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Few things are more beloved by Americans than a steak – and two of the most popular steakhouse chains in the U.S. are Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse. Who is visiting these chains, and what characteristics do they share? We take a closer look.
Food-away-from-home prices remained high for much of 2023, presenting challenges for dining establishments as would-be restaurant patrons reconsidered going for a meal out. Outback Steakhouse in particular felt the impact of the dining downturn, with year-over-year (YoY) visits falling in 2023 – although the dip may also be due to the chain’s downsizing its store fleet. And the chain seems to have offset at least some of the drop thanks to its price increases, which increased the value of every visit.
Texas Roadhouse, meanwhile, continued its expansion and benefited from growing YoY foot traffic every quarter of 2023.
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Texas Roadhouse’s success is particularly notable given its trade area median HHI. Both Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse tend to have a lower median household income (median HH) in their trade areas when compared to the average fast-casual chain, despite having higher price points. The steakhouse leaders also have a trade area median HHI that is significantly lower than the overall fine-dining segment.
The lower median HHI of Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse visitors suggests that these diners may be avoiding the purchase of more casual, on-the-go meals and instead choosing to direct their more limited funds toward special occasion dining. And Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse may be seen as an affordable luxury for those seeking a more elevated dining experience than might be found at a local fast-casual joint.
By understanding the types of diners who visit the restaurant, dining chains can make sure to deliver the type of experience their customers are seeking – in this case, a special-occasion dining destination that won't break the bank.
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Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse Popular Among Suburban Segments
A deeper exploration of the psychographic compositions of each chains’ trade area reveals that suburban families are particularly drawn to Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse. For both chains, the share of households in Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive “Upper Suburban Diverse Families,” “Suburban Boomers,” and “Wealthy Suburban Families” segments exceeded the statewide average in several major states.
As suburban markets continue gaining momentum, Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse’s popularity with suburban audiences can help the chains stay ahead of the pack in 2024.
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The State Of Steak
The enduring appeal of a well-made steak (or Blooming Onion, or honey butter) is indisputable. Will customers continue to visit these chains for a special occasion? Or will 2024 bring with it a new shift in diner preferences?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven analyses to find out.
The Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index: The office building index analyzes foot traffic data from some 1,000 office buildings across the country. It only includes commercial office buildings, and commercial office buildings with retail offerings on the first floor (like an office building that might include a national coffee chain on the ground floor). It does NOT include mixed-use buildings that are both residential and commercial.
Remote work may not be bad for companies’ bottom lines – but it does appear to have drawbacks for employees. Fully remote workers were 35% more likely to be laid off in 2023 than those who came into the office at least part of the week. And full-time WFH personnel also got fewer promotions.
Still, reaping the benefits of in-person office work doesn’t require a full-time return to office. (Five days a week? Seriously?) And for many participants in the remote work wars, 2023 was a year for compromise. But what did the hybrid model look like in 2023? And who were last year’s office visitors?
We dove into the data to find out.
Analyzing office visit trends over the past several years suggests that some variation of the hybrid model is indeed here to stay – though the jury’s still out on whether we’ve found the sweet spot. Since Q2 2023, quarterly visits to office buildings have remained about 34.0%-38.0% below pre-COVID levels. But Q4 2023 office foot traffic was 12.9% higher than the equivalent period of 2022, suggesting that additional office recovery may still be in the cards.
Regionally speaking, Miami and New York closed out 2023 at the head of the pack, with visits about 20% below the pre-pandemic baseline. Dallas and Chicago finished the year with respective quarterly visit gaps of 31.8% and 43.0%. And San Francisco continued to bring up the rear, with office foot traffic 53.8% below pre-COVID levels.
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These general trends continued into January 2024. Nationwide, office buildings experienced a 42.1% year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) visit gap, potentially indicating stalling recovery. But at the same time, major markets across the country – most impressively San Francisco – saw sustained YoY visit growth, showing that the return to office (RTO) story is still being written.
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Whether office recovery has run its course, or whether 2024 promises a renewed upward trajectory – a more granular picture of the specific habits and characteristics of office-goers can help stakeholders adapt to evolving trends.
And while foot traffic remains substantially below 2019 levels, the affluence of office buildings’ visitor base has very nearly rebounded to what it was before COVID. In Q1 2019, the median household income (HHI) of the Nationwide Office Index’s captured market stood at $91.9K, a metric which plummeted in early 2020 as more affluent employees rode out lockdowns from home. But since then, the median HHI has slowly risen – reaching $90.1K - $91.6K in 2023.
