Competitive spirit participation reached 206,262 girls participants in the 2024-25 school year, according to the NFHS 2024-25 participation survey. That total was nearly 14% higher than the previous year, and competitive spirit ranked as the sixth-most popular girls sport. The figures below show the recent scale of participation, the number of sponsoring schools, longer-term changes, and selected state-level counts.
Contents
- 2024-25 snapshot
- Recent participation trend
- Schools and program reach
- Competitive spirit in the wider athletics picture
- Earlier years
- Selected state participation figures
2024-25 snapshot
The latest figure in the supplied NFHS series is 206,262 girls participants in competitive spirit during 2024-25. The same NFHS 2024-25 participation survey counted 8,465 girls schools sponsoring the activity. In the survey’s girls-program ranking, competitive spirit was sixth-most popular.
The year-over-year change was also notable. The NFHS 2024-25 participation survey reported that competitive spirit rose by nearly 14% compared with 2023-24. Because the source describes the increase as “nearly 14%,” it is best treated as the survey’s rounded year-over-year description rather than as a separately calculated percentage.
The 2024-25 figures refer specifically to girls participants and girls schools in the NFHS competitive-spirit category. They should not be read as a count of every cheerleader in every setting. The dataset uses the competitive-spirit label, while an older NFHS article uses the word cheerleading, so the category and measurement period matter when comparing figures.
Recent participation trend
The recent NFHS figures show growth in girls participation across the three most recent school years.
| School year | Girls participants | Girls schools | Girls-program rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 149,694 | 7,216 | Eighth |
| 2023-24 | 181,023 | 7,827 | Eighth |
| 2024-25 | 206,262 | 8,465 | Sixth |
The 2022-23 figures come from the 2022-23 NFHS handbook. That year recorded 149,694 girls participants and 7,216 girls schools, with competitive spirit ranking eighth among girls programs. The 2023-24 NFHS participation survey recorded 181,023 girls participants and 7,827 girls schools, again ranking competitive spirit eighth among girls programs.
The 2024-25 NFHS 2024-25 participation survey therefore places participation at its highest point in this three-year sequence. The ranking also moved from eighth in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 to sixth in 2024-25. A higher ranking indicates a different position among the girls programs measured by that survey; it does not by itself describe the size of every other program.
The 2023-24 survey also recorded 5,128 boys participants and 1,074 boys schools in competitive spirit. Adding the source’s reported girls and boys figures, the survey listed 186,151 combined participants for that year. The girls count is the much larger part of the reported 2023-24 total, but the boys figures remain part of the NFHS category’s overall participation picture.
Schools and program reach
School counts provide a second way to view the activity’s reach. In 2024-25, 8,465 girls schools sponsored competitive spirit, according to the NFHS 2024-25 participation survey. In 2023-24, the corresponding figure was 7,827 girls schools, and in 2022-23 it was 7,216 girls schools.
The earlier surveys also recorded boys-school counts. The 2023-24 NFHS participation survey listed 1,074 boys schools, while the 2022-23 NFHS handbook listed 755 boys schools. For 2022-23, the handbook reported 149,694 girls participants, 4,126 boys participants, and 153,820 combined participants. It also listed 7,216 girls schools and 755 boys schools.
These counts describe schools sponsoring the activity in the relevant survey category and year. They are not a count of individual teams, competition events, performances, or practices. A school count and a participant count answer different questions: one concerns institutional sponsorship, while the other concerns people counted by the survey.
The 2024-25 survey’s 8,465 girls schools and 206,262 girls participants show the breadth of the category in that school year. The source does not provide a supplied 2024-25 boys count or combined count here, so those figures are not estimated.
Competitive spirit in the wider athletics picture
The NFHS 2024-25 participation survey reported 8,266,244 high school athletics participants overall. That total included 4,726,648 boys participants and 3,539,596 girls participants.
