Gym Membership Statistics (Canada): 2026 Data & Trends

August 19, 2026Justin Dimech

Canada's fitness and recreational sports centres earned $5.8 billion in operating revenue in 2024, up 14.9% from the year before, according to Statistics Canada. Yet the numbers behind that headline tell a more complicated story than most reports suggest. Membership rates sit lower than commonly cited figures, half of new members quit within six months, and a growing share of Canadians are building gyms at home instead. Here is what the current data shows about how Canadians actually work out.

Key Takeaways

Canada's fitness and recreational sports centres earned $5.8 billion in 2024, up 14.9% year over year (Statistics Canada), but that growth partly reflects the tail end of pandemic recovery rather than organic expansion.
About 15.5% of Canadian adults held a gym membership in 2024, lower than the rates you see quoted for the United States, and the figure has been pressured by rising living costs.
Roughly half of new gym members cancel within six months, which makes retention, not sign-ups, the industry's hardest problem.
The average home gym in Canada costs about $2,530, close to what a few years of a mid-range membership costs, and many Canadians now treat it as a permanent alternative.
75% of Canadians name lack of time as their biggest barrier to exercise, and 73% say they prefer to work out alone, two habits that point people toward home fitness.

The Current State of Canadian Gym Memberships

How Many Canadians Have a Gym Membership

About 15.5% of Canadian adults held a gym membership in 2024, according to the Fitness Industry Council of Canada. That is a solid rate for a mature market, but it sits below the numbers often quoted for the United States and below what many industry summaries claim for Canada.

The steady, year-round Canadian membership rate sits in the mid-teens.

The figure also depends on how you count. Made in CA reports that about 16.67% of Canadians had a gym membership in October 2021 and roughly 21% held one in 2025, a wider measure that includes any membership rather than year-round members. Read together, the sources put steady Canadian membership somewhere in the mid-teens, with a larger group holding memberships at some point during the year.

For global context, Made in CA notes that Sweden and Norway lead the world at about 22%, with the United States third at 21.2%. Canada's participation is healthy but has room to grow.

Who Works Out, by Generation

Younger Canadians are the most likely to hold a gym membership, while older adults are the fastest-growing segment. Gen Z and Millennials favour 24/7 access, recovery amenities, and boutique or class-based programming. Baby Boomers and seniors are joining in rising numbers, drawn by accessibility features and medically supervised programs.

One newer factor is the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy. The Fitness Industry Council of Canada flags this as a trend to watch, with early signs that some members are shifting their focus from weight loss toward strength training and body composition.

What Canadians Pay for Gym Access

Canadian gym pricing splits into three broad tiers, each serving a different buyer.

Tier	Who it serves	What is included
Budget	Price-first members who direct their own workouts	Core equipment, basic amenities, minimal staff
Mid-range	The mainstream market	Group classes, some personal training, fuller facilities
Premium	Higher-income urban members	Studio programming, recovery amenities, concierge-style service

Prices are climbing across all three tiers. Statistics Canada reports that prices for using recreational facilities and services, gyms included, rose 5.2% from 2023 to 2024 and 15.9% since 2021. The advertised monthly rate also rarely reflects the full cost, since many clubs add initiation fees, annual maintenance charges, and cancellation fees on top of monthly dues. For a full breakdown of what memberships actually cost by chain and tier, see our guide to the average gym membership cost in Canada.

Retention Is the Industry's Biggest Challenge

Roughly half of new gym members cancel within six months, with most drop-off in the first 30 to 90 days, according to industry retention research compiled by Glofox. Winning a member is the easy part. Keeping one is where most facilities struggle.

The strongest retention lever is social. The Health & Fitness Association found that gym-only members were 56% more likely to cancel than members who took group exercise classes, and that 88% of group-exercise members renewed their membership compared with 82% of gym-only members. Clubs that build community through classes, challenges, and member recognition hold onto people longer than those selling access alone.

Seasonality makes the problem sharper. January is the peak sign-up month across Canadian gyms, but a large share of resolution-driven memberships lapse by late February, and cold winters keep lapsed members from coming back.

The Home Fitness Boom

A Permanent Shift to Home Workouts

Home fitness has moved from a pandemic workaround to a lasting habit for many Canadians. Two data points explain why. First, 75% of Canadians name lack of time as their biggest barrier to being more active, per Made in CA. A home gym removes the commute entirely. Second, 73% of Canadians say they prefer to exercise on their own rather than in a gym or group setting, which cuts against the community selling point most clubs rely on.

The result is a hybrid pattern, where many Canadians keep a membership for some workouts while building a setup at home for the rest. For where this is heading, see our look at home workout trends in Canada.

The Home Gym Versus Membership Math

The average home gym in Canada costs about $2,530, according to Made in CA. That is roughly what a few years of a mid-range membership costs, after which every workout at home is essentially free. The calculation looks even better once you add the hidden membership fees, commute time, and fuel costs that never show up on a gym's price tag.

Canadian homes shape what people buy. In condos, basements, and smaller urban spaces, buyers favour folding benches, wall-mounted trainers, adjustable dumbbells, and multi-function stations that replace several pieces of equipment at once. For a full cost breakdown, see our guide on how much a home gym costs, and to compare the two options head to head, read gym versus home workout.

Digital Fitness and Technology

Canada's wearable technology market reached $4.18 billion in 2024, according to the Fitness Industry Council of Canada, a sign of how deeply tracking and connected fitness have entered everyday habits. Digital fitness has matured well past the emergency streaming era into apps that pair with home equipment, wearables, and coaching.