Unsurprisingly, remote and hybrid work opportunities aren’t distributed equally – and wealthier, more-educated workers are better positioned than others to take advantage of them. But visitors to major office buildings tend to have significantly higher-than-average HHIs to begin with (STI’s PopStats puts the nationwide baseline at $69.5K). So even if the median HHI of office visitors is once again close to what it was before COVID, it is these relatively affluent employees that are coming in less frequently and helping to shape the new hybrid normal.
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At the same time, there has been a subtle but distinct decline in the share of parental households in offices’ captured markets – indicating that parents of children accounted for a smaller proportion of office visits in 2023 than in 2019. This change varied by region, with Chicago seeing the smallest shift and tech-heavy San Francisco seeing the largest one.
For many working parents, flexibility is the name of the game – and employees juggling parental responsibilities along with their work loads may be particularly eager to embrace working from home.
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Another data point that’s particularly important for stakeholders to understand is the daily breakdown of office visits throughout the week. And foot traffic data for 2023 shows that the TGIF work week that we first observed in 2022 remains more firmly entrenched than ever. People continue to concentrate office visits mid-week and log on from home on Mondays and especially Fridays – an effect that is most pronounced in San Francisco, and least pronounced in Miami. And for municipalities, CRE companies, and local businesses that rely on office foot traffic, recognizing the persistence of this pattern can be key to making the most of those days when offices are abuzz with activity.
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The new hybrid model remains a work in progress – and it’s too soon to tell whether offices will indeed see further attendance increases in 2024. But either way, the behaviors and attributes of office-goers will continue to evolve, presenting stakeholders with opportunities and challenges alike.
What does 2024 have in store for RTO? And how will the profile of visitors to America’s offices change in the new year?
Follow placer.ai/blog to find out.
Just as the dining space was beginning to recover from the COVID pandemic, the ongoing inflation brought a fresh set of challenges to the sector in 2022 and 2023. How did the headwinds impact Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Taco Bell, KFC, and other leading brands from the RBI and Yum! Portfolio? We dove into the data to find out.
Restaurant Brands International (RBI) and Yum! Brands each own three QSR banners along with one fast-casual chain. RBI owns the Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Tim Hortons brands as well as fast-casual sub chain Firehouse Subs. Yum! Brands operates the KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell fast-food banners and the fast-casual The Habit Burger Grill.
Both companies’ banners saw year-over-year (YoY) growth in Q1 2023, likely aided by favorable comparisons to an Omicron-plagued Q1 2022. And although traffic dropped off as the year went on – perhaps due to consumers cutting back on dining out – the dip was subdued, with visits staying relatively close to 2022 levels.
RBI’s banners ended the year with just a 2.5% YoY dip in Q4 2023, although Firehouse Subs, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Tim Hortons all saw positive visit growth for three out of four quarters of 2023.
Following three quarters of YoY visit growth for the Pizza Hut banner and for the company as a whole, Yum! Brands also began feeling the impact of the consumer spending contraction, with the company’s Q4 2023 foot traffic performance 3.7% lower, on average, than in 2022.
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The wider QSR space tends to serve trade areas composed of Census Block Groups with an overall median household income (HHI) that is lower than the median HHI nationwide ($63.2K for QSR compared with $69.5K nationwide). And the median HHI in the trade areas of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes is even lower than the median HHI in the wider QSR space.
The relatively low median HHI in the trade areas of RBI and Yum! Brands’ QSR banners means that visitors to these chains may be feeling particularly frugal, which could explain the slight dips in foot traffic towards the end of 2023.
But some of these brands are already implementing changes to woo back their budget-conscious customers. Taco Bell recently unveiled a new value menu that includes some items priced at $1.99, and several other chains in the Yum! and RBI portfolio have launched national campaigns advertising wallet-friendly promotions – which may well bring foot traffic back up in 2024.
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QSR chains seem particularly attractive to singles, with the trade area of the average QSR brand containing a larger share of one-person and non-family (roommate) households compared to the nationwide average (33.8% to 33.2%). And analyzing the household composition of the QSR banners of RBI and Yum! reveals that the trade areas of these brands tend to include an even larger share of one-person and non-family households than the wider QSR industry. (Pizza Hut is the sole exception, with one-person and non-family households making up 33.6% of households in its trade area – slightly less than the QSR industry average of 33.8%, but still more than the nationwide average of 33.2%.)
The trade areas of QSR brands also tend to include a greater share of large households (households of four or more people) compared to the percentage of 4+ person households nationwide. But Yum! And RBI banners (with the exception of Popeyes) seem to serve fewer 4+ person households compared to the QSR average (although Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King, and Tim Hortons still have more 4+ person households in the trade areas compared to the nationwide average.)
This trade area demographic data could help Yum! and RBI plan their 2024 promotions – discounts on larger orders could be particularly appealing to Popeyes diners, but may not necessarily drive demand among the visitor base of the other QSR banners. At the same time, all brands analyzed may benefit from offering value-priced individual items that can help singles living alone or with roommates budget smartly.
