US Padel Statistics 2026: Players, Courts, Prices and Growth

America can get people onto a padel court. Only 22.2% reached SFIA’s core threshold of eight sessions during the year. Court access, price and the concentration of facilities in a few states now shape how many first-time players become regulars.

US padel statistics at a glance

A player, core player, member, licensed player and tournament entrant are not interchangeable. A court, club, facility and member club also describe different things.

The national governing body changed its name from the United States Padel Association, or USPA, to USA Padel on 29 June 2026.¹³ Historical report titles and tournament names on this page keep the name used at the time.

How many people play padel in the US?

SFIA estimated that 1,073,000 Americans aged six and older played padel at least once in 2025.¹ This is the broadest current national participation figure.

The study used 18,000 annual survey respondents, monthly data collection and a nationally representative sample. It tracked more than 120 sports and fitness activities. Padel was added for the first time.^{1 2}

The total divides into two frequency groups:

Source: SFIA 2026 Topline Participation Report, reported by USA Padel and SFIA.^{1 2} Percentages are PadelFormat calculations.

The one-million headline measures reach. The core figure is the better starting point for regular demand. Eight sessions across a year is still less than one session every six weeks.

SFIA has not published padel play occasions, first-time entrants or retention in the open material reviewed for this page. The data cannot show whether somebody played eight times in one month or spread those sessions across the year.

Did US padel participation grow tenfold in one year?

No comparable dataset proves that.

Earlier sources put the American player base close to 100,000:

Sources: USA Padel, FIP, Misitrano Consulting and SFIA.^{1 4 5 12}

The SFIA figure is 9.5 times the Q2 market estimate. It does not show that nine out of ten players appeared during the second half of 2025. The sources looked for different populations with different methods.

The gap is large enough to make an older forecast look broken. The State of Padel report projected 900,922 players by 2030.⁵ SFIA’s broader 2025 result already sits 172,078 above that forecast.

That forecast did not measure the same thing as the later national participation survey. Reporting a five-year lead would be false precision.

Comparable claims are limited to:

• Governing-body and market estimates placed the active or amateur player base near 90,000 to 113,000 between 2023 and Q2 2025.
• SFIA found 1.073 million people who tried padel at least once during 2025.
• The next SFIA release can provide the first national year-on-year comparison using the same system.

How many regular padel players are there in the US?

SFIA classified 238,000 people as core padel participants because they played eight or more times in 2025.²

That is 22.2% of the full participant base. The remaining 77.8% played no more than seven times.

Core does not mean weekly. A weekly player could play more than 50 times in a year. SFIA’s threshold starts at eight.

The frequency split points to the next stage of US growth. Trial has reached a national scale. Regular play still depends on available court time, distance, price, partners, beginner programming and whether a local club can keep players involved after their first booking.

No public national dataset separates the 238,000 core players into weekly, monthly and tournament players.

How many padel courts are there in the US?

USA Padel reported just over 1,000 open courts across 31 states in April 2026.¹ No exact current total was supplied in that release.

Published snapshots show rapid infrastructure growth:

Sources: USA Padel, FIP and Misitrano Consulting.^{1 4 5 12}

Moving from 227 courts to more than 1,000 is growth of at least 340%. The court inventory became more than 4.4 times larger in about 28 months.

The increase from 688 in Q2 2025 to more than 1,000 by April 2026 is at least 45.3%. The State of Padel report also found that more than half of its 688 courts had been installed since January 2024.⁵

These releases provide periodic inventories rather than a construction and closure log. The words club, facility and member club change the denominator. A new directory entry can also appear after a court has opened.

The published state count remained at 31 from the FIP’s early-2025 estimate to USA Padel’s April 2026 update. Court supply grew inside the existing footprint faster than it spread into new states, based on those two snapshots. Registry changes could affect that comparison.

Does the US have enough padel courts?

