August Foot Traffic Posts Strongest Monthly Gain of 2026

HFA’s August FIT Tracker check-in finds broad growth led by HVLP facilities and studios, with visitation rising across eight of nine Census divisions.

HFA publishes monthly FIT Tracker data check-ins to complement its quarterly reports and provide a timely view of visitation across US commercial fitness facilities. The second monthly update covers August 2026 and draws on anonymized foot-traffic data from more than 10,000 locations, segmented by HVLP gyms, mid-marked locations, luxury clubs, and boutique/studios.

August posts the strongest overall gain of 2026

Across the full sample, weighted visits per location increased 2.4% from August 2025, marking the strongest monthly result so far this year. The gain followed a 2.1% increase in June and a slight 0.2% adjusted decline in July. Across the three summer months, visitation ran 1.4% above the same period last year.

Weighted visits per location, year-over-year change

HVLP accounted for most of the August increase

HVLP facilities led the four segments in August with 3.0% year-over-year growth, narrowly ahead of studios at 2.5%. Mid-market gyms increased 2.0%, while luxury clubs declined 1.5%. Because HVLP facilities have both a large sample weight and substantially more visits per location than studios, they contributed 1.8 percentage points, or 74%, of the overall increase.

Contribution to the overall August change, percentage points

Three segments reached post-pandemic August highs

HVLP, mid-market gyms and studios recorded their highest August visitation levels since 2019. The HVLP index reached 123, meaning visits per location were 23% above August 2019 and at a new August record. Mid-market and studio foot traffic also reached reach new post-pandemic highs with visitation indexes of 107 and 83 respectively, while Luxury clubs was 80.

August visits per location, indexed to August 2019

Overall visitation rose in eight of nine Census divisions

The August increase was geographically widespread. Weighted visits per location rose in eight of nine Census divisions. Middle Atlantic recorded the strongest gain at 5.1%, followed by East South Central at 4.8%. West South Central was the only division to decline, down 3.8%.

Weighted visits per location across all four facility types, change versus August 2025

The Health & Fitness Association’s US Fitness Industry Traffic (FIT) Tracker draws on anonymized foot-traffic data from more than 10,000 US commercial fitness facilities and spans four segments of the industry: High-value, low-price (HVLP) gyms, mid-market gyms, luxury clubs, and boutique gyms. Overall results use fixed national segment weights. Regional results use each division’s facility mix, held constant for 2025 and 2026. The FIT Tracker is developed in partnership with Sports Marketing Surveys USA (a Buffalo Groupe company) and powered by Placer.ai. It provides anonymized, aggregated foot traffic metrics from a national panel of commercial fitness facilities. The FIT Tracker uses opt-in mobile location data from a national panel of more than 70 million US adults, with an eight-year historical lookback. Movement patterns are captured using geofences (digital boundaries) placed around each tracked fitness facility. To ensure data accuracy, visits from employees and residents of the geofenced location are excluded based on dwell time and timing patterns.