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With food-away-from-home prices expected to increase in 2024, chains that offer low-cost options are likely to see a resurgence – and RBI and Yum! may well benefit from consumers’ continued thriftiness.
Who wouldn’t want weekends to last seven days? That’s the thinking behind Marine Layer’s eco-friendly and “absurdly soft” tees. This San Francisco-based company, founded in 2009, has its beginnings in a shirt thrown away by a girlfriend. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and from that action sprouted the seeds for founder Mike Natenshon as he set on his quest to create the ultimate soft-on-day-1 shirt. Forty-five stores later, Marine Layer has spread across the nation, timed perfectly with our desire for coziness after extended time at home made comfy clothing a must.
One of the higher-trafficked outdoor Marine Layer locations is at Ponce City Market in Atlanta. This shopping center boasts other in-demand brands like Lululemon, Reformation, and Buck Mason. Another popular location resides at 12South, a Nashville neighborhood spanning a half mile that includes walkable local businesses, bars, and bakeries. White Bison Coffee and Five Daughters Bakery are places to stop in for a bite while shopping. And in Boulder, Pearl St is another pedestrian-friendly venue for shoppers.
It’s clear that certain segments are attracted to Marine Layer’s offer - most notably Young Professionals in Atlanta and Boulder, who make up a quarter of the customers, as well as Ultra Wealthy Families across the board, particularly in Nashville where they comprise a fifth. There are a few clientele differences, such as the fact that Marine Layer draws Urban Low Income in Atlanta and more Sunset Boomers in Boulder.
Looking at the potential market for these three areas, we see some interesting patterns arise via Spatial.ai Followgraph. For instance, all three markets overindex in following the musical Hamilton, fitness brand Peloton, outdoor sporting goods store REI, and the confection Moon Pie. Regarding fashion brands, Tory Burch, J. Crew, Lululemon, Vineyard Vines, and Patagonia are popular too.
Faherty is a brand that has been around for 10 years but that we’ve seen accelerating its physical store footprint in the last few years. Evoking chill surf trips, family bonfires, and hikes in the great outdoors, this American brand invites you to cozy up in its sweaters, spend a Saturday riding the waves, or just all-out enjoy family time and making memories. Its locations span from east coast to west coast, with popular locations in Panama City Beach, New York City, Austin, Manhattan Beach, among others.
The appeal of this brand is such that it finds itself on the beach, in urban high streets, and suburban locations, indicating that it’s really more about the vibe. Not only that, the segments are quite varied in terms of who is shopping at Faherty (using PersonaLive segments). In Panama City Beach, we see largely Ultra Wealthy Families, Sunset Boomers, and Young Professionals. Meanwhile, in SoHo, Educated Urbanites and Young Urban Singles make up the lion’s share of the trade area. The Austin shopper profile is more similar to the Panama City Beach one, with the addition of Educated Urbanites as well. This intergenerational appeal is possibly rooted in the ethos of the brand with its focus on family, friends, and enjoying life’s moments.
One thing that these shoppers do have in common? High household incomes. Most of these shoppers come from households earning $150K+, with particularly high earners hailing from Greenwich, CT.
While the customers from Florida, New York, and Texas are geographically dispersed, they do share some commonalities: an above average propensity to be bubbly drinkers and wine drinkers, clearly in line with the brand’s positioning of celebratory moments. Customers in these three markets also consider themselves “Pilates People”, “Joggers,” and “Fitness Fans.” You will find Faherty devotees from all three of these markets at the spa, at the museum, or enjoying book clubs. And largely in keeping with Faherty’s sustainability promise, many of their customers consider themselves Environmental Activists.
In December 2023, Placer.ai released the white paper: The Retail Opportunity of Stadiums. Below is a taste of our findings. To read more data-driven consumer research, visit our resource library.
While every stadium provides a similar core of traditional game day eats, each venue also offers a unique set of dining options, both on- and off-premise. The visitor bases of the various venues also exhibit unique dining tastes – a reminder that no customer or fan base is alike. Aligning on- or off-site dining options with offerings that align with a given customer base’s preferences can improve overall visitor satisfaction and boost revenues.
The chart below shows the share of visitors coming to a stadium from a dining venue (on the x-axis) or going to a dining venue after visiting the stadium (on the y-axis). The data reveals a correlation between pre-stadium dining and post-stadium dining – stadiums where many guests visit dining venues before the stadium also tend to have a large share of guests going to dining venues after the event. For example, the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, saw large shares of visitors grabbing a bite to eat on their journey to or from the stadium, while the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland saw low rates of pre- and post stadium dining engagement.
