Cheerleading is a large U.S. participation activity spanning youth recreation, all star, school cheer, and STUNT. USA Cheer says more than 3 million people participate across those categories, while school and competitive-spirit figures show how differently the activity is measured from one program to another.
Table of contents
- How large is cheerleading?
- Who participates?
- How school competitive spirit is measured
- Where school programs are reported
- STUNT and the organized-sport pathway
- What the safety data shows
How large is cheerleading?
USA Cheer’s History of Cheerleading reports more than 3 million U.S. participants across youth recreational cheer, all star cheer, school cheer, and STUNT. That broad total is not the same as a count of unique people across every program, but it gives useful context for the scale of the activity.
The same USA Cheer source reports more than 150,000 all star cheer participants. All star therefore represents a substantial organized segment within the wider participation landscape, although the available figures do not provide a complete category-by-category breakdown of the 3-million-plus total.
Participation is predominantly female: USA Cheer says females account for approximately 85% of cheerleading participants. Because this is an approximate share, it should be read as a rounded demographic estimate rather than a precise census.
Cheerleading’s organized history also includes much smaller early events. A 1949 cheer clinic at Texas Teacher’s College drew 52 cheerleaders, and a follow-up clinic that year drew 350 cheerleaders in attendance. These historical attendance figures describe individual events; they are not directly comparable with today’s national participation estimates.
Who participates?
Several sources count different parts of the activity, so the definitions matter. USA Cheer’s national estimate includes multiple forms of participation, while the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) reports competitive spirit within its 2023-24 Participation Survey.
NFHS reported 186,151 competitive spirit participants in 2023-24 and 7,827 girls’ schools sponsoring competitive spirit. Its survey also reported 1,074 boys’ competitive spirit participants. Separately, the survey table reported 5,128 boys’ competitive spirit participants; because the supplied NFHS figures present these as separate reported values without a reconciliation, both should be treated as table-reported figures rather than combined or compared as if they were one clean series.
These school figures should not be added to USA Cheer’s 3-million-plus estimate. The two sources use different scopes: one is a national estimate across several cheer categories, and the other is a school-sport participation survey for a defined school year.
The available data also indicates that the activity has expanded beyond traditional sideline performance. USA Cheer says STUNT is played in 16 states as a sanctioned sport or club, and that more than 50 institutions offer it as a collegiate varsity or club sport. Those figures describe STUNT’s reported reach, not the full number of cheerleading organizations or participants.
How school competitive spirit is measured
The NFHS survey illustrates why state-level comparisons need care. Some rows report both schools and participants, while other supplied rows report only one of those values. The following figures are reproduced as reported for 2023-24 and are not estimates calculated from missing fields.
| State or district | Schools reported | Participants reported |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 10 | 22 |
| Arkansas | 45 | 160 |
| California | 329 | 1,422 |
| Connecticut | 41 | 152 |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 2 |
| Georgia | 35 | 63 |
| Hawaii | 15 | 23 |
| Idaho | 48 | 113 |
| Kansas | 73 | 107 |
| Maine | 19 | 20 |
| Maryland | 41 | 67 |
| Michigan | 8 | 9 |
| Mississippi | 25 | 148 |
| New Hampshire | 40 | 5 |
| New Mexico | 83 | 122 |
The table shows why a participant total cannot safely be inferred by multiplying a state’s schools by an assumed roster size. For example, NFHS reported 329 California schools and 1,422 participants, while it reported 40 New Hampshire schools and 5 participants. Those rows reflect the survey’s own reporting structure and may not represent identical program conditions.
Other NFHS rows supplied for the same survey include Arizona with 313 schools, Florida with 291 schools, and Colorado with 605 participants. Kentucky was reported with 203 participants, and New York with 664 participants. Since the supplied data does not include the corresponding missing fields for those rows, no school-to-participant ratios are calculated here.
Where school programs are reported
The NFHS figures cover a broad geographic range, but the reported values vary sharply. At the smaller end of the supplied school rows, the District of Columbia had 1 school and 2 participants, while Michigan had 8 schools and 9 participants. Alaska had 10 schools and 22 participants, and Hawaii had 15 schools and 23 participants.
