Who exercises more in the United States, men or women? It depends a little on how you count: who works out on a given day, or who gets enough exercise over a whole week. Two federal surveys count it those two ways, and both point the same direction.
On an average day in 2025
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) American Time Use Survey (ATUS) measures how people spend their time. On an average day in 2025, 25.7 percent of US men and 21.1 percent of US women age 15 and older spent some of their day on sports, exercise or recreation, according to the survey’s Table 1. The total for everyone 15 and older was 23.4 percent.
As odds, that is about 1 in 4 men and about 1 in 5 women (our arithmetic).
Men who took part also spent longer at it. Among people who did any sports, exercise or recreation on a given day in 2025, men averaged 1.66 hours and women 1.25 hours, about 100 minutes and 75 minutes (our arithmetic).
These figures count each person’s main activity, not things done at the same time. The table covers the US civilian population age 15 and older.
Over a week in 2024
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) asks a different question in its National Health Interview Survey (NHIS): did adults meet the federal guidelines for aerobic activity in their leisure time? Those guidelines, in the report’s words, “recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity, 75 to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity.”
In 2024, 47.2 percent of US adults age 18 and older met them, based on self-reported activity. Men were more likely to meet the guidelines than women, 52.3 percent compared with 42.4 percent, a difference the report marks as statistically significant. The report’s 95 percent confidence intervals are 51.1 to 53.5 percent for men and 41.3 to 43.4 percent for women.
Age makes a difference too. In 2024, the share meeting the guidelines ranged from 54.0 percent of adults 18 to 34 to 38.4 percent of adults 65 and older.
Why the two answers stay apart
Each survey compares men and women within its own year, ages and measure, and that is the only comparison this page makes. The BLS figure is about whether someone did any sports, exercise or recreation on one day in 2025, starting at age 15. The NCHS figure is about whether self-reported leisure activity reached a weekly target in 2024, starting at age 18. Neither is a subset of the other, so they cannot be merged into one ranking or ratio. They agree on direction only: in each survey, men come out ahead.
At the Olympics
The International Olympic Committee says Paris 2024 “was the first Olympic Games with full gender parity on the field of play after the IOC distributed the quota places equally to women and men: 50/50.” That counts places at one Games, not how much anyone exercises.
The short version
On an average day in 2025, 25.7 percent of US men and 21.1 percent of US women age 15 and older did some sports, exercise or recreation. In 2024, 52.3 percent of US men and 42.4 percent of US women age 18 and older reported enough leisure activity to meet the federal aerobic guidelines. Two surveys, two years, two measures, one direction.
Last checked: 2026-10-20, against BLS American Time Use Survey Table 1 (2025 annual averages), NCHS Data Brief No. 555 and the IOC gender equality page. This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.
Sources
- S1 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, “Table 1. Time spent in primary activities and percent of the civilian population engaging in each activity, averages per day by sex, 2025 annual averages,” row “Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation” and the table note. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t01.htm, accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S2 National Center for Health Statistics, NCHS Data Brief No. 555, “Aerobic Physical Activity Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2024” (April 2026), key findings, Figure 1 data table and definitions. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db555.htm, accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S3 International Olympic Committee, “Gender Equality.” https://www.olympics.com/ioc/olympic-agenda-reforms/gender-equality, accessed Oct 20, 2026.