Pickleball has surged from a grassroots pastime to America’s fastest-growing sport. In 2024, an estimated 19.8 million Americans played pickleball at least once, representing a 45.8% increase from 2023 (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025). In this post, we will:

1. Summarize the participation growth.

2. Provide venue counts.

3. Highlight key demographic trends.

4. Examine current infrastructure capacity and projected needs.

All figures are drawn from sources such as the SFIA Topline Participation Report (2025), USA Pickleball’s Annual Growth Report (2023), and the Pickleheads’ venue survey (2025).

Before we get started, if you want to learn more about pickleball, you can check out our Pickleball Blogs, such as "Origin of Pickleball," "Pickleball Rules," and "Pickleball Terms."

1. U.S. Pickleball Participation Growth (2019-2024)

Pickleball's growth trajectory reveals a consistent pattern of acceleration, solidifying its position as America's fastest-growing sport for four consecutive years (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024; Pickletip, 2025; Playatpac, 2024).

 Overall, the sport has experienced a staggering 311% growth over the past three years (2021-2024) (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024; Playatpac, 2024).

Historical participation figures from SFIA further illustrate this rapid ascent:

• 2019: 3.46 million players (Market.us News, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024)
• 2020: 4.20 million players (Market.us News, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024)
• 2021: 4.82 million players (Market.us News, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024)
• 2022: 8.95 million players (Market.us News, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024)
• 2023: 13.58 million players (Market.us News, 2025; Myprotein, 2024; The Dink Pickleball, 2024; USA Pickleball, 2024)
• 2024: 19.81 million players (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025; The Dink Pickleball, 2024; The Kitchen Pickle, 2025; Pickleheads, 2025; Sports Business Journal, 2025)

The significant acceleration in growth rates observed post-2020 suggests that behavioral shifts during the pandemic played a pivotal role. The desire for outdoor, socially distanced activities provided an initial catalyst for pickleball's surge (Market.us News, 2025; Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025).

The dramatic 85.7% surge in U.S. pickleball participation from 2021 to 2022 was primarily driven by a confluence of factors. Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a widespread desire for accessible, socially distanced outdoor activities, which pickleball perfectly fulfilled due to its low barrier to entry, simple rules, and minimal equipment requirements. The sport’s inherently social and community-oriented nature, facilitating easy “drop-in” play and multi-generational participation, fostered rapid word-of-mouth adoption. (DinkUSA, n.d.; JSR, 2024; Market.us News, 2025; The Pickleball Dinks, n.d.; Dogonews, 2024; Dreamcourts, n.d.; Reddit, n.d.; Stewart, n.d.; The Dink Pickleball, n.d.; PlayatPAC, n.d.; USA Pickleball, 2023)

The following graphs provide a comprehensive overview of U.S. pickleball participation.

U.S. Pickleball Participation by Source (2019-2024)

Sources: Market.us News (2025); Pickleball Statistics and Facts (2025); The Dink Pickleball (2024); Pickletip (2025); Myprotein (2024); USA Pickleball (2024); Sports & Fitness Industry Association (2025); The Kitchen Pickle (2025); Pickleheads (2025); Sports Business Journal (2025); Playatpac (2024); Association of Pickleball Players (2023).

Note: Based on the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) definitions for pickleball players:

• Casual Player: Refers to individuals who play pickleball 1 to 7 times per year.
• Core Player: Refers to individuals who play pickleball 8 or more times per year.

SFIA typically highlights the growth of core players as a key indicator of the sport's sustainability and player engagement.

SFIA casual and core player breakdown for 2023 is estimated based on 2024 ratios and total player count, as the exact 2023 breakdown was not explicitly provided in the snippets for casual/core, only total. 

APP data is for adult Americans who played at least once in the past year.

2. Venue Counts

While no public source provides player totals by individual state, venue counts offer a reliable proxy for where participation is strongest. Below are the ten states with the most known pickleball venues (Pickleheads, 2025):

Top 10 U.S. States by Pickleball Venue Counts (2025)

Source: (Pickleheads, 2025)

Note: Pickleheads tracks publicly known pickleball venues in the U.S.

Other countries:

• India: Over 2,000 courts (Finshots, n.d.; Times Now News, 2024)
• United Kingdom: Over 270 courts/venues (LTA, n.d.-a; LTA, n.d.-b)
• Canada: Surrey, British Columbia: 67 courts (City of Surrey, n.d.) & Toronto, Ontario: At least 76 courts (City of Toronto, n.d.)
• Australia: Melbourne has at least 58 dedicated indoor/outdoor courts across specific venues (Aussie Pickleball Bros., n.d.)
• Mexico: 19 listed courts (Pickle Goddesses, n.d.)
• France: 4 listed courts (Pickle Goddesses, n.d.)
• Ireland: Over 50 clubs (Global Pickleball Federation, 2025)
• China: Predicted to have over 10,000 courts in the next five years (Times Now News, 2024)

3. Demographic Insights

Pickleball Player Age Distribution (2024)

Sources: Market.us News (2025); The Kitchen Pickle (2025); Pickleheads (2025); Sports & Fitness Industry Association (2025)

• Under 18: Participation among youth grew by 1 million between 2022 and 2023, driven by school and club programs (USA Pickleball, 2023).
  
• 25–34: At 2.3 million players, this is the single largest age cohort in 2024 (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025).
  
• 65 and older: Seniors represent 15.4 % of all participants in 2024, drawn by pickleball’s low-impact, social nature (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025).
  
• Average age: The mean age of U.S. pickleball players is reported as “just under 35 years” (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2025).

Note: Due to the absence of data for the 35–64 age group, its percentage was calculated as the remainder needed to sum to 100%.

Pickleball Player Gender Distribution

• Male: 59.1 % of players in 2023 (Pickleheads, 2025).
  
• Female: 40.9 % of players in 2023, with women’s participation growing at a faster rate in recent years (Pickleheads, 2025).

4. Infrastructure & Facility Demand

As of early 2025, there are 16,210 venues housing over 70,600 individual courts nationwide (Pickleheads, 2025). More than 70 % of these facilities are temporary, such as modular sport-court tiles or shared tennis courts, which underscores the need for permanent installations (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2024).

To meet current and projected demand, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) estimates an additional 25,000 dedicated courts are required. At an average cost of $36,000 per court (including land, surfacing, lighting, and amenities), the total investment needed is approximately $900 million (Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2023).

The need for new courts is concentrated in three types of areas:

1. The Middle Atlantic Region (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania)

• This region is the epicenter of the court shortage, possessing the lowest court-to-player ratio in the country (SFIA, 2023). The problem is especially acute in its major cities, like New York City, which experiences severe overcrowding due to insufficient infrastructure.

2. The Sun Belt & Major Metropolitan Areas (Florida, California, etc.)

• Although states like Florida and California have the most courts in the nation, their facilities are insufficient to handle the massive demand from huge populations, dedicated players, and tourists (USA Pickleball, 2023).
• This shortage is especially critical in large cities. Los Angeles and Chicago, for example, have a dedicated court density 92% below the national average, leading to constant overcrowding and long wait times (USA Pickleball, 2023).

3. Rapid-Growth Regions (e.g., the Mountain region: Arizona, Colorado, Utah)

• In these areas, the sport's popularity is growing so fast that new court construction cannot keep up with the influx of new players (APP Tour, 2024).

Key Statistics at a Glance