Competitive spirit’s 206,262 girls participants were counted within the girls-program landscape represented by the survey. The activity’s sixth-place ranking in 2024-25 places it among the most popular girls programs in that NFHS comparison. The source does not provide enough supplied detail to calculate competitive spirit’s share of all high school athletics participants, so no percentage share is presented here.
The broader totals also need a clear geography and time frame. They describe high school athletics participation in the United States as represented by the NFHS 2024-25 participation survey. They are not forecasts for later school years, and they do not measure youth recreation, college athletics, professional cheerleading, or informal participation outside the survey’s high school athletics categories.
Earlier years
The longer series includes several additional NFHS measurements, although the source labels and category wording are not identical in every year.
For 2021-22, the NFHS 2023-24 spirit rules article reported 140,552 competitive spirit girls participants and 7,236 girls schools. Competitive spirit ranked ninth among girls programs that year. The supplied source does not include a 2021-22 boys participant count, boys-school count, or combined total.
For 2017-18, NFHS competitive spirit coverage reported 162,699 female participants and 6,877 schools for girls participation. It also reported 3,851 male participants and 879 schools for boys participation. The 2017-18 NFHS participation survey gave a combined total of 166,520 participants.
For 2015-16, the NFHS handbook reported 125,763 girls participants and 5,358 girls schools in competitive spirit squads. It listed 2,687 boys participants and 687 boys schools, for 128,450 combined participants. Competitive spirit ranked ninth among girls programs in that handbook.
The earlier numbers should be read with their source labels and measurement dates intact. The 2021-22 figures are attributed to the NFHS 2023-24 spirit rules article, the 2017-18 figures to NFHS competitive spirit coverage and the 2017-18 participation survey, and the 2015-16 figures to the NFHS handbook. These are historical source-reported figures, not independently verified estimates.
An older NFHS 2015 cheer/spirits article cited an NFHS survey that found 394,694 cheerleading participants in 2009. The same article described 120,593 participants as the latest competitive spirit figure cited in 2015. Those measurements use the source’s cheerleading or competitive-spirit wording and belong to their stated historical context. They should not be combined directly with the 2024-25 figure as though all years used an unchanged definition.
Selected state participation figures
The 2023-24 NFHS participation survey also reported competitive spirit participant counts for selected states. These are state-level counts for that school year, not national estimates or rankings.
| State | Participants | State | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 30 | Alaska | 12 |
| Arizona | 180 | Arkansas | 109 |
| California | 1,630 | Colorado | 349 |
| Connecticut | 152 | Florida | 305 |
| Georgia | 79 | Hawaii | 28 |
| Kentucky | 167 | Maine | 17 |
| Maryland | 66 | Mississippi | 108 |
| New Hampshire | 10 | New Mexico | 125 |
| New York | 96 | Oklahoma | 142 |
| Oregon | 95 | Rhode Island | 10 |
| South Dakota | 12 | Utah | 100 |
| Virginia | 80 | West Virginia | 1 |
California had 1,630 competitive spirit participants in 2023-24, the largest supplied state figure. Colorado had 349, Florida had 305, Arizona had 180, Kentucky had 167, Connecticut had 152, Oklahoma had 142, and New Mexico had 125. Arkansas had 109, Mississippi had 108, Utah had 100, New York had 96, Oregon had 95, Virginia had 80, and Georgia had 79.
The survey reported 66 participants in Maryland, 30 in Alabama, 28 in Hawaii, 17 in Maine, 12 in Alaska, 12 in South Dakota, 10 in New Hampshire, 10 in Rhode Island, and 1 in West Virginia. These values are presented exactly as reported by the 2023-24 NFHS participation survey.
The state figures cover only the states included in the supplied data. They are therefore useful as selected examples of reported participation, but they do not establish a complete state ranking or a nationwide state-by-state total. Differences among states may also reflect the scope of programs represented in the survey, so the figures should remain tied to the 2023-24 NFHS measurement period.