Pickleball Statistics 2026: Players, Growth, Demographics and Courts by State

Pickleball statistics get repeated a lot and checked rarely. One article says 20 million players, another says 50 million, and a third quotes a market size nobody can trace. This page pulls together the numbers that have a real source behind them, explains why the big surveys disagree, and adds the one dataset we can vouch for ourselves: the courts mapped in the WherePickleball directory.

Short version: about 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). That is almost six times the 4.2 million who played in 2020. Pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the US for five years in a row. Growth is slowing in percentage terms, but the sport still added about 4.5 million players last year.

A note on dates: "2026 statistics" mostly means data published in 2026 about the 2025 calendar year. SFIA released its 2026 Topline Participation Report in March 2026 and its 2026 Pickleball Single Sport Report in June 2026. USA Pickleball's 2025 annual growth report was updated in January 2026. We have not seen any full-year 2026 participation figures yet, and we do not guess at them.

For live court tables (top states, top cities, public-access share), see our pickleball stats dashboard. This article explains the numbers behind it.

Pickleball statistics at a glance

How many people play pickleball?

The most-cited figure comes from the SFIA 2026 Pickleball Single Sport Report: 24.3 million Americans ages six and older played pickleball at least once in 2025. SFIA bases this on its annual participation study with the Physical Activity Council, about 18,000 online interviews a year, weighted to match the US population.

Two numbers inside that total tell you more than the headline:

• Core players: about 7.5 million. SFIA counts as "core" anyone who plays eight or more times a year. That group grew from 1.4 million in 2020, so the committed base has grown more than fivefold too. Pickleball.com's write-up of the 2026 Topline report puts core play at 7.48 million, up 20.4% from 2024.
• Casual players: about 16.8 million. These people played one to seven times in the year, and they are about 69% of all players. Casual play grew 23.9% in 2025.

So roughly two in three "pickleball players" are occasional players. That is normal for a sport this young. Many people try it at a park, a backyard, or a work outing. The core number shows how many keep coming back, and it is the better guide to how crowded your local open play gets.

Pickleball growth by year

SFIA has tracked pickleball long enough to show the whole curve. The figures below are SFIA's US participation estimates. Year-over-year changes for 2023 to 2025 are SFIA's published rates. The earlier ones are our own math from the published totals, so treat them as approximate.

Three things stand out:

• The big jump was 2022. Participation nearly doubled in one year, as pandemic-era outdoor play turned into a habit and parks departments began striping tennis courts for pickleball.
• The growth rate is slowing, the absolute gains are not small. Going from +45.8% to +22.8% looks like a sharp drop, but 22.8% of a much larger base is still about 4.5 million new players. SFIA calls pickleball the multi-year growth leader across every sport it tracks: up about 172% over three years and about 479% since 2020.
• Pickleball is still smaller than tennis. The USTA's 2025 participation report, based on the same Physical Activity Council study, puts tennis at a record 27.3 million players. Pickleball's rise did not shrink tennis. Both grew. SFIA's newest racquet sport, padel, had about 1.07 million US players in 2025.

Why pickleball participation numbers disagree

If you have seen "36 million" or "48 million pickleball players," those come from a different study. The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) commissioned YouGov surveys of US adults. In January 2023 the APP reported that 36.5 million adults had played in the prior 12 months. In March 2023 it reported 48.3 million. A 2025 case study by the APP's agency, Intersport, cites 43.8 million adults.

Both studies can be accurate on their own terms. They measure different things:

• Sample size. SFIA's study has about 18,000 interviews a year. The APP's first YouGov survey polled about 2,500 adults. A smaller sample gives a wider margin of error, especially for an activity only a minority does.
• Who counts. SFIA covers everyone ages six and up. The APP counts adults 18 and over.
• Question wording and timing. "Have you played pickleball in the last 12 months?" asked once in a fast-moving year gives a different answer than a full-year participation study that also asks about dozens of other activities.

Our rule: for "how many people play pickleball," quote SFIA, because it is consistent year to year and is the same method used for tennis, golf, and every other sport. Use the APP figures as an upper bound for "adults who have ever picked up a paddle recently," not as a count of active players.

Pickleball demographics: who plays

The old picture of pickleball as a retirement-community sport no longer fits the data.