Among the supplied rows with both fields, Maine had 19 schools and 20 participants; Georgia had 35 schools and 63 participants; Maryland had 41 schools and 67 participants; and Connecticut had 41 schools and 152 participants. Idaho reported 48 schools and 113 participants, while Arkansas reported 45 schools and 160 participants.
Larger reported school counts included New Mexico’s 83 schools, Kansas’s 73 schools, and California’s 329 schools. The survey also listed Arizona with 313 schools and Florida with 291 schools. These are reported counts for the 2023-24 NFHS survey, not a ranking of the overall cheerleading industry, because the supplied table does not provide complete comparable fields for every state.
The participant figures show a similarly uneven picture. New Hampshire’s table value was 5 participants, Michigan’s was 9, Alaska’s was 22, and Hawaii’s was 23. Mississippi reported 148 participants, Connecticut 152, Arkansas 160, Kentucky 203, New Mexico 122, and New York 664. California’s reported participant value was 1,422.
STUNT and the organized-sport pathway
USA Cheer’s History of Cheerleading places several milestones on a clear timeline. The ICU, or International Cheer Union, was formed in 2004. STUNT was developed in 2011. USA Cheer says the ICU received full recognition status from the International Olympic Committee in 2021.
The same source says STUNT is played in 16 states as a sanctioned sport or club and has grown to more than 50 institutions as a collegiate varsity and club sport. Together, these figures describe a sport-format pathway that is distinct from the broader participation total. They also show that organizational growth can be measured through states and institutions, not only through individual participants.
The timeline should not be read as a forecast of future participation. The 2004, 2011, and 2021 dates are historical milestones, while the 16-state and 50-plus-institution figures describe the reach reported by USA Cheer.
What the safety data shows
The available safety figures span both recent reporting and older historical studies. USA Cheer’s Cheerleading Safety Data and Research says cheerleading experienced an 85% decrease in total catastrophic injuries, falling from 42 during 2003-2014 to 6 during 2014-2023. The same source says the 2023 NCCSIR annual report showed no direct fatal or permanently disabling cheerleading injuries in the past two years.
In the 2023-24 High School RIO report, USA Cheer says cheerleading ranked 17th out of 20 high school sports studied for overall injuries. This ranking is a position within that study, not a measure of all injuries across every age group or cheer format.
For girls ages 12-18, USA Cheer reports 22,313 cheerleading emergency-department visits in 2024. The reported counts for other girls’ sports were higher: basketball had 46,795 visits, soccer had 39,085, volleyball had 29,706, and softball had 29,052. These are emergency-department counts, not rates adjusted for the number of participants or athletic exposures.
USA Cheer also reports 7,457 cheerleading emergency-department visits for girls ages 14-18 in the NEISS comparison cited on its research page. Because this uses a different age range and comparison context from the 2024 ages-12-to-18 count, the two figures should not be combined.
Exposure-based findings provide another perspective. In a 10-year Virginia high school study cited by USA Cheer, cheerleading tied with baseball at 0.06 concussions per athletic exposure. In a three-year North Carolina high school study, USA Cheer says cheerleading tied with wrestling for the lowest concussion rates. A rate per exposure and a study ranking answer different questions from a raw emergency-department count.
Historical injury trends and measurement limits
Older sources show why dates must stay attached to every injury statistic. The American Academy of Pediatrics source cited by USA Cheer reported 4,954 cheerleading hospital emergency-department visits in 1980, based on Consumer Product Safety Commission data. A separate Pediatrics cheer injury study summary says 497,095 children ages 5-18 were treated in U.S. emergency departments for cheerleading injuries from 1990 through 2012, an average of 21,613 injured children per year.
The same historical study summary says 2012 emergency-department visits reached an estimated 37,344 cases. An Athletic Business summary of the cheer injury study reported that injuries increased by 189% over the 23-year stretch ending in 2012. The 37,344 figure is explicitly an estimate, while the 497,095 and 21,613 figures describe the study’s reported total and average.
These historical numbers should not be presented as current counts. Definitions, participation patterns, reporting systems, and study periods differ. USA Cheer’s recent safety figures, the 2023-24 NFHS survey, and the 2024 emergency-department comparison each measure a specific slice of cheerleading rather than one universal industry total.