Using 1,000 as the lower-bound court count gives:

• About 1,073 annual participants per court
• About 238 core participants per court
• About 342,000 US residents per court, using the Census Bureau's July 2025 population estimate

Sources: SFIA, USA Padel and the US Census Bureau.^{1 6} Figures are PadelFormat calculations. The true ratios are slightly lower because USA Padel said the court count was just over 1,000.

None of these ratios measures utilisation. A participant may play once or several times each week. Courts have different opening hours, weather exposure and booking systems.

The ratios still show why a national participation milestone can coexist with local scarcity. Four people share one court, and most of the court stock sits in a small group of states.

The Q2 2025 market study counted 688 courts across 180 facilities, an average of 3.82 courts per facility.⁵ Each court holds one doubles match at a time. Local capacity depends on court hours, lesson blocks, leagues and peak demand, not the national total alone.

Where are most US padel courts?

The latest complete published state split found for this page comes from FIP’s early-2025 estimate.

Sources: FIP Research and Data Analysis Department for early-2025 court shares and US Census Bureau July 2025 population estimates.^{4 6} Concentration ratios are PadelFormat calculations. Court shares were published as rounded values.

Florida had 268 courts across 56 clubs in the FIP snapshot. That is 4.79 courts per club. The state held 41% of national courts while housing 6.9% of the US population. Its court share was almost six times its population share.

Florida, Texas, California and New York held 73.7% of courts. Their combined population share was 33.5%.

California shows why population alone does not explain supply. It held 10% of courts and 11.5% of residents. Florida had a smaller population and more than four times California’s court share.

The court shares should not be presented as current August 2026 counts. USA Padel has passed 1,000 courts since the FIP snapshot without publishing a matching state table.

What does it cost to play padel in the US?

The State of Padel in the US report found these national average peak rates in Q2 2025:

Source: Misitrano Consulting.⁵ Per-player values are PadelFormat calculations based on four players sharing the court.

These are court-rental averages. They do not include memberships, initiation fees, coaching, racket hire, balls or booking charges. The study reported New York City as the highest-priced market and McAllen, Texas as the lowest, but its public summary did not provide the full price range or median.

The same study found:

• 39.1% of 688 courts were indoor, about 269 courts.
• 36.7% of 180 facilities offered pickleball too, about 66 facilities.
• The average facility had 3.82 padel courts.

Counts are PadelFormat calculations from the published percentages.⁵

Indoor courts matter outside warm-weather states because rain, snow, heat and wind can remove playing hours. They also need suitable buildings, ceiling height, lighting and real estate. The $20 to $25 peak doubles share makes a single booking manageable for many players. Frequent sessions, travel and membership costs can turn the same sport into an expensive habit.

The hybrid-club share shows how operators are testing padel inside a broader racket-sports business. It does not mean 36.7% of pickleball venues have padel.

How many people join USA Padel?

USA Padel ended 2025 with 2,915 individual members.³

Sources: USA Padel and FIP.^{3 4 12}

Membership became 17.9 times larger between 2020 and 2025. USA Padel reported 53.5% year-on-year membership growth in 2025.³

The membership total was 0.27% of SFIA’s annual participation estimate. That equals about one USA Padel member for every 368 people who played during 2025.

Most casual players do not need a governing-body membership, so the ratio cannot measure rejection. It shows how small the organised national layer remains beside the trial market.

Official sources do not always use the same membership label. The USA Padel 2023 report lists 1,721 registered players, while a later FIP article describes 1,742 licensed professional players for the same year.^{4 12} The 21-player difference has not been publicly reconciled.

How quickly is organised competition growing?

USA Padel sanctioned 104 open tournaments in 2025, up from 48 in 2024.³ That is an increase of 116.7%.

The 2026 schedule contained 255 tournaments by 13 April, with more being added.¹ The 255 figure covers scheduled events while the 2025 total covers completed events, which prevents a clean year-on-year comparison.