• Gender. Women were 42.9% of players in 2025, up from 38.6% in 2020, per SFIA. That puts the split at roughly 57% male and 43% female.
• Age. SFIA's 2026 report says teens and young adults ages 13 to 24 now have the highest participation rate of any age group. A rate is the share of an age group that plays, not the number of players. Older adults still make up a large share of the most frequent players, which is what you see at many weekday-morning open plays.
• Average age. The APP's 2023 study put the average age of avid players (at least once a month) at 34.8, with more than 70% of them between 18 and 44. That is a different study and an older one, so use it for direction, not precision.

SFIA's paid single-sport reports also break participation down by region, household income, education, and ethnicity. We have not reproduced those tables because they are behind a paywall. If you see detailed pickleball income or ethnicity percentages quoted without a link, ask where they came from.

How many pickleball courts are there in the US?

There is no official census of pickleball courts. The best national inventory is Pickleheads, the court finder USA Pickleball uses. According to USA Pickleball's annual growth report (updated January 30, 2026):

• 18,258 places to play were listed at the end of 2025, after more than 2,300 new locations were added during the year.
• 82,613 known courts are in the database, up from 68,458 courts a year earlier.
• That works out to about 4.5 courts per location on average, from a single striped tennis court up to large multi-court complexes.

Two caveats. First, these are courts the database knows about, including shared tennis courts with blended lines, temporary courts, and private clubs, so it is not a count of dedicated public pickleball courts. Second, the database keeps growing partly because more existing courts get reported, not only because new ones are built.

A rough way to picture demand: 24.3 million players spread over about 82,600 known courts is about 290 players per court, or about 90 core players per court. That is our own back-of-the-envelope math, not a published figure, but it explains why popular parks run paddle queues and why cities keep converting tennis courts. If you are planning a new court yourself, our guides to building a pickleball court and court lines and markings cover the practical side.

Organized pickleball: members, tournaments, and equipment

Most people who play pickleball never join anything. The organized side of the sport is small compared with the player base, but it is growing fast.

• USA Pickleball membership: 104,828 members in 2025, according to the governing body's growth report. Its 2024 report listed 62,260. Even after that jump, members are under half a percent of all players.
• Sanctioned tournaments: USA Pickleball sanctioned 144 tournaments in 2025, including 18 Golden Ticket events and the National Championships. The 2025 Nationals at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego drew more than 2,500 players from 47 states and 20 countries, ages 11 to 87.
• Ambassadors: 1,864 volunteer USA Pickleball ambassadors in 2025. They are often the people who keep local court listings and open-play schedules up to date.
• Equipment approvals: 718 paddles and 72 balls were approved in 2025. That is down from 1,225 paddles in 2024, and only 193 new manufacturers and brands registered in 2025, compared with 476 the year before. The paddle market seems to be consolidating after the early gold rush. Our 2026 paddle roundup covers the models that matter now.

If you want to move from open play into leagues and events, see our guides to finding pickleball clubs and leagues and finding pickleball tournaments, and our explainer on the pro tours.

Pickleball courts by state: what our directory shows

WherePickleball maps courts from OpenStreetMap, the open, community-edited world map. Our current snapshot was last refreshed in December 2025 and holds 6,072 mapped court records in 44 states and 2,711 cities. That is far fewer than Pickleheads' 82,613 courts. OpenStreetMap only has courts that volunteers have tagged, and tagging is uneven. Pickleheads lists about 1,500 Florida locations, for example. Our map has 523 Florida court records.

So use our numbers to compare places on one consistent dataset, not as a national total. Here are the 16 states with the most mapped court records, with a rough per-capita figure based on the Census Bureau's July 2024 population estimates:

What the table says, with the caveats above:

• Raw counts follow population. California and Florida lead because they are big, warm, and full of parks.
• Per person, the Mountain West and the northern tier stand out. Utah has about 10 mapped court records per 100,000 residents, Idaho about 7, and Minnesota and Washington more than 5. Texas and New York are near 1, partly because big metros have less public space per person and partly because of OpenStreetMap coverage.
• Some states barely show up yet. Wisconsin, Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Washington, DC have no tagged courts in our current snapshot. People definitely play there. It means the courts have not been tagged on the open map yet. If you know one, you can submit a court.

By region, our mapped records split 33% West, 29% Midwest, 27% South, and 12% Northeast. Of all mapped records, 92.6% are tagged as public access and 7.4% as private. Only about 5.5% are tagged as lit, so check before you plan an evening game.

The cities with the most mapped court records are Austin (48), Bainbridge Island, Washington (35, the town where pickleball was invented in 1965), Seattle (34), Los Angeles and Marco Island, Florida (32 each), Chicago (29), St. George, Utah (28), Mercer Island, Washington (28), Mesa, Arizona (26), and Charlotte (25). Browse the full lists on the stats page or start from the court directory.

