Contents
- Sports equipment household spending statistics: U.S. spending levels and annual trend
- Sports equipment household spending statistics: U.S. spending on athletic gear and exercise equipment
- Sports equipment household spending statistics: participation in U.S. consumer-unit spending
- sports equipment household spending: Household sporting expenditure across Europe: overall levels and country differences
- sports equipment household spending: Sports equipment shares within European sporting budgets
- sports equipment household spending: Country differences in equipment, durables, and sports services
- Sources
Sports equipment household spending statistics: U.S. spending levels and annual trend
U.S. household spending on sports and exercise equipment appears in a Bureau of Labor Statistics series as average annual expenditure per consumer unit. The category is titled “Sports, recreation, and exercise equipment,” so it includes a broader range than home-gym machines alone. These are historical dollar amounts for each stated year, not current prices or spending limited to units that made a purchase. BLS: The New Year and household spending
| Year | Average annual expenditure per consumer unit |
|---|---|
| 2010 | $127 |
| 2011 | $145 |
| 2012 | $145 |
| 2013 | $126 |
| 2014 | $143 |
| 2015 | $131 |
| 2016 | $152 |
| 2017 | $179 |
| 2018 | $151 |
| 2019 | $151 |
| 2020 | $188 |
The series fluctuated across the period. It started at $127 in 2010, reached $145 in 2011 and stayed at that level in 2012, then registered $126 in 2013. The average was $143 in 2014 and $131 in 2015. It rose to $152 in 2016 and $179 in 2017, before returning to $151 in both 2018 and 2019. The 2020 observation was $188. These values describe the reported series; they do not explain why spending changed from year to year. BLS: The New Year and household spending
A consumer unit can be a financially independent family or individual, or people who share major expenses. The average is not a household-by-household purchasing rate, and it does not mean every consumer unit spent the listed amount. The category title also sets a broad boundary: it does not isolate exercise equipment for home use, a specific sport, or a purchase location. BLS: The New Year and household spending
Sports equipment household spending statistics: U.S. spending on athletic gear and exercise equipment
A second BLS series covers “athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment.” The source says that this category includes athletic gear, game tables, wearable trackers, treadmills, stationary bicycles, weights, and other home-gym equipment. Its average consumer-unit expenditure observations run from 2013 through 2021. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
| Year | Average annual expenditure per consumer unit |
|---|---|
| 2013 | $36.33 |
| 2014 | $48.86 |
| 2015 | $42.74 |
| 2016 | $45.75 |
| 2017 | $55.97 |
| 2018 | $49.01 |
| 2019 | $41.30 |
| 2020 | $54.53 |
| 2021 | $111.80 |
The average was $36.33 in 2013 and $48.86 in 2014. It was $42.74 in 2015, $45.75 in 2016, and $55.97 in 2017. The listed amount then fell to $49.01 in 2018 and $41.30 in 2019, before reaching $54.53 in 2020 and $111.80 in 2021. The last figure is a historical observation for 2021, not a current-year estimate. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
For 2020, the table prints $54.53. The accompanying introductory narrative gives $54.33 for the same year. The figures here follow the table consistently. The source provides nominal dollars; no inflation adjustment is included. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
The category is more explicit about home-gym equipment than the broader BLS series, but the two measures have different category descriptions and time coverage. Neither table reports average spending only among purchasers. As a result, these figures do not show what a typical buyer paid or how many items were bought. BLS: The New Year and household spending; BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
Sports equipment household spending statistics: participation in U.S. consumer-unit spending
The BLS table also reports the percent of consumer units with spending on athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment. This participation measure answers how many units reported expenditure; it is distinct from the average expenditure across consumer units. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
| Year | Consumer units with spending |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 1.7% |
| 2014 | 1.8% |
| 2015 | 1.9% |
| 2016 | 1.7% |
| 2017 | 2.1% |
| 2018 | 1.7% |
| 2019 | 1.6% |
| 2020 | 1.7% |
| 2021 | 1.6% |
The reported share was 1.7% in 2013, 1.8% in 2014, and 1.9% in 2015. It was 1.7% in 2016, reached 2.1% in 2017, then stood at 1.7% in 2018 and 1.6% in 2019. The table lists 1.7% in 2020 and 1.6% in 2021. These percentages are shares of consumer units reporting spending, not shares of total U.S. expenditure. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
Reading participation alongside the average makes the distinction clear. The average gives expenditure per consumer unit across the group, while the participation rate indicates the share reporting a purchase. The participation figure does not say how much those units spent, and the average is not limited to them. Together, the measures document two aspects of spending without explaining their annual pattern. BLS: Consumer expenditures for athletic gear, game tables, and exercise equipment doubled in 2021
sports equipment household spending: Household sporting expenditure across Europe: overall levels and country differences
Eurostat’s household budget evidence covers sporting goods and services together. Its scope includes sport and camping equipment, major recreational durables, repairs, and recreational and sporting services. For the EU, estimated mean consumption expenditure per adult equivalent was 328 PPS in 2020, compared with 318 PPS in 2015. PPS means purchasing power standards. The measure is per adult equivalent, rather than an unadjusted total for a whole household. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
