Running Statistics 2026 (Participation, Races & Health)

Running and jogging passed 50 million US participants in 2024 for the first time since 2020, making it the fastest-growing sport in the country, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. This page pulls together the latest 2025–2026 numbers on how many people run, marathon participation and finish-time trends, average pace, the running-shoe market, app and event ecosystems like Strava and parkrun, the gender split, and the health data driving the boom.

How many people run in the US?

About 50.5 million Americans ran or jogged at least once in 2024, according to the SFIA 2025 Topline Participation Report. That is up roughly 5.7% on the prior year and the first time running has cleared the 50-million line since 2020. The same report found 247.1 million Americans were active in at least one sport in 2024 — an 80% participation rate, a record — with running called out as a top growth driver.

The gains are concentrated in younger runners. SFIA and Running Insight both flag running and jogging as the most-intended future activity among under-35s, which points to durable rather than one-off growth.

How many people run worldwide?

There is no single audited global count of runners, but the proxies are large and growing. Statista notes running ranked as the most popular sporting activity in Japan in 2024, and event and app data show the same upward curve almost everywhere. Running USA's 2025 Global Runner Survey drew more than 12,700 responses worldwide — a 73% jump over its 2024 edition — a useful signal of rising engagement even if it is not a population count.

The cleanest cross-border participation figure comes from parkrun, the free weekly 5K: it logged 18.2 million finishes across roughly 20 countries in 2025 and now has over nine million registered participants globally. App ecosystems tell a similar story, covered below.

How many people run a marathon, and are they getting faster?

US marathon finishers reached 432,562 in 2024, a 5.0% increase that puts the sport back above its pre-pandemic baseline and within 12.8% of the all-time high of 496,178 set in 2014, per RunRepeat's analysis of more than 400,000 finishers across 251 US races.

The long-running "marathoners are getting slower" story has reversed. The average US finish time improved from 4:39 in 2019 to 4:34 in 2024. Men dropped from 4:28 to 4:24 and women from 4:54 to 4:51. Every major age band sped up too — the 35–44 group went from 4:35 to 4:29. RunRepeat attributes the shift to a stabilising recreational field plus training tech: carbon-plated super-shoes, GPS watches, and structured app-based plans that lift the middle of the bell curve.

What is the average running pace?

Across all the runs uploaded to Strava in 2024, the global average pace was about 10:16 per mile (6:22 per kilometer), according to Strava's Year in Sport data. The gender gap is consistent: men averaged roughly 10:02/mi (6:14/km) and women about 11:17/mi (7:01/km).

Marathon paces are slower because the distance is far longer. A 4:34 marathon works out to roughly a 10:27 per-mile pace held for 26.2 miles, which lines up closely with the everyday training pace above — a reminder that most finishers race at something near their normal running speed.

How big is the running-shoe market?

Estimates vary by how analysts segment "running shoes," but the category sits in the tens of billions and grows in the mid-single digits annually. The Business Research Company puts it at about $53.6 billion in 2025, rising to roughly $56.9 billion in 2026 at a 6.1% CAGR. Maximize Market Research lands near $54.8 billion for 2025, while more conservative scopes like Future Market Insights value it around $48.4 billion. The common thread is steady ~6% growth, propelled in part by the carbon-plate super-shoe arms race now reaching everyday runners.

How many people use running apps like Strava?

Strava is the clearest barometer of the connected-running boom. It reached roughly 50 million monthly active users in 2025 — nearly double its closest competitor — on a base of about 180 million registered athletes, with downloads up around 80% year over year, per Business of Apps and Sensor Tower data. The company's own business site reports over 195 million registered users across 185 countries recording billions of activities.

The growth is generational: coverage of Strava's reported IPO plans frames it as riding a Gen Z shift toward run clubs and away from dating apps as a way to meet people, with the platform adding roughly three million users a month in 2025.

How big is parkrun?

parkrun, the free timed 5K held every Saturday, logged 18.2 million finishes in 2025 across about 111,000 events worldwide — 14.4% growth on 2024 — according to its published data. Most Saturdays draw 360,000 to 390,000 finishers across roughly 2,200 events in about 20 countries. Participation is concentrated: 87% of 2025 finishes happened in just three countries (the UK with 10.33M, Australia with 3.75M, and South Africa with 1.75M). The model leans on community, with nearly two million volunteering occasions logged in 2025.

What is the gender split in running?

It depends on whether you count all runners or just marathoners. Running USA's 2024 Global Runner Survey found 58% of runners overall are women. But in US marathons specifically, women made up just 41% of finishers in 2024 — down from a 45% peak in 2017, per RunRepeat. Between 2019 and 2024, male marathon participation grew 8.8% while female participation rose only 1%, widening the gap at the 26.2-mile distance even as women dominate the broader running population.

What are the health benefits of running, in numbers?

The longevity case is well evidenced. A meta-analysis of 14 studies covering 232,149 people, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that any amount of running was associated with a 27% lower risk of all-cause death, a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular death, and a 23% lower risk of cancer death.

The dose needed is small. The same research found that running as little as once a week, or about 50 minutes total, delivered meaningful reductions in mortality risk — and the benefit held roughly flat even up to 4.5 hours of running per week. In other words, the biggest health return comes from going from zero running to a little, not from training to extremes.

How common is treadmill ownership?

Treadmills remain the backbone of the home gym. They hold roughly 27% of the home-fitness-equipment market in 2025 — the single largest product category — per Mordor Intelligence. Survey data cited by PT Pioneer shows about 21% of US adults have a home gym, slightly more than the 18% who hold a commercial gym membership. The broader home-fitness-equipment market was valued at roughly $12–13 billion in 2024–2025 and is projected to keep growing in the high-single digits.

Running's data trail — app uploads, race timing, shoe sales — makes it one of the most measurable hobbies on the internet, and a natural fit alongside the other activity and lifestyle data we track across this site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) 2025 Topline Participation Report; RunRepeat, State of US Marathons 2025; Strava Year in Sport & Business of Apps (Strava statistics); parkrun published data / Wikipedia; Running USA 2025 Global Runner Survey; The Business Research Company & Future Market Insights (running-shoe market); British Journal of Sports Medicine (running & mortality meta-analysis); Mordor Intelligence & PT Pioneer (home-fitness equipment); Statista (running & jogging facts). Figures reflect the latest available data as of June 2026; 2024 is the most recent complete year for several series.