The National Padel League offers a better view of regular amateur competition. Its first season in 2025 drew more than 1,900 players aged 14 to 71 across more than 130 teams and 35 cities. The spring 2026 season expanded to more than 40 cities across six regions.⁷

Collegiate padel is small and now measurable. The first National Collegiate Padel Championships attracted more than 80 competitors in Austin in April 2026.⁸ USA Padel’s current directory lists university clubs from Texas, Florida, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The 2026 US Open Padel Championships was announced with a $40,000 Division 1 prize pool, up from $35,000 in 2025.⁹ The event was scheduled for October, so the higher prize pool is an announced commitment rather than a completed payout.

These layers serve different groups. An SFIA participant may never enter a league. A USA Padel member may play many tournaments. Counting both as the same type of player would hide the structure the sport is building.

Is padel as popular as pickleball in the US?

No. SFIA measured 24.3 million pickleball participants and 1.073 million padel participants in 2025.¹⁰

Sources: SFIA and USTA.^{1 2 10 11} Core shares are PadelFormat calculations. Tennis uses a higher core threshold, so its percentage is not directly comparable with the eight-session groups.

Padel’s total player base was 4.4% of pickleball’s. Its core group was 3.2% of pickleball’s core group.

Padel also had 3.9% as many total participants as tennis. SFIA can now measure padel as its own national activity, but it remains much smaller than the two leading US racket sports.

Pickleball had a larger regular group under the same eight-session threshold. Padel has to convert more first-time players into repeat bookings to close the gap.

Is padel the fastest-growing sport in America?

No national participation series can prove that yet.

SFIA first added padel to its national study for the 2025 reporting year. A second SFIA year is needed to calculate a national growth rate.

Court infrastructure is clearly growing. Published supply rose from 227 courts at the end of 2023 to more than 1,000 in April 2026. USA Padel membership also rose from 163 in 2020 to 2,915 in 2025.

Those measures cannot establish that padel outgrew every other American sport. Pickleball had 24.3 million players in 2025 and SFIA measured five-year growth of 479%.¹⁰ Padel will need another comparable participation release before a national percentage can be calculated.

The accurate claim for 2026 is that US padel court supply and organised membership are growing quickly from a small base.

Will the US reach 10 million padel players by 2030?

USA Padel projects more than 10 million players and 10,000 courts by 2030.¹ The State of Padel in the US report published a more conservative forecast of 900,922 players and 6,800 courts.⁵

The forecasts use different player definitions. The player results are too far apart to merge.

Reaching 10 million from 1.073 million would require a 9.3-fold increase by 2030. Over five years, that equals compound growth of about 56% a year. Growing from roughly 1,000 to 10,000 courts requires close to 9,000 net additional courts and an annual rate near 60%, depending on the exact starting and cut-off dates.

PadelFormat calculated these rates from the published USA Padel targets.

The USA Padel projection keeps the headline ratio close to 1,000 annual participants per court. Capacity could tighten even at that ratio if a larger share of players becomes weekly or monthly.

Using pickleball’s current 30.9% core share as a capacity scenario, a ten-million padel market would contain about 3.1 million core players. That would be thirteen times the 238,000 measured in 2025. PadelFormat does not predict that padel will copy pickleball’s participation pattern.

What US padel data is still missing?

Public sources still lack:

• A second SFIA year for calculating national participation growth
• Weekly and monthly player counts
• Total annual padel play occasions
• First-time, retained and returning player measures
• A current exact national court count rather than “just over 1,000”
• A state-by-state table matching the April 2026 court total
• A national construction and closure log
• A consistent split between courts, facilities, clubs and USA Padel member clubs
• Current indoor and outdoor totals after Q2 2025
• Public versus private court access
• A national median and full range for peak and off-peak prices
• Court occupancy and failed-booking rates
• Public demographic tables for padel by age, gender, income and ethnicity
• Travel distance to the nearest playable court

These gaps limit claims about retention and access. One million annual participants does not show whether a beginner outside Florida, Texas, California or New York can book a second match nearby.

For the worldwide picture, see our global padel statistics page, and for Britain the UK padel statistics page. New players usually start with padel tips for beginners, and more court time makes padel injuries worth reading about. If the habit sticks, we track padel shoes and run a racket chooser.

