Nearly One in Four Americans Use A Health Club

The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) has released The 2018 Health Club Consumer Report. This annual publication, based on a nationwide sample of more than 30,000 interviews, provides demographics and health, sports and fitness participation data on America's health club consumers.

"U.S. health club membership reached an all-time high in 2017, attracting 60.9 million members, an increase of 6.3 percent from 2016," said Jay Ablondi, IHRSA's executive vice president of global products. "Another 9.1 million non-members exercised at clubs. In all, nearly one in four Americans use a health club to pursue fitness and wellness goals."

The report shows how consumers use health clubs to engage in regular activity and pursue fitness goals. "Nearly half of members are core health club users, meaning they visit the club for at least 100 days a year," said Melissa Rodriguez, IHRSA's senior research manager. "Considering the variety of programs and services as well as relatively affordable membership fees, full-service health clubs tend to attract a greater share of core members than boutique studios."

The report shows that 23 percent of health club members belonged to at least one club or studio in 2017. Studio consumers were more likely to be members of multiple facilities in comparison with members of full-service clubs such as fitness-only and multipurpose sport facilities. For example, as many as nine out of 10 members of combat-focused studios belong to more than one facility, while only one out of four members of fitness-only centers belonged to more than one club.