The 2025 New York City Marathon last weekend broke the record for most finishers in a marathon with over 59,226. That historic number was reached thanks to two growing demographics in distance running: people younger than 30 and older than 60.
The largest age bracket at the NYC Marathon was 25-29, with nearly 11,000 coming from that cohort alone—more than 1,000 above any other five-year range. The shift toward younger runners in recent years has been dramatic. In 2022, just 17% of all finishers at the NYC Marathon were under 30, but in 2025 that was up to 24%. The trend goes back further, too. In total, 86% more men and 91% more women aged 18-29 finished the 2025 race compared to a decade ago in 2015.
A similar jump has been seen at the Los Angeles Marathon, with the share of runners in their 20s rising from 21% to 28% during a four-year span. An analysis of all marathons in the United States confirmed that 25-29 had become the most common age range for runners in 2024 after that was far from the case as recently as 2019.
Although the raw number of older folks running is much smaller, the growth of that group has been equally great, with 88% more 60-plus runners completing the NYC Marathon in 2025 as did in 2015. Older women have been the fastest growing demographic on the course, with 159% more women in their 60s running than did 10 years ago, and 250% more women in their 70s.
The Chicago and Boston marathons have also seen more than 50% jumps in participation from runners over 60 in the past decade. People in that age group made up just 3.6% of all New York Road Runners (NYRR) events in 2015, but 6.1% in 2025.
Let’s start with the youth, since there are several possible explanations for their changing behaviors. Running took off during the pandemic, when lockdowns made team sports and indoor physical activities such as group fitness classes less inaccessible.
For young people specifically, there has been a boom in run club popularity post-COVID as a way to form community and meet both friends and romantic partners. Google search traffic for “run group,” “running group,” “run club” and “running club” are all at their highest points in 10 years, with the first three of those terms getting more than double the volume in August 2025 than they did during any month from 2015 to 2020.
Larger trends surrounding priorities and schedules of young people may contribute as well. Americans are getting married and giving birth to their first children, on average, each about a full year older than 10 years ago. Hence, fewer people in their 20s have settled down and started families, leaving more time for the intense training required to prepare for a marathon. Similarly, the increase in working from home allows for more flexibility to train for the event.
NYRR has created initiatives to attract younger runners. The organization has two youth programs—Rising New York Road Runners and NYRR Run for the Future—which are designed to introduce kids to running. The latter was founded in 2011, meaning that high schoolers who went through the program have only recently become young adults. “Many alumni of our youth programs go on to run the TCS New York City Marathon,” NYRR CEO Rob Simmelkjaer said in an email statement.
NYRR also had a group of influencers start the race this year before the elite runners (which led to amusing videos of the two groups meeting while running the course). While some running purists bemoaned this affront to the sanctity of the marathon event, it is indicative of the popularity of running in internet culture.
“The [running] surge has been most notable among runners in their 20s, which can be attributed in part to social media,” Simmelkjaer said. “People are watching influencers, celebrities and their peers sharing their journeys and encouraging others to get out there and try it themselves.”
Older people are less likely to be swayed to run 26.2 miles by a social media influencer, but they are coming out in droves nonetheless. The first running boom in the U.S. occurred during the 1970s and early 1980s, meaning that today’s 60-plus population is the first group to enter that age bracket who lived their whole adult lives after running emerged as a popular recreational activity.
Rather than a single spike, though, the increase in older runners has happened steadily over the history of the NYC Marathon. Factors that assist aging runners, such as medical treatment, recovery techniques and shoe technology, have gradually improved over time.
There is also more widespread information nowadays about the benefits of exercise. “We’ve historically been told that running is bad for your knees and joints, which research is now disproving,” Simmelkjaer said.
Any larger trends about running in the U.S. extrapolated from NYC Marathon participation data must be taken with a grain of salt, as the methods of qualification for the race impact its demographic composition. Roughly 14,000 runners in 2024 did so by raising money for charity, which is one of the ways to land a spot in the race. Approximately 14,000 additional athletes are runners from outside the U.S. who book a marathon package with an international tour operator that includes race entry. There is also a random drawing, from which about 2-3% of 200,000 entries are accepted.
The aforementioned methods account for around half of all participants. Other ways to enter include time qualification or having participated in at least 15 prior NYC Marathons, but another popular pipeline is the NYRR 9+1 program, which allows runners to gain eligibility for the marathon by running at nine qualifying events in the year before and completing one qualifying volunteer opportunity. That approach requires commitment to running as a serious hobby.
Older people like to criticize Gen Z for being lazy and not working hard anymore. Perhaps Americans currently in their 20s are not as keen on working 9-to-5 at their jobs, but with that extra time outside the office, many are dedicating themselves to running marathons. Ironically, that’s just what the Boomers are doing too.