These trends present opportunities for both local businesses and stadium stakeholders. For example, venues with high dining engagement can explore partnerships with local restaurants, while those with lower rates can build out their in-house dining options for hungry sports fans.
Stadiums looking to enhance their food offerings – or local entrepreneurs thinking of opening a restaurant near a stadium – can also get inspired by stadium visitors’ dining preferences. For example, psychographic data taken from the Spatial.ai: FollowGraph dataset reveals that visitors to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey have a much stronger preference for Asian cuisine compared to New Jersey residents overall. With that knowledge, the stadium can enhance the visitor experience by expanding its Asian food offerings.
On the other hand, MetLife Stadium goers seem much less partial to Brewery fare than average New Jerseyans, so the stadium operators and restaurateurs may want to avoid offering too many Brewery-themed dining options. Stadium stakeholders can reserve the craft beers for Caesars Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, and Soldier Field Stadiums, where visitors seem to enjoy artisanal brews more than the average resident in Louisiana, Maryland, and Illinois, respectively.
Sports leagues like the NBA, NFL, and MLB boast billion-dollar revenues – and the venues where these games unfold hold significant commercial potential in their own rights. Stadium operators, restaurateurs, and other stakeholders can leverage location intelligence and analyze visitor behavior outside the stadiums to understand visit patterns and consumer preferences during games and in the off-season.
Read the full report here to discover more stadium insights. For more data-driven consumer research, visit our resource library.
1. Shoppers are taking more, shorter trips to grocery stores. Over the past 12 months, grocery stores have experienced nearly uniform YoY visit growth. And since COVID, the segment has steadily increased both overall visits and average visits per location – even as average dwell times have consistently declined.
2. Grocery stores are holding ground against fierce competition. Despite growing inroads by discount and dollar stores, wholesale clubs, and general mass retailers like Walmart and Target, grocery stores have maintained their share of the overall food-at-home visit pie over the past several years.
3. Grocery visit share is most pronounced on the coasts. In Q1 2025, grocery stores claimed the majority of food-at-home visits on the West Coast, in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mountain Regions, and in Florida and Michigan.
4. Fresh-format, value, and ethnic grocery visit shares are growing at the expense of traditional chains. And in Q1 2025, fresh-format and value grocers outperformed the other sub-segments with positive YoY visit and average visit-per-location growth.
5. Hispanic markets are on the rise. Though the broader ethnic grocery sub-segment was essentially flat YoY in Q1 2025, Hispanic-focused stores recorded increases in both visits and visits per location – and have been steadily growing visits since 2021.
6. Smaller formats for the win. In Q1 2025, smaller-format grocery store locations outpaced mid-sized and larger-format ones, underscoring the power of compact spaces to deliver significant foot traffic gains.
Brick-and-mortar grocery stores face an uncertain market in 2025. Rising food-at-home prices (eggs, anyone?), declining consumer confidence, and increased competition from discounters, superstores, and online shopping channels all present the segment with significant headwinds. Yet even in the face of these challenges, the sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience – growing its foot traffic and holding onto visit share.
What strategies have helped the segment navigate today’s tough market? And how can industry stakeholders make the most of the opportunities in the current market? This report draws on the latest location intelligence to uncover the trends shaping grocery retail in early 2025 – highlighting insights to help key players make informed, data-driven decisions on store formats, product offerings, and more.
The grocery segment has experienced nearly uniform positive year-over-year (YoY) growth over the last 12 months. This sustained performance in the face of inflation and other headwinds highlights the underlying strength of the category.
What is driving this growth? Since 2022, the grocery segment has seen consistent overall visit growth that has outpaced increases in visits per location – a sign that chain expansion has played a key role in the category’s success. But the average number of visits to each grocery store has also been on the rise, indicating that the segment continues to expand without cannibalizing existing store traffic.
At the same time, visitor dwell times have been steadily dropping since 2021. This shift appears to reflect a trend towards multiple, shorter trips by inflation-wary consumers eager to avoid large, costly carts or cherry pick deals across various retailers. Many shoppers may also be placing more bulk orders online and supplementing those deliveries with brief in-store stops for additional items as needed.
The bottom line: Shoppers are taking more grocery trips overall each year, but spending less time in-store during each visit. Operators can respond to this trend by optimizing layouts and promoting “grab-and-go” areas for an even more efficient quick-trip experience.
Visit share data also shows that despite fierce competition from discount and dollar stores, wholesalers, and general mass retailers, the grocery segment has steadfastly preserved its share of the overall food-at-home visit pie.
Between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025, wholesale clubs and discount and dollar stores increased their share of total food-at-home visits, gains that have come primarily at the expense of Walmart and Target. Meanwhile, grocery outlets have held firm – despite some fluctuations over the years, their Q1 2019 visit share remained essentially unchanged in Q1 2025.
