Americans were more active than ever in 2025, except teenagers

The Sports & Fitness Industry Association published its 2026 Topline Participation Report on March 12, 2026. It found that 250 million Americans took part in at least one sport, fitness or leisure activity in 2025, the most since the association began tracking. The count takes in leisure activity alongside sport and fitness.

Overall participation rose a little over 1 percent from the year before, a slower pace than the association says it averaged since 2020. Core participation reached nearly 160 million.

The share of Americans the report calls totally inactive fell below 20 percent for the first time since tracking began, the seventh straight year of decline. Inactivity fell in every age group except teens ages 13 to 17. The teen inactivity measure rose around 4 percent from the year before, an increase the association calls slight, and its chart of the finding carries the title "Teen Inactivity Moves Against Overall Trend."

Team sports grew faster than any of the seven activity categories the report tracks and passed 90 million total participants for the first time.

The report also added a measure built on heart rate. Under it, around 30 percent of Americans meet the federal recommendation of 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity activity.

A later release from the association, on August 20, 2026, put inactivity at a record low 18.7 percent for the twelve months ending June 2026.