at all, that means tens of millions of people facing a higher risk of obesity, heart disease, and other conditions that can be associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Nonetheless, the fitness trendlines are improving\u2014and that can pay off big. \u201cMore and more people are realizing that being physical leads to well-being,\u201d says Kerman. \u201cActivity means living a healthier life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Never mind the popular image of Americans as sedentary, housebound, and living on the couch. It turns out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[14770,6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-67231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-exercise-fitness","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}