Indoor Climbing Industry Continued to Grow in 2025

It’s hard not to notice that climbing has become increasingly popular over the years. Perhaps we can attribute the increased interest in the sport to its relatively recent inclusion in the Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024), or to the success of the films like Free Solo, The Dawn Wall, and The Alpinist. Our non-climber friends and family are talking to us about Alex Honnold, asking us about multi-pitch climbing and how we get our gear back from the wall, and demanding to know whether or not we “free climb” (prompting us to explain the difference between free climbing and free soloing).

If you’ve been thinking that there seem to be more gyms now than ever, you’re not wrong. Climbing Business Journal (CBJ), the leading independent source for information, news, and advice on climbing gym developments, has just released its 2025 Gyms and Trends report. Among its many interesting findings, it confirms that the indoor climbing industry continued to grow last year. In 2025, there were 53 newly opened climbing gyms in North America, and accounting for gym closures, there were 41 net new gyms – a net growth rate of 4.7%. Climbers in North America gained 356,314 square feet of climbing built across new gyms.

But of course, new gyms and more routes and problems don’t give us the full picture. In an industry that appeared to be thriving, the 2025 report also stated 73% of operators reported worsening economic conditions, but 61% expect revenue improvements in the coming year. Quoting an operator at a multi-location climbing gym business, CBJ summarized their findings by saying, “Boom times are over.”

CBJ’s report provides the requisite comprehensive data for analyzing both the ups and the downs in the industry. It includes a combination of new gym development data with results from its Gyms & Trends Survey, representing 240 climbing facilities across multiple countries. In the report, you can find things like the growth rate for the North American climbing gym industry with economic underpinnings and implications, an examination of consumer spending habits and how the spending behaviour of climbers fits into a greater shopping framework, aggregate stats on climbing gym average check-ins, memberships and payment volumes, a data-driven forecast of what climbing gym operators expect in 2026, and more.

While the data reflects the uncertainty of the current state of the economy, CBJ’s report also highlighted some bright spots. The youth are increasingly getting into climbing, as shown in their data that demonstrates an uptick in youth program enrollment. CBJ members at a paid level can access the full report here, and Plus and Premium members can access the Climbing Gym Operators Forecast Dashboard here and Climbing Gym Industry Growth Dashboard here. A selection of digital assets and charts can be found here.

With the LA 2028 Olympics ahead and the recent success of Honnold free soloing the Taipei 101 on a Netflix LiveStream (prompting renewed conversations about “free climbing”, now also involving buildings), perhaps it’s best to enjoy your quiet post-work climbing session while you can.

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