Among the 24 EU countries with data, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Austria had mean expenditure above 600 PPS in 2020. At the lower end of the reported country values, Poland recorded 95 PPS, Lithuania 87 PPS, Slovakia 66 PPS, and Bulgaria 24 PPS. Each value is mean consumption expenditure per adult equivalent on sporting goods and services. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
These are historical observations for the 2020 reference year. Household budget survey fieldwork took place during 2018–2023 for most EU Member States. Cyprus, Malta, and France used 2015 survey data converted to 2020 reference-year prices. Sweden data and detailed sporting categories for Portugal and Romania were unavailable. These coverage and reference-year details shape the country comparisons and should be kept in view when reading the published values. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
sports equipment household spending: Sports equipment shares within European sporting budgets
In 2020, recreational and sporting services accounted for 67% of EU household expenditure on sporting goods and services. Equipment for sport, camping, and open-air recreation made up 15.6%, while major durables for outdoor recreation accounted for 14.4%. The remaining reported categories were maintenance and repair of other major durables for recreation and culture at 2.1% and major durables for indoor recreation at 0.9%. All these figures are shares within sporting-goods-and-services expenditure, not shares of all household spending. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
| EU household sporting-goods-and-services expenditure, 2020 | Share |
|---|---|
| Recreational and sporting services | 67% |
| Equipment for sport, camping and open-air recreation | 15.6% |
| Major durables for outdoor recreation | 14.4% |
| Maintenance and repair of other major durables for recreation and culture | 2.1% |
| Major durables for indoor recreation | 0.9% |
A different denominator puts sporting spending in the context of the full household budget. Sporting goods and services accounted for 1.2% of total EU household expenditure in 2020. Food and housing together accounted for 48.6% of total household expenditure. Those figures compare broad budget categories and should not be confused with the within-sporting-budget shares in the table. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
The category boundary matters: Eurostat’s overall sporting total includes both equipment and services. In the EU distribution, recreational and sporting services formed the largest reported share, while equipment and outdoor recreation durables each represented smaller portions. The total therefore describes a mixed sporting budget, not equipment purchases alone. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
sports equipment household spending: Country differences in equipment, durables, and sports services
The mix of sporting expenditure varied across countries in 2020. Recreational and sporting services ranged from 19.2% of mean household sporting-goods-and-services expenditure in Greece to 93.7% in Cyprus. Equipment for sport, camping, and open-air recreation ranged from 2.6% in Ireland to 42.3% in Slovakia. Major durables for outdoor recreation ranged from 0.4% in Hungary to 69.0% in Greece. These are category shares within sporting expenditure, not shares of total household budgets. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
Recreational and sporting services accounted for less than 50% of mean sporting expenditure in Greece and in 3 other named countries: Finland at 48.9%, Belgium at 46.8%, and Denmark at 43.7%. The source identifies these as the only countries besides Greece with a services share below that level. The proportions assigned to services and to other categories therefore differed considerably among the reported country budgets. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
Major durables for outdoor recreation were the second-largest item in the sporting budget in Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. Their respective shares were 36.7%, 33.7%, 29.2%, 27.2%, 19.3%, 18.1%, 16.5%, and 8.1%. These are shares of mean household expenditure on sporting goods and services in 2020. The category’s rank and share varied across these countries; the reported figures do not explain the reasons for those differences. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
Eurostat also divides recreational and sporting services into participation and attendance. Participation ranged from 16.5% of recreational and sporting-services expenditure in Greece to 91.7% in Estonia in 2020. Attendance ranged from 0.7% in Poland to 42.5% in Luxembourg. These shares use the services category as their denominator, so they are not shares of all household sporting expenditure. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
For Malta, mean sporting-goods-and-services expenditure among households in the fifth income quintile was 1.5 times the mean for all households in 2020. Eurostat flags quintile data for Malta, Lithuania, and Cyprus as having low reliability. The Malta ratio is therefore a reported comparison with an explicit reliability caveat, not a measure of every household or a general result for other countries. Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services
Eurostat describes household sport expenditure observations as household budget survey waves for 2010, 2015, and 2020. This periodic schedule differs from the annual U.S. BLS tables. The measures also answer different questions: PPS expenditure is stated per adult equivalent, category percentages describe budget composition, services percentages use services expenditure as their base, and the Malta figure compares an income quintile with the all-household mean. Keeping those units and denominators distinct is essential to interpreting historical household spending evidence. Eurostat metadata: Private households expenditure on sport; Eurostat: Household expenditure on sporting goods and services