So even as consumers flock to alternative food purveyors in search of lower prices, grocery stores aren’t losing ground – and on a nationwide level, they remain the biggest player by far in the food-at-home shopping space.
Still, grocery store visit share varies significantly by region. On the West Coast, in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mountain regions, and in Florida and Michigan, grocery stores accounted for the majority of food-at-home visits in Q1 2025. Oregon (61.6%) and Washington (59.6%) led the pack, followed by Massachusetts (59.2%), Vermont (58.5%), and California (57.9%). Meanwhile, in West Virginia, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Mississippi, less than 30% of food-at-home traffic went to grocery stores, with more shoppers in these regions turning to general mass retailers or discounters.
Grocery store operators in lower-grocery-share regions may choose to focus on price competitiveness and convenient store locations to capture more foot traffic from competitors in the space.
Which types of grocery stores are thriving the most? The grocery segment is diverse, encompassing traditional grocery chains like Kroger, Safeway, and H-E-B; budget-oriented value chains such as Aldi, WinCo Foods, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, and Market Basket; fresh-format specialty brands like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Sprouts Farmers Market; and numerous ethnic grocers.
Examining shifts in visit share among these various grocery store segments shows that traditional grocery still dominates, commanding over 70.0% of total grocery store foot traffic.
Still, over the past several years, traditional grocers have gradually ceded ground to other segments – especially value chains. Budget grocers saw a temporary surge in visits during the panic-buying days of early 2020 – and have been more gradually gaining visit share since Q1 2023. . Fresh-format banners, which lost ground in 2021 after a Q1 2020 bump, in the wake of COVID, have also been on the upswing and appear poised to capture additional visit share in the coming months and years. And though ethnic grocers still account for a relatively small portion of the overall market, they have slightly increased their visit share, reflecting heightened consumer interest in these specialized offerings.
Recent performance metrics point to a bifurcation in the grocery market similar to that observed in other retail categories. In Q1 2025, fresh-format and value retailers – which appeal, respectively, to the most and least affluent visitor bases – saw the greatest growth in both overall visits and average visits per location.
This trend highlights the power of both value and health-focused quality to motivate consumers in 2025. And grocery players that can meet these needs will be well-positioned for success in the months ahead.
One factor fueling fresh-format’s success may be its role as a convenient, relatively affordable midday lunch destination for the remote work crowd.
In Q1 2025, consumers working from home accounted for 20.2% of fresh-format grocery stores’ captured market – a significantly higher share than any other analyzed grocery segment. These stores also tended to be busier midday than the other segments. Remote workers may be stopping by to grab a quick bite – and some may be choosing to do their grocery shopping during their lunch break when stores are less crowded.
This finding suggests an opportunity for grocery operators across all segments to develop or enhance in-store salad bars and quick-serve sections to tap into the lunch rush. Likewise, CPG companies may benefit from developing more ready-made, nutritious meal options that align with these midday dining habits.
Though the broader ethnic grocery category remained essentially flat in Q1 2025, Hispanic-focused grocers emerged as a sub-segment to watch. Both overall visits and average visits per location to these stores have been on the rise since 2021.
This robust demand presents an opportunity for CPG brands and grocers across segments to expand Hispanic-focused offerings, capturing a slice of this growing market.
Finally, store size matters more than ever in 2025. During the first quarter of the year, smaller format grocery store locations (locations under 30K square feet, across different chains) outpaced larger stores with a 3.2% YoY jump in visits, showing that bigger isn’t always better in the grocery store space.
This pattern aligns with the decrease in dwell times noted above – shoppers may be making shorter trips to smaller, more convenient grocery store locations. These quick errands are ideal for picking up a few items to supplement online orders, shopping multiple deals, or sourcing specialty products unavailable at larger grocery destinations. And to lean into this trend, grocery operators might consider testing neighborhood “micro-store” concepts, focusing on curated selections, and offering convenient parking or pickup to match consumer preferences for targeted purchases and quicker trips.
Location intelligence reveals a growing, dynamic grocery landscape which is holding its ground in the face of increased competition. Shorter trips, busier lifestyles, and changing work routines are reshaping in-store experiences. And grocery players that refine their store formats, target both lunch and on-the-go shoppers, and adapt to shifting demographics can position themselves to thrive in this competitive sector. As the market continues to evolve, continuous attention to these changing patterns will be key to maintaining and expanding market share.
1. Elevated visitor frequency could mean that gym-goers are getting more value out of their memberships and are therefore more likely to stay signed up. Between January and March 2025, all of the gym chains analyzed had a higher share of frequent visitors (those who visited about once a week) than in the equivalent month of 2024.
