US Pickleball Statistics 2021
2021 participation jumped 37% YoY driven by the post-COVID outdoor recreation boom. The PPA and APP tours scaled pro events, and the first significant wave of park conversions and tennis-court-to-pickleball retrofits took hold.
Sources: SFIA Topline Participation Report 2021, USA Pickleball annual reports, and Branded Pickleball directory data from the 2021 archive.
Year-by-Year Archive
- 2024 — 19.8M annual players →
- 2023 — 13.6M annual players →
- 2022 — 8.9M annual players →
- 2026 (current) — 30M+ projected annual players →
- All years: full growth chart 2015–2026 →
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pickleball players were there in 2021?
The US had an estimated 4.8M annual pickleball participants in 2021 according to the SFIA Topline Participation Report. Of those, approximately 2.0M were core players (8+ plays per year).
How many pickleball courts were there in 2021?
There were approximately 21,400 pickleball courts in the US by the end of 2021, spread across dedicated facilities, parks, and converted tennis locations.
What was the biggest pickleball story of 2021?
Pickleball emerges as America's pandemic-era outdoor sport. 2021 participation jumped 37% YoY driven by the post-COVID outdoor recreation boom. The PPA and APP tours scaled pro events, and the first significant wave of park conversions and tennis-court-to-pickleball retrofits took hold.
Cite This Page
Citing these numbers? Please reference “Branded Pickleball — US Pickleball Statistics 2021” and link to https://brandedpickleball.com/stats/pickleball/2021. Individual figures are sourced in the note above.