Where is pickleball most popular?

It depends on what you measure:

• Total players: the biggest metro areas have the most players. In the APP's 2023 study, the New York and Los Angeles markets alone made up more than 21% of all US pickleball participation, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose. Bigger populations mean more players, even at average participation rates.
• Courts per person: Utah, Idaho, Minnesota, Washington, Michigan, and Oregon top our per-capita table above.
• Destinations and "capital" claims: places like Naples, Florida, and The Villages, Florida, are known for big facilities and huge senior player bases. Austin leads our city count. Our best cities for pickleball in 2026 ranking covers which cities claim the title of pickleball capital of the US and why.

What these numbers mean for your next game

Statistics are only useful if they change what you do. A few practical takeaways:

• Expect busy courts at peak times. With roughly 90 core players for every known court, weekday evenings and weekend mornings fill up fast at popular parks. Late mornings on weekdays and the hour before sunset are usually easier.
• Look beyond the famous park. Smaller neighborhood courts nearby often have an open court when the well-known complex has a long paddle queue. Search the map around you, not just the famous name.
• Check lights and access first. Most mapped courts are public, but very few are tagged as lit. Where the map has the details, our court pages note access and lighting.
• Women and younger players are a growing share. If your club only runs one format, women's nights, youth clinics, and beginner sessions are where many new players are coming from.

Sources and methodology

Every figure on this page comes from one of these sources, or from our own clearly labeled math:

• SFIA, 2026 Pickleball Single Sport Report announcement (June 4, 2026) and the US pickleball participation page: totals, core players, women's share, five-year growth.
• SFIA 2025 Topline report release: 19.8 million players in 2024, +45.8%. Year-by-year totals for 2019 to 2024 as reported by The Dink.
• Pickleball.com's summary of the SFIA 2026 Topline report: +22.8% growth, casual and core splits, about 4.5 million new players.
• USTA, 2025 US Tennis Participation Report: 27.3 million tennis players.
• USA Pickleball, annual growth reports for 2024 and 2025: courts, locations, membership, tournaments, equipment approvals.
• APP / YouGov participation releases from January and March 2023: adult participation and average age of avid players.
• US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 state population estimates, for the per-capita column.
• WherePickleball directory: OpenStreetMap-derived court records, snapshot refreshed December 2025.

We do not publish pickleball market-size or revenue figures, because we have not found one with a methodology we can check. If a number is not from a source like those above or counted from our own data, it is not on this page.

Pickleball statistics FAQ

How many people play pickleball in 2026?

The latest full-year figure is for 2025: 24.3 million Americans ages six and up played at least once, according to SFIA's 2026 reports. Of those, about 7.5 million played eight or more times. Full-year 2026 numbers will not be published until early 2027.

Is pickleball still growing?

Yes. Participation rose 22.8% in 2025, its fifth straight year as the fastest-growing US sport. The percentage growth is slowing from the 50% to 85% jumps of 2022 and 2023, but the sport still added about 4.5 million players.

What percentage of pickleball players are women?

42.9% in 2025, up from 38.6% in 2020, according to SFIA.

What is the average age of a pickleball player?

The APP's 2023 study put the average age of avid players at 34.8. SFIA's 2026 report found the highest participation rates among 13- to 24-year-olds. Older adults remain a big share of frequent players, so the typical age at your local courts depends a lot on the time of day.

How many pickleball courts are in the United States?

USA Pickleball's court database, Pickleheads, listed 82,613 known courts at 18,258 locations as of January 2026. This includes shared and private courts, and the real total is likely higher.

Which state has the most pickleball courts?

In Pickleheads' state listings, Florida and California each have about 1,500 locations and more than 7,000 courts. In our OpenStreetMap-based directory, California leads with 586 mapped court records, followed by Florida (523) and Illinois (450). Per person, Utah leads our table.

Is pickleball more popular than tennis?

Not by participation. Tennis had 27.3 million US players in 2025, compared with 24.3 million for pickleball. Pickleball is growing faster, and the gap has shrunk from more than 17 million in 2020 to about 3 million.

How many USA Pickleball members are there?

104,828 in 2025, according to USA Pickleball's annual growth report, up from 62,260 in its 2024 report.

The numbers will keep moving. The quickest way to use them is to find the courts near you. Start with the court map, or check the live stats page for current directory counts by state and city.