2. Fitness chains at all price tiers need to be strategic about the value they offer and the amenities that can engage budget-conscious consumers. Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the captured trade area median HHI increased for all fitness subsegments – value-priced, mid-range, and high-end – suggesting that consumers swapped pricier gym memberships for more affordable options.
3. Close attention should be paid to how long visitors spend at fitness chains in order to reduce crowding and bottlenecks. Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the average visit length increased at value-priced, mid-range, and high-end gyms. Floorplan and equipment improvements could be considered, as well as having trainers available to help gym-goers streamline workouts.
4. Gyms can use hourly visit data to better serve their members or use promotions to stabilize facility usage throughout the day. In Q1 2025, high-end chains received a larger share of morning visits while value-priced and mid-range fitness chains received larger shares of evening visits.
Like many industries in recent years, the fitness sector has experienced significant shifts in consumer behavior. From the rise in home workouts during the pandemic to the strain of hyper-inflation, foot traffic trends to gyms and health clubs have been as dynamic as the consumers they serve.
This report leverages location analytics to explore the consumer trends driving visitation in the fitness space and provides actionable insights for industry stakeholders.
The pandemic drove several shifts in the fitness space. Widespread gym closures led consumers to embrace home-based workouts, while demand for all things fitness increased due to an emphasis on overall health and wellness. This subsequently drove a renewed interest in gym-based workouts as restrictions lifted – even as some consumers remained committed to their home workout routines.
In Q1 2023, visits to fitness chains surpassed Q1 2019 levels for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, a sign that consumers had recommitted to out-of-home fitness. And in Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, fitness chains saw further growth, climbing to 12.8% and 15.5% above the Q1 2019 baseline, respectively.
Several factors have likely driven consumers’ return to gyms and health clubs, including the desire for both social connection and professional-grade facilities difficult to replicate at home. The steep increase in cost of living has likely also played a role, since consumers cutting back on discretionary spending can enjoy multiple outings and a range of recreational activities at the gym for one monthly fee.
Zooming in on weekly visits to the fitness space in Q1 2025 reveals the industry’s exceptional strength and resilience in the early part of the year.
The fitness industry experienced YoY visit growth nearly every week of Q1 2025 (and 2.4% YoY visit growth overall) with only minor visit gaps the weeks of January 20th, 2025 and February 17th, 2025 – likely due to extreme weather that prevented many Americans from hitting the gym.
And the fitness industry’s weekly visit growth appeared to strengthen throughout the quarter, defying the typical waning of New Year's resolutions. This could indicate that gym visits haven't plateaued and that consumers are demonstrating greater commitment to their fitness routines compared to last year.
Diving into visitation patterns for leading fitness chains highlights how increased visitor frequency drove foot traffic growth in Q1 2025.
Fitness chains tend to receive the most visits during the first months of the year as consumers recommit to health and wellness in their post-holidays New Year’s resolutions. And not only do more people hit the gym – analyzing the data reveals that gym-goers also typically work out more frequently during this period. Zooming in on 2025 so far suggests that consumers are especially committed to their fitness routines this year: Leading gyms saw an increase in the proportion of frequent visitors (4+ times a month) in Q1 2025 compared to the already significant percentage of frequent visitors in the first quarter of 2024.
Elevated visitor frequency could mean that gym-goers are getting more value out of their memberships than last year, and are therefore more likely to stay signed up throughout the year.
At the same time, the data also reveals that – contrary to what may be expected – a fitness chain’s share of frequent visitors appears to be independent of the cost of membership associated with the club: Life Time, a high-end club, and EōS Fitness, a value-priced gym, had the highest shares of frequent visitors between January 2024 and March 2025. This suggests that factors other than cost, such as location convenience, class offerings, community, or individual motivation, might be more influential in driving frequent gym attendance.
Segmenting the fitness industry by membership price tiers – value-priced, mid-range, and high-end – can reveal further insights on current consumer behavior around out-of-home fitness.
In Q1 2025, the captured market* median household income (HHI) was higher than the nationwide median HHI ($79.6K/year) across all price tiers – suggesting that even value-priced fitness chains are attracting a relatively affluent audience. This could indicate that gym memberships are somewhat of a luxury and that consumers from lower-income households gave up their gym memberships altogether as they tightened their purse strings.
Analyzing the historical data since Q1 2022 also reveals that the captured market median HHI has risen consistently over the past couple of years with the largest median HHI increase observed in the captured trade areas of high-end fitness chains. This suggests that middle-income households – that are more sensitive to the rising cost of living – likely swapped pricier gym memberships for more affordable options in recent years.
