Girls flag football grew six and a half times in four years
High school girls flag football went from 15,716 players to 102,360 in four years, on the same national survey, and cracked the top ten girls sports.
In 2021 to 2022, 15,716 high school girls played flag football in the United States. Today, 102,360 do, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey from the National Federation of State High School Associations, released August 27, 2026. Both figures come from the same survey, taken four years apart.
That is an increase of about 87,000 players, roughly six and a half times the earlier count.
Most of the growth is recent. Participation rose 48.7 percent last season, from 68,847 to 102,360, adding 33,513 players in one year. The survey says flag football is now one of the ten most popular high school sports for girls.
Girls wrestling also grew on the same survey, up 19.9 percent from 74,064 to 88,771. Together the two sports added 48,220 players in one year, about a third of the 149,440 participants the country gained across all sports.
As of the NFHS 2024 to 2025 release, 16 states sanction girls flag football as an official high school sport, with two more scheduled to follow by 2027. Another 22 states run independent or pilot programs, for 38 states with some form of the sport.
