Working out the numbers for your gym resolution

Happy New Year! If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve made a resolution of some sort. Maybe you’re one of the many Canadians who have made a resolution to exercise more.

Bad news: we can’t help you stick to your resolution. Good news: we can give you all the fun training stats, including where all the fitness and recreational sports centres are! More good news: the number of centres has increased. (No excuses now, right?)

Fitness industry punching above COVID-19 pandemic weight

The fitness and recreational sports centres industry was in the red in 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic-related public health restrictions, which forced many temporary closures of such indoor spaces.

The industry, which also includes gymnasiums, weight training centres, pools, skating rinks, and spas, reported operating loss margins of -1.9% in 2020 and -0.8% in 2021.

As restrictions eased in 2022, the industry rebounded in a big way. In fact, it reported an operating profit margin of 3.4% thanks to an operating revenue of nearly $4.3 billion.

This revenue is up from $3.0 billion in 2021 and is the highest year-over-year gain on record since we started tracking these data in 2012. However, the $4.5 billion reported in pre-pandemic 2019 remains the high bar for the industry.

More places to get fit

Twice a year, Statistics Canada provides detailed data on the number of businesses across sectors and industries. In June 2023, there were 9,493 locations in the fitness and recreational sports centres industry across Canada, up from 9,290 in December 2022 and 9,064 in June 2022.

The 8,896 locations reported in December 2021 were probably not a fully accurate representation of the number of centres at the time, as many pandemic-related openings and closures were not fully processed and confirmed.

Pacific cities staying in shape

Can we say… Fittish Columbia? Kamloops (4.47), Kelowna (4.37), Nanaimo (3.90), Victoria (3.70) and Vancouver (3.44), British Columbia, had the most fitness and recreational sports locations per 10,000 residents among all census metropolitan areas in Canada in June 2023.

Tied with Vancouver was Guelph, Ontario (3.44), followed by Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (3.34).

Islanders have options

Prince Edward Island led all provinces and territories in June 2023, with 38.23 fitness and recreational sports centres per 100,000 residents. British Columbia (34.03) was close behind, followed by Saskatchewan (27.37), Alberta (26.27) and Ontario (26.20).