These metrics indicate that fitness chains at all price tiers need to think strategically about the value they offer and the amenities that can engage budget-conscious consumers who are carefully weighing every expenditure.
*Captured trade area is obtained by weighting the census block groups (CBGs) from which the chain draws its visitors according to their share of visits to the chain and thus reflects the population that visits the chain in practice.
Fitness clubs of all types need to manage their capacity to ensure health and safety standards and a positive experience for members. And understanding the average amount of time visitors spend at the gym can help fitness chains at every price point keep their finger on the pulse of their facilities.
Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the average visit length increased at value-priced, mid-range, and high-end gyms. Value-priced gyms experienced the largest increase in average visit length – from 72.4 minutes in Q1 2022 to 74.0 minutes in Q1 2025 – perhaps due to their relatively lower-income visitors spending more time enjoying club amenities after cutting back on other forms of recreation. Meanwhile, mid-range and high-end gyms experienced relatively modest increases in average visit length, which were higher to begin with – likely due to their ample class and spa offerings and overall inviting, upscale spaces.
Elevated average visit length could mean that visitors are well-engaged and less likely to cancel their memberships. But as overall gym visits are on the rise, fitness chains may want to pay close attention to how long visitors spend at the facility. Floorplan and equipment improvements could be considered in order to reduce bottlenecks, and having trainers available to instruct on equipment usage and workout technique could help gym-goers streamline workouts.
Along with average visit length, understanding the daypart in which they receive the most visits is another way that fitness chains can improve efficiency and prevent overcrowding. And analysis of the hourly visits to fitness sub-segments revealed that some fitness segments receive more morning visits while others are more popular in the evenings.
In Q1 2025, high-end chains received a larger share of visits between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. (19.7%) than value-priced and mid-range fitness chains (11.6% and 11.8%, respectively). Meanwhile, value-priced and mid-range fitness chains received larger shares of visits between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. (21.9% and 22.2%) than high-end chains (16.5%).
Gyms can leverage this data to better serve members, for instance by scheduling more classes during peak hours. Value-priced and mid-range gyms, which saw a larger disparity between shares of morning and evening visits in Q1 2025, might also consider incentivizing off-peak usage through discounted morning memberships or early-bird snack bar deals.
The fitness space appears to be in good shape in 2025. Visits have made a full recovery from the pandemic era and still continue to grow, indicating strong consumer demand for out-of-home workouts. And using location intelligence to analyze the behavior and demographics of visitors to gyms at different price points can help identify opportunities for driving even greater success.
1. Idaho and South Carolina have emerged as significant domestic migration magnets over the past four years. Between January 2021 and 2025, both states gained over 3.0% of their populations through domestic migration. Other Mountain and Sun Belt states – including Nevada, Montana, and Florida – also drew significant inflow, while California, New York, and Illinois experienced the greatest outmigration.
2. Interstate migration cooled noticeably in 2024. During the 12-month period ending January 2025, California, New York and Illinois saw their outflows slow dramatically, while domestic migration hotspots like Georgia, Texas, and Florida saw inflows flatten to zero. A similar cooling trend emerged on a CBSA level.
3. Still, some states continued to see notable relocation activity over the past year. In 2024, Idaho, South Carolina, and North Dakota drew the most relocators relative to their populations. And among the nation’s ten largest states, North Carolina led with an inflow of 0.4%.
4. Phoenix remained a rare bright spot among the nation’s ten largest metro areas. The CBSA was the only major analyzed hub to maintain positive net domestic migration through 2024.
Over the past several years, the United States has experienced significant domestic migration shifts, driven by factors like remote work, housing affordability, and regional economic opportunities. As some areas reap the benefits of population inflows, others grapple with outflows tied to higher living costs and evolving workplace dynamics.
This report dives into the location analytics to explore where Americans have moved since 2021 – and how these patterns began to change in 2024.
Since 2021, Americans have flocked toward warmer climates, expansive natural scenery, and more affordable housing options – particularly in the Mountain and Sun Belt states.
Between January 2021 and January 2025, South Carolina led the nation in positive net domestic migration – drawing an influx of newcomers equivalent to 3.6% of its January 2025 population. (This metric is referred to as a state’s “net migrated percent of population.”) Next in line was Idaho with a 3.4% net migrated percent of population, followed by Nevada, (2.8%), Montana (2.8%), Florida (2.1%), South Dakota (2.1%), Wyoming (2.0%), North Carolina (2.0%), and Tennessee (1.9%). Texas saw positive net migration of just 0.9% during the same period. However, the Lone Star State’s large overall population means a substantial number of newcomers in absolute terms.
Meanwhile, California (-2.2%), New York (-2.1%), and Illinois (-1.9%) experienced the greatest outflows relative to their populations. This exodus was driven largely by soaring housing costs and the rise of remote work, which lowered barriers to moving out of high-priced areas.
