Australian Fitness Industry Statistics (2026)

Every number on this page carries its source, its publication date, and a provenance label: published (we read it in the primary/official source), reported (a credible secondary source citing a primary we couldn't reach), or could-not-verify (circulating with no traceable primary — listed at the bottom, not laundered into the body). Last checked: 31 July 2026.

Headline numbers

• $3.7 billion — market size of the Gym & Fitness Centre Operation industry, stated for 2025. IBISWorld free data fragment, accessed Jul 2026 (full report paywalled; figure from IBISWorld's own free page). [published]
• 7,702 — gym and fitness centre businesses in Australia in 2025, up 1.4% on 2024. IBISWorld, accessed Jul 2026 — but IBISWorld's own industry overview page simultaneously shows 8,078. Even the primary source disagrees with itself across page snapshots; treat “roughly 7,700–8,100” as the honest answer. [published, self-conflicting]
• Over $4 billion — the health and fitness sector's contribution to Australian GDP ($1.52bn direct + $2.49bn via the supply chain). Deloitte for the Global Health & Fitness Alliance with AUSactive, published 20 February 2023. [published (primary)]
• 28% — share of Australian adults who visit a gym, fitness club, or sports/leisure centre. AusPlay / Australian Sports Commission, released 30 May 2025 (survey period Jul 2023–Dec 2024, n>60,000). [published (official)]
• AUD 3.5 billion — what Australians spent at fitness clubs and gyms in calendar 2023. GapMaps Annual Network Report using CommBank iQ bank-transaction data, published April 2024. [published (primary)]
• ~1 in 5 — Australian adults estimated to hold a gym membership. Same GapMaps/CommBank iQ report (Apr 2024) — derived from spend at an assumed average of AUD $70/month, residents 18+. [published, stated assumption]
• 33,544 — people employed in the gym and fitness centre industry in 2025. IBISWorld, accessed Jul 2026. Consistent with Deloitte's Feb 2023 figure of 31,000+ direct jobs. [published fragment]
• 3,290 — locations operated by Australia's 27 largest fitness brands at 31 Dec 2023. GapMaps, Apr 2024. [published (primary)]
• $77/month — average member spend on gym memberships. Canstar survey of 1,300+ gym-goers, published 6 January 2026. The oft-quoted $63/month is Canstar Blue's earlier survey of ~1,500 members, 11 July 2024 — aging; cite the date if you use it. [published (survey-based)]

Market size and gym count

IBISWorld is the only regularly updated source for both revenue and business counts, and it's paywalled — the figures above come from its free stat fragments, quoted exactly. Two honesty notes: the industry page says the market “has been declining at a CAGR of 2.1% between 2020 and 2025” while the market-size page says −1.6% CAGR and −1.3% in 2025 — same publisher, different snapshots. And Statista shows 7,313 health and fitness centres in FY2024 (up 1,400+ since 2020) without naming its underlying source [published fragment; underlying series unclear — likely IBISWorld].

Participation: the free, official goldmine

AusPlay (Australian Sports Commission) is free, official, and the best-kept data in the sector. Latest release: 30 April 2026, covering calendar 2025. Key published findings from the 30 May 2025 release (Jul 2023–Dec 2024, 60,000+ adults):

• 85% of Australian adults are active; 48% exercise at least three times a week. [published (official)]
• 28% visit a gym, fitness club, or sports/leisure centre. [published (official)]
• Fitness/gym is the second most popular activity for Australians 15+, behind recreational walking — confirmed again in the 2024–25 release (ASC, 14 Nov 2025). [published (official)]
• ~6 million adults participated in fitness/gym activities vs ~10 million walkers (2023–24 results). [reported — secondary coverage citing the AusPlay portal]

Methodology caveat worth printing: AusPlay switched from phone to online collection in July 2023. The ASC itself says 2023–25 data “cannot be directly compared with figures from 2015–2023.”

Chains vs independents

GapMaps' April 2024 report (period: calendar 2023) is the only public, dated, brand-by-brand count — all published (primary):

• 79% of Australians live within 3km of a major fitness centre; 61% within 3km of an Anytime Fitness. GapMaps, Apr 2024. [published]
• Anytime Fitness now advertises 590+ clubs (anytimefitness.com.au, accessed Jul 2026, published primary); trade press reports a ~630-club network with 780,000+ members and a target of 800 clubs / 1 million members by 2030 (Australasian Leisure Management, 2026 — reported, article inaccessible to us).
• Viva Leisure (ASX:VVA), the largest listed operator: FY2025 revenue $211.3m (+30%), 620,000+ members, Plus Fitness at 199 open AU locations (ASX announcement, 14 Aug 2025). [published (primary, audited)]
• Boutique churn is real and dated: in 2023 F45 shed 111 listed sites and CrossFit 39 affiliates, while pilates and functional brands (KX +11, Studio Pilates +11, BFT +27, Fitstop +39) grew. GapMaps, Apr 2024. [published]
• What these two sources can and cannot tell you together: GapMaps counts ~3,300 physical locations for the top 27 brands; IBISWorld counts 7,702–8,078 registered businesses. The units differ — a franchised site is typically its own registered business — so no chain-vs-independent market share can honestly be derived by dividing one by the other. We publish both numbers and decline the ratio. [two published sources, incompatible units]

Economic contribution and employment

From the Deloitte/GHFA–AUSactive report (20 Feb 2023), all published (primary): $1.52bn direct GDP, $2.49bn indirect; 31,000+ direct jobs plus ~26,000 indirect; physical inactivity costs the health system $2 billion a year, over 14 million working days lost annually, and $2,191 per inactive worker per year. IBISWorld's 33,544 employment figure (2025) grew ~6.3% p.a. over 2020–25.

Numbers circulating that we could NOT verify

The current search results for this topic are dominated by AI-generated stat farms, which publish conflicting, undated, unsourced figures that then get re-cited. We could not trace any of the following to a primary source — do not cite them:

• Gym counts of 6,583, 7,800, 9,087, and “4,200 fitness centres” — none appear in IBISWorld's, Statista's, or ABS's visible data. The defensible published range is 7,313–8,078 (see above).
• “25.4%” and “35%” membership penetration; “6.8 million” / “8.5 million” gym members; “7.2 million Australians in gyms weekly” — mutually contradictory, no primary. Best-evidenced anchors: GapMaps' ~1-in-5 membership estimate (Apr 2024, method stated) and AusPlay's 28% facility-visit rate (May 2025, official).
• “$2.4 billion industry revenue (2023)” and “45,200 employees” — conflict with IBISWorld's published $3.7bn / 33,544 fragments.
• Global-context lines (e.g. global fitness sector at US$91bn+ GDP impact, Deloitte/GHFA 2023) are fine — but label them global; they say nothing about Australia specifically.

Building a gym? See what it costs to open in Australia, the import duty and landed-cost guide, and the evidence-checked manufacturer directory. How we label sources: /methodology.