According to the latest Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) report recently published, 13.6 million Americans played pickleball in 2023.
This is more than a 50 percent increase over the 9 million people who reportedly played in 2022.
And that’s triple the number of people since 2020, when 4.2 million Americans reportedly played.
Who is playing, and how often?
The SFIA report also provided statistics on key demographics for pickleball.
Total players
According to the report, the breakdown of TOTAL pickleball participants (meaning they played at least one time in 2023) includes:
Age Group – # of Participants
- 6-12 year olds: 1.56 million
- 12-17 year olds: 1.27 million
- 18-24 year olds: 1.81 million
- 25-34 year olds: 2.27 million
- 35-44 year olds: 1.61 million
- 45-54 year olds: 1.27 million
- 55-64 year olds: 1.7 million
- 65+ year olds: 2.09 million
This means the top three most common age groups that played at least once are 25-34-year-olds, 65+-year-olds, and 18-24-year-olds.
Also, the report shows that 59.1 percent of players are male, while 40.9 percent are female.
Casual player numbers
In the casual player category – meaning they played 1-7 times in 2023 – the top age groups were:
- 25-34 year olds: 1.8 million
- 18-24 year olds: 1.42 million
- 6-12 year olds:…