Between January 2024 and January 2025, many of the same broad patterns persisted, but at a more moderate clip – suggesting a stabilization of domestic migration nationwide. This leveling off could reflect factors such as rising mortgage interest rates, which dampened home buying and selling, as well as the increased push for employees to return to the office.
Still, South Carolina (+0.6%) and Idaho (+0.6%) remained among the top inflow states. The two hotspots were joined – and slightly surpassed – by North Dakota (+0.8%), where even modest waves of newcomers make a big impact due to the state’s lower population base. A wealth of affordable housing and a strong job market have positioned North Dakota as a particularly attractive destination for U.S. relocators in recent years. And Microsoft and Amazon’s establishment of major presences around Fargo has strengthened the region’s economy.
Meanwhile, California (-0.3%), New York (-0.2%), and Illinois (-0.1%) continued to post negative net migration, but at a markedly slower rate than in prior years. And notably, several states that had been struggling with outflow, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Ohio, and Oregon, began showing minor positive inflow during the same 12-month window. As home affordability erodes in pandemic-era hot spots like the Mountain states and Sun Belt, these areas may emerge as new destinations for Americans seeking lower costs of living.
Zooming in on the ten most populous U.S. states offers an even clearer picture of how domestic migration patterns have stabilized over the past year. The graph below shows a side-by-side comparison of domestic migration patterns during the 36-month period ending January 2024 and the 12-month period ending January 2025.
California, New York, and Illinois saw population outflows slow dramatically during the 12 months ending January 2025 – while domestic migration magnets such as Georgia, Texas, and Florida saw inflow flatten to zero. Meanwhile, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania flipped from slightly negative to slightly positive net migration – incremental upticks that could signal a possible turnaround.
The only “Big Ten” pandemic-era migration magnet to maintain strong inflow in 2024 was North Carolina – which saw a 0.4% influx in 2024 as a result of interstate moves.
A closer look at the top four states receiving outmigration from California and New York (October 2020 to October 2024) reveals that residents leaving both states tended to settle in nearby areas or in Florida.
Among those leaving New York, 37.4% ended up in neighboring states – 21.1% moved to New Jersey, 9.2% to Pennsylvania, and 7.1% to Connecticut. But an astonishing 28.8% decamped all the way to the Sunshine State, trading the Northeast’s colder climate for Florida sunshine.
Similarly, 20.1% of California leavers chose to stay nearby, moving to Nevada (11.5%) or Arizona (8.6%). Another 19.1% moved to Texas, and 8.0% moved to Florida, making it the fourth-largest destination for Californians.
Zooming in on CBSA-level data – focusing on the nation’s ten largest metropolitan areas, all with over five million people – reveals a similar picture of slowing domestic migration over the last year.
Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. – four cities that experienced notable population outflows between January 2021 and January 2024 – saw those outflows flatten considerably. For these metros, this leveling-off may serve as a promising sign that the waves of departures seen in recent years may have begun to subside. Conversely, Houston and Dallas, which both welcomed positive net migration between January 2021 and January 2024, registered zero-net domestic migration in 2024. Atlanta, for its part, remained flat in both of the analyzed periods.
In Miami, however, outmigration persisted at a substantial rate. Despite Florida’s overall status as a domestic migration magnet, Miami lost 2.6% of its population to domestic net migration between January 2020 and January 2024 – and another 1.0% between January 2024 and January 2025. As one of Florida’s most expensive housing markets, Miami may be losing some residents to other parts of the state or elsewhere in the region. Meanwhile, Philadelphia, which lost 0.3% of its population to net domestic migration between January 2021 and January 2024, continued losing residents at a slightly faster pace in 2024 – another 0.3% just last year.
Of the ten biggest CBSAs nationwide, only Phoenix continued to see a net domestic migration gain through 2024 (+0.2%). This highlights the CBSA’s continued draw as a (relative) relocation hotspot even in 2024’s cooling market.
Who are the domestic relocators heading to Phoenix?
From October 2020 to October 2024, the top five metro areas sending residents to the Phoenix CBSA each registered median household incomes (HHIs) of $73K to $98K – surpassing Phoenix’s own median of $72K. This suggests that many of those moving in are arriving from wealthier, often more expensive metro areas – for whom even Phoenix’s high-priced market may offer more affordable living.
Overall, domestic migration patterns appear to have cooled in 2024, reflecting economic and societal trends that have slowed the rush from pricey coastal hubs to more affordable regions. Yet states like South Carolina, Idaho, and North Dakota – as well as metro areas like Phoenix – continue to attract new arrivals, paving the way for evolving regional demographics in the years to come.