Three shifts stand out:

AI personalization. Apps increasingly adjust programs to a member's performance, recovery, and history rather than serving static workout videos. The technology is early but moving fast.
Virtual reality for winter. VR fitness that simulates skiing, hiking, and other outdoor activities has clear appeal in a country with long cold seasons, giving people year-round access to seasonal sports experiences.
Wearables as the hub. Devices that track heart rate, sleep, and recovery feed the coaching apps that guide workouts, blurring the line between fitness apps and broader health tools.

Many traditional gyms now bundle app access with memberships to compete with these tools and to give members a reason to stay engaged between visits.

Regional Snapshot: Where Canadians Work Out

There were 9,493 locations in Canada's fitness and recreational sports centres industry as of June 2023, according to Statistics Canada. How those centres spread across the country holds a few surprises.

Ontario is the largest provincial market by population and economy, and it anchors much of the country's fitness business and technology development.
Per capita, the leaders are not Ontario. Prince Edward Island led all provinces with 38.23 centres per 100,000 residents in June 2023, with British Columbia close behind at 34.03, per Statistics Canada. Density does not track neatly with size.
Quebec leans on strong municipal recreation centres that offer affordable pools, courts, and programming, which gives commercial gyms real public competition and keeps membership conversion lower than engagement.
Western Canada combines an outdoor-recreation culture with lower facility density in the Prairies, leaving room for both traditional gyms and hybrid or digital models to grow.

Industry Outlook: Revenue, Costs, and What Is Next

Canada's fitness and recreational sports centres earned $5.8 billion in operating revenue in 2024, up 14.9% year over year, per Statistics Canada. Some of that jump reflects continued recovery from the pandemic dip rather than organic growth, so expect the pace to normalize as that recovery finishes.

The industry's cost base is rising alongside its revenue. Statistics Canada reports that salaries, wages, commissions, and benefits in the industry reached $2.1 billion in 2024, up 14.2% from the year before, while facility prices for members rose 5.2% over the same period. Labour and operating costs are climbing at roughly the same rate as revenue, which keeps margins tight even in a growth year.

Policy could shift the picture. The Fitness Industry Council of Canada has lobbied for an Adult Fitness Tax Credit that would make gym memberships and fitness equipment partly tax-deductible. If it passes, it could lift both membership rates and home equipment purchases across the country.

FAQs

What percentage of Canadians have a gym membership?

About 15.5% of Canadian adults held a gym membership in 2024, according to the Fitness Industry Council of Canada. Broader measures run higher, with Made in CA reporting roughly 21% of Canadians holding a membership at some point in 2025 and 16.67% in October 2021. The steady, year-round rate sits in the mid-teens, and it has faced downward pressure from rising living costs.

Is gym membership in Canada declining?

Steady year-round membership has been under pressure, even as the industry's revenue grows. Rising membership prices, up 15.9% since 2021 per Statistics Canada, and a shift toward home workouts have pushed some Canadians to cancel or not renew. At the same time, the overall market is expanding and seniors are the fastest-growing segment, so the picture is mixed rather than a straight decline.

What percentage of gym members actually use their membership?

A large share of memberships go underused. Since roughly half of new members cancel within six months and most facilities count many members who rarely attend, active weekly use is far lower than total sign-ups. This gap between paying and attending is a core reason gyms invest so heavily in engagement and retention programs.

How much has the Canadian home fitness market grown?

Home fitness has become a lasting habit rather than a pandemic phase. The average home gym in Canada costs about $2,530, per Made in CA, and Canadians increasingly treat equipment as a long-term investment. With 75% of Canadians citing lack of time and 73% preferring to exercise alone, the appeal of a home setup is durable.

How do Canadian gyms compare on price?

Canadian gyms fall into budget, mid-range, and premium tiers, and prices are rising across all three. Statistics Canada reports facility prices climbed 5.2% from 2023 to 2024 and 15.9% since 2021. Advertised monthly rates often exclude initiation, maintenance, and cancellation fees, so the real cost usually runs higher than the sticker price.

Why is retention such a problem for gyms?

Roughly half of new members cancel within six months, per industry retention research, so gyms lose members almost as fast as they sign them up. January sign-up spikes fade quickly, and cold Canadian winters keep lapsed members away. The clubs that retain best build social connection, since group-exercise members are far less likely to cancel than members who train alone.

How has the Canadian fitness industry recovered since the pandemic?

The industry reached $5.8 billion in operating revenue in 2024, up 14.9% year over year, per Statistics Canada, with 9,493 fitness and recreational sports centres counted as of June 2023. Part of that growth reflects ongoing pandemic recovery rather than organic expansion, so growth is expected to level off as the recovery completes.

What role does technology play in Canadian fitness?

Technology is now central to how Canadians train and how gyms retain members. The Canadian wearable technology market reached $4.18 billion in 2024, per the Fitness Industry Council of Canada, and many gyms bundle app access with memberships. AI-guided programming, VR workouts, and wearables that track sleep and recovery are reshaping both home and facility fitness.

Final Thoughts

Canada's fitness market in 2026 is a mature one, still normalizing after its pandemic swing. Memberships hold steady in the mid-teens, the $5.8 billion industry keeps growing while costs rise alongside it, and a large group of Canadians now split their training between the gym and home. Retention, rising prices, and the home-fitness shift are the forces every operator and buyer is reacting to.

At Fitness Avenue, we are a Canadian home gym equipment retailer that has served this market since 2007, with private-label brands like AmStaff, SpaceSmart, and XFORM built for Canadian homes and budgets. We see the home-fitness shift in our own numbers, especially the demand for space-saving equipment that fits condos and basements.

As a Canadian home gym equipment retailer with four locations, we offer in-person shopping at our Barrie, Longueuil, and London stores and local order pickup at our Toronto warehouse. If the data has you weighing a membership against a setup of your own, browse our home gym equipment or explore our functional trainers to see what a home gym can look like.