Americans spend $397 million on unused gym memberships annually
Weird flex, but OK: 6.1 million Americans have a gym membership they don't use.
It’s said there are only two constants in life: death and taxes. I’d like to add one more to that list: “New year, new me.” Every year, getting fit and healthy tops the list Americans make for New Year’s resolutions. But give it a month for reality to set in, when we end up at “old me is fine.”
These lofty goals we set for ourselves affect not only our waistlines but also something just below — our pockets. According to a recent Finder.com survey, roughly 6.1 million American adults flushed a total $397 million down the drain on unused gym memberships over the past year.
About 82.7 million adults spent an estimated $8.2 billion on gym memberships each in 2020, a drastic decrease of 76% from $34.8 billion in 2019. And yet, 7.4% of those who say they have an active gym membership go less than once a month.
Americans “get after it”
Almost a third of all Americans (32.42%) pay for a gym membership, even if they aren’t using it. Of those with an active membership, roughly 46.9 million (56.6%) actually get to the gym at least twice a week. A further 17.1 million (20.7%) make it to the gym at least once a week.
More people say they get to the gym less than once a month (7.4%) than those who use their membership once a month (6.0%).
Most Americans spend less than $30 on gym memberships
While it’s hard to put a price on good health, of the 32.4% of Americans with a gym membership, 43.3% put that price at under $30, saying they spend less than that amount on a monthly membership. A further 14.4% say they spend between $31 and $50, 8.2% spend between $51 and $70, 3.9% spend between $71 and $90 and 30.3% spend more than $91 a month on the gym.
Monthly cost
% of respondents with an active gym membership
Less than $30
43.3%
$31 to $50
14.4%
$51 to $70
8.2%
$71 to $90
3.9%
$91 or more
30.3%
The world is your gym
We found that the recent pandemic had a large effect on gym habits this year, with the number of gym memberships declining and home gym equipment purchases rising. Roughly 11% of Americans said they canceled their gym membership in the past year due specifically to the pandemic–that should come as no surprise since many states closed non-essential businesses for months in 2020.
Not only do roughly nearly a quarter of all Americans hit the gym at least once a week, but they also work out where they live, with 54.1% of Americans saying they have gym equipment at home, an increase of 19.2% compared to last year.
Of the Americans that have gym equipment, free weights are the most popular at 62.1% of Americans (85.8 million). Weights are followed by cardio equipment like stairmasters or treadmills (56.0%) and skipping ropes (34.6%).
Strength machines – leg press, rotary torso machine, etc.
18.8%
25.9 million
Other
10.7%
15.8 million
Set up a gym in your house
With summer fast approaching, many Americans are on the race to get beach bod ready through fitness. If you’re planning on joining a gym or getting toned while at home, look to Finder to compare the top treadmills, the best home exercise bikes and more.
Methodology
Finder’s data is based on an online survey of 1,743 US adults born between 1928 and 2003 commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pureprofile in January 2021, with representative quotas for gender and age. Participants were paid volunteers.
We assume the participants in our survey represent the US population of 254.7 million Americans who are at least 18 years old according to the July 2019 US Census Bureau estimate. This assumption is made at the 95% confidence level with a 2.4% margin of error.
The survey asked people whether they had a gym membership, how often they used their gym membership, how much they paid for their gym membership monthly, whether they had gym equipment at home, and what type of gym equipment they owned at home.
Average amounts spent on gym memberships were calculated based on only participants who had a gym membership — the respondents who selected that they do not have a gym membership were not included.
To avoid skewing the data, we also excluded extreme outliers from our calculations.
We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines:
Gen Z — 1997-2003
Millennials — 1981-1996
Gen X — 1965-1980
Baby Boomers — 1946-1964
The Silent Generation — 1928-1945
It’s said there are only two constants in life: death and taxes. I’d like to add one more to that list: “New year, new me.” Every year, getting fit and healthy tops the list Americans make for New Year’s resolutions. But give it a month for reality to set in, when we end up at “old me is fine.”
These lofty goals we set for ourselves affect not only our waistlines but also something just below — our pockets. According to a recent Finder.com survey, roughly 8.3 million American adults flush a total of $1.13 billion down the drain on unused gym memberships each year.
About 87.6 million adults spend an estimated $34.8 billion on gym memberships each year. And yet 3.3% of these aspirational gymgoers never end up using them.
Take a closer look at those who say they have an active gym membership, and the number of people who use that membership fewer than once a month jumps to 9.45%.
Americans “get after it”
Roughly a quarter of all Americans (34.4%) pay for a gym membership, even if they aren’t using it. Of those with an active membership, roughly 55.4 million (63.3%) actually get to the gym at least twice a week. A further 14.3 million (16.34%) make it to the gym at least once a week.
More people say they get to the gym less than once a month (9.45%) than those who use their membership once a month (4.35%).
