Short answer: yes, but from a small base, and mostly through private clubs rather than public courts. Here's what the actual 2026 numbers say, and how padel's US growth compares to the far larger pickleball boom happening at the same time.
US PARTICIPATION, 2025
AND EXPANDING
The Numbers So Far
US padel participation reached roughly 1.07 million players in 2025, a real jump from the sport's near-nonexistent US base only a handful of years earlier. Court supply followed: the US reached roughly 1,000 padel courts across 31 states in early 2026.
Where US Growth Is Concentrated
Growth is not evenly spread. Florida accounts for roughly 268 courts — about 41% of the national total — making it the clear anchor of the US padel market, followed at real distance by Texas, California and New York. See our full US clubs guide for what that concentration actually looks like on the ground.
The 2030 Projection
The US Padel Association projects the country could reach 10,000 courts and more than 10 million players by 2030 — roughly a tenfold increase in both categories in under five years. That's a genuinely ambitious projection from an industry group with an obvious interest in the sport's growth, not a guarantee. It's worth treating as a target the industry is building toward rather than a locked-in outcome, but the growth rate since 2023 supports continuing fast expansion.
A tenfold jump in five years would be remarkable for any sport — the honest read is that padel's US trajectory supports fast continued growth, not that the 2030 number is a sure thing.
Why Padel's US Growth Looks Different From Pickleball's
Padel's US expansion has leaned private-club and membership-based so far — purpose-built facilities with booking fees or memberships, closer to a premium racket sport than a mass-participation one. Pickleball scaled the opposite way: free public courts, repurposed tennis and basketball courts, and minimal buy-in cost drove its explosive US growth. The two numbers make the contrast concrete:
| Metric | US Padel (2025–26) | US Pickleball (2026 projection) |
|---|---|---|
| Players | ~1.07 million | ~28 million |
| Courts | ~1,000 (31 states) | 20,000+ (nationwide) |
Pickleball figures per our pickleball vs padel comparison. Both sets of figures are 2025–26 estimates and change as new industry reports are published.
So, Is It Really Growing?
Yes, in every real sense — participation, court count, and industry investment are all moving up fast, and the state-level concentration in Florida shows a genuine, serious market forming rather than a scattered novelty. But it remains a far smaller sport than pickleball in the US today, by roughly a 20-to-1 margin in both players and courts. If the club-based, premium-leaning growth model holds, US padel looks likely to stay a smaller, more concentrated sport than pickleball for a while yet — which also makes now a genuinely good time to try it before it gets more crowded or more expensive to join. Our beginner's guide covers exactly how to get started.