Frequently asked questions

How many people play padel in the US in 2026?

SFIA estimated that 1,073,000 Americans aged six and older played padel at least once during 2025. USA Padel announced the result in April 2026. Of those players, 238,000 played eight or more times.

How many regular padel players are there in the US?

SFIA classified 238,000 Americans as core padel participants in 2025. Its core threshold was eight or more sessions during the year. That represented 22.2% of the full padel participant base.

How many padel courts are there in the US?

USA Padel reported just over 1,000 open courts across 31 states in April 2026. It did not provide an exact number in that release. The Q2 2025 State of Padel study had counted 688 courts across 180 facilities.

Which state has the most padel courts?

Florida led the latest published state split with 268 courts and 41% of US supply in early 2025. Texas followed with 18%, California with 10% and New York with 4.7%. No matching state table has been published for the newer national total above 1,000.

How much does it cost to play padel in the US?

The Q2 2025 State of Padel report found average peak rates of $100 per hour for an indoor court and $80 for an outdoor court. Split between four doubles players, that is $25 or $20 each before memberships, coaching, equipment and booking fees.

Is padel growing faster than pickleball?

There is no comparable national padel growth series yet. SFIA first tracked padel in 2025. Pickleball had 24.3 million players in 2025 and five-year growth of 479%, while padel had 1.073 million players.

Why do some sources say the US has only 100,000 padel players?

Older governing-body and market estimates counted amateur, active or observed players. SFIA used a nationally representative survey and counted anyone aged six or older who played at least once during 2025. The different methods produced very different totals.

How many USA Padel members are there?

USA Padel had 2,915 individual members at the end of 2025. That was about one member for every 368 annual participants measured by SFIA. Membership and participation are different measures.

How many padel clubs are there in the US?

USA Padel reported 108 active member clubs at the end of 2025. The separate State of Padel market study counted 180 active facilities in Q2 2025. A facility does not need to be a USA Padel member club, so the figures should not be combined.

Is padel popular in Florida?

Yes. Florida held 41% of US courts in the FIP's early-2025 snapshot while accounting for about 6.9% of the national population. Its share of courts was almost six times its population share.

Will the US have 10 million padel players by 2030?

USA Padel projects more than 10 million players and 10,000 courts by 2030. Reaching the player projection from the 2025 SFIA result would require growth of about 56% a year for five years. It is a forecast, not a measured result.

Is padel more popular than pickleball in America?

No. SFIA counted 24.3 million pickleball players and 1.073 million padel players in 2025. Padel's player base was about 4.4% the size of pickleball's.

Sources

• 1. USA Padel, Padel surpasses one million players in the United States, 13 April 2026
• 2. Sports & Fitness Industry Association, What is padel?
• US pickleball participation statistics, accessed 28 August 2026
• 3. USA Padel, 2025 annual report release
• annual report archive, 21 January 2026
• 4. International Padel Federation, A gradual and steady growth: how the US says yes to padel, 18 March 2025
• 5. Misitrano Consulting and Padel 22, The State of Padel in the US Report 2025 findings
• report summary with 2030 forecasts, 4 September 2025 and 2 September 2025
• 6. US Census Bureau, 2025 QuickFacts, United States
• Florida
• Texas
• California
• New York, accessed 28 August 2026
• 7. USA Padel, National Padel League expands to more than 40 cities, 9 April 2026
• 8. USA Padel, Longhorn Padel makes history at the first National Collegiate Padel Championships
• Collegiate Padel directory, 21 April 2026 and accessed 28 August 2026
• 9. USA Padel, US Open Padel Championships, accessed 28 August 2026
• 10. Sports & Fitness Industry Association, 2026 pickleball participation report release, 4 June 2026
• 11. USTA, Tennis participation reaches 27.3 million players in 2025, 18 February 2026
• 12. USA Padel, 2023 annual report, accessed 28 August 2026
• 13. USA Padel, USA Padel unveils new name after more than three decades, 29 June 2026