Most Americans spend less than $30 on gym memberships
While it’s hard to put a price on good health, of the 34.4% of gymgoing Americans, 19.6% put that price at under $30, saying they spend less than that amount on a monthly membership. A further 9.9% say they spend between $31 and $50, 2.9% spend between $51 and $70, 1.1% spend between $71 and $90 and 0.9% spend more than $91 a month on the gym.
Response
Count
% of participants
Less than $30
379
19.55%
$31 to $50
193
9.5%
$51 to $70
56
2.89%
$71 to $90
21
1.08%
$91 or more
18
0.93%
The world is your gym
Not only do roughly a quarter of all Americans hit the gym at least once a week, but they also work out where they live, with 45.49% of Americans saying they use gym equipment at home.
Of the Americans that have gym equipment, free weights are the most popular at 69.7% of Americans (80.8 million). Weights are followed by cardio equipment like stairmasters or treadmills (46.7%) and skipping ropes (33.7%).
Response
% of respondents with home gym equipment
Estimated Americans
Free weights
69.73%
80,788,566
Cardio machines
46.71%
54,121,771
Exercise balls
33.67%
39,014,966
Jump rope
31.63%
36,650,423
Strength machines
21.54%
24,959,069
Pullup bar
19.95%
23,119,980
Other (please specify)
13.61%
15,763,623
None
0.68%
788,181
Set up a gym in your house
With summer fast approaching, many Americans are on the race to get beach bod ready through fitness. If you’re planning on joining a gym or getting toned while at home, look to Finder to compare the top treadmills, the best home exercise bikes and more.
Methodology
Our data is based on an online survey of 2,398 US adults within the age range from 1928 to 2002 commissioned by Finder and conducted by Pureprofile in January 2020. Participants were paid volunteers.
We assume the 2,398 participants in our survey represent the US population of 254.7 million Americans who are at least 18 years old according to the July 2019 US Census Bureau estimate. This assumption was made at the 95% confidence level with a 2% margin of error.
The survey asked people whether they had a gym membership, how often they used their gym membership, how much they paid for their gym membership monthly, whether they had gym equipment at home, and what type of gym equipment they owned at home.
Average amounts spent on gym memberships were calculated based on only participants who had a gym membership — the 65.60% of participants who selected that they do not have a gym membership were not included.
To avoid skewing the data, we did not include extreme outliers in our calculations
We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines:
Gen Z — 1997-2002
Millennials — 1981-1996
Gen X — 1965-1980
Baby Boomers — 1946-1964
The Silent Generation — 1928-1945
Exercising more is the No. 1 New Year’s resolution for Americans this upcoming year. But after post-holiday reality sets in, it turns out that most give up on their lofty gym goals. Those shattered health dreams come at a high cost. According to recent Finder.com research, roughly 5.1 million American adults flush a total $1.8 billion down the drain on unused gym memberships each year.
About 82.1 million adults spend an estimated $28.6 billion on gym memberships each year. And yet 6.3% of these aspirational gymgoers never end up using them.
Those who use the gym more than never but less than twice a week (43.8%) spend annually $12.5 billion of this $28.6 billion.
Americans “get after it”
Over half of all Americans (53%) pay for a gym membership, even if they aren’t using it. Of those with an active membership, roughly 41 million (49.9%) actually get to the gym at least twice a week. A further 24.2% make it to the gym at least once a week.
More people have never used their membership (6.3%) than those who either use their membership once a month (5.8%) or less than once a month (5.4%).
How often do you use the gym?
% of respondents
Yes, twice a week or more
49.90%
Yes, less than twice a week but more than never
43.80%
Yes, I have one but don't use it
6.30%
Most Americans spend less than $30 on gym memberships
You can put a price on good health it seems, with almost half (45.7%) of American adults spending less than $30 a month on gym memberships. A further 32.1% are spending between $31 and $50 a month, while 5.4% are dropping $91 or more dollars every month on getting fit.
How much is your gym membership?
% of respondents
Less than $30
45.70%
$31 to $50
32.10%
$51 to $70
10.80%
$71 to $90
6.00%
$91 and above
5.40%
The world is your gym
Not only do roughly half of all Americans hit the gym at least once a week, but they also work out at home, with 53.2% of those have gym memberships also owning some form of gym equipment.
Of those with gym equipment in the home, free weights are by far the most popular choice for home exercise equipment, followed by such cardio equipment as stairmasters or treadmills (55.81%) and skipping ropes (42.18%).
With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, many Americans are coming up with their own resolutions. And it’s safe to say that getting fitter and healthier in the new year will be a top priority.
If you’re planning on joining a gym or getting fit in the home, look to finder.com to compare your options, from the top treadmills to the best exercise bikes available and more.
Methodology
We calculated these figures from a survey of 1,000 American adults commissioned by finder.com and conducted by research provider Pollfish in December 2018.
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For all media inquiries, please contact:
Richard Laycock, Insights editor and senior content marketing manager
Richard Laycock is Finder’s NYC-based lead editor & insights editor, spending the last decade data diving, writing and editing articles about all things personal finance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University, including a semester abroad at The Missouri School of Journalism (MIZZOU). See full bio
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