by Madeline Folsom 16
September 19th, 2025 High School, Industry, News
The National Federation of State High School Associations has released the High School Athletics Participation Survey for the 2024-25 school year, and the numbers show that swimming saw an increase in participation from last year, totaling 257,405 participants. This is an improvement from the 254,973 number from the 2023-24 school year. This marks the first year since 2018 that there has been an increase.
Note that the data is based on surveys of high school athletics directors, so is not exact.
Swimming and Diving maintained its position as the 10th-most popular boys sport and the 9th-most popular girls sport. They both sit more than 40,000 participants back of the sport directly above them in the rankings.
This year, the girls participation numbers jumped 129 participants to 138,303, a slight difference from the 138,174 from last season. The boys numbers have now increased for the 2nd year-in-a-row, making a 2,300 athlete jump to 119,102 from 116,799.
The sport has seen a steady decline in recent years, and even though participation is up from last year, the numbers are still lower than they have been in a long time, with the last year of growth happening in 2017 and 2018.
That school year saw 314,529 total participants made up of 175,594 girls and 138,364 boys. The numbers this year mark an 18% decrease from those numbers. This decrease comes in comparison to the total HS Sports Participation which has increased 3.45% since the 2017-18 school year.
Despite the overall participation going up, there were some sports that saw a decline from the 2023-2024 school year. Football has dropped from 1,031,508 to 1,029,588 while women’s basketball dropped from 367,284 to 356,240.
On the other hand, boys soccer and girls and boys wrestling saw significant increases last season.
Swimming Participation Change Over Time
| Boys | Girls | Combined | Percentage Changed (Combined) | |
| 2024-2025 | 119,102 | 138,303 | 257,405 | 0.95% |
| 2023-2024 | 116,799 | 138,174 | 254,973 | -0.96% |
| 2022-2023 | 116,741 | 140,711 | 257,452 | -5.68% |
| 2021-2022 | 123,208 | 149,751 | 272,959 | -11.87% |
| 2018-2019 | 136,638 | 173,088 | 309,726 | -1.53% |
| 2017-2018 | 138,935 | 175,594 | 314,529 | 1.74% |
| 2016-2017 | 138,364 | 170,797 | 309,161 | 2.98% |
| 2015-2016 | 133,470 | 166,747 | 300,217 | -1.22% |
| 2014-2015 | 137,087 | 166,838 | 303,925 | -0.07% |
| 2013-2014 | 138,373 | 165,779 | 304,152 | 0.66% |
| 2012-2013 | 138,177 | 163,992 | 302,169 | 2.68% |
| 2011-2012 | 133,823 | 160,456 | 294,279 | -0.17% |
| 2010-2011 | 133,900 | 160,881 | 294,781 | 1.72% |
| 2009-2010 | 131,376 | 158,419 | 289,795 |
Overall HS Sports Participation Over Time
| Boys | Girls | Combined | Percentage Changed (Combined) | |
| 2024-2025 | 4,726,648 | 3,539,596 | 8,266,244 | 2.47% |
| 2023-2024 | 4,638,785 | 3,423,517 | 8,062,302 | 2.73% |
| 2022-2023 | 4,529,795 | 3,318,184 | 7,847,979 | 3.02% |
| 2021-2022 | 4,376,582 | 3,241,472 | 7,618,054 | -4.02% |
| 2018-2019 | 4,534,758 | 3,402,733 | 7,937,491 | -0.54% |
| 2017-2018 | 4,565,580 | 3,415,306 | 7,980,886 | 0.22% |
| 2016-2017 | 4,563,238 | 3,400,297 | 7,963,535 | 1.24% |
| 2015-2016 | 4,541,959 | 3,324,306 | 7,866,265 | 0.76% |
| 2014-2015 | 4,519,312 | 3,287,735 | 7,807,047 | 0.15% |
| 2013-2014 | 4,527,994 | 3,267,664 | 7,795,658 | 1.06% |
| 2012-2013 | 4,490,854 | 3,222,723 | 7,713,577 | 0.27% |
| 2011-2012 | 4,484,987 | 3,207,533 | 7,692,520 | 0.32% |
| 2010-2011 | 4,494,406 | 3,173,549 | 7,667,955 | 0.52% |
| 2009-2010 | 4,455,740 | 3,172,637 | 7,628,377 |
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Seth
15 minutes ago
I wonder if the Olympics helped with this increase.
Reply
Lifeguard
3 hours ago
I don’t know about your state but in massachusetts you could only swim high school if you missed no more than 3 sanctioned practices or meets for a club event. It required written permission and governing body review.
End result is a kid with the club grind and mandatory HS practices. Club coach is annoyed. HS coach gets annoyed every December when swimmer uses all 3 passes to swim at Seniors. Lot of kids didn’t swim for HS because of the rule. My club swimmer added 5 x 90 minutes from Thanksgiving to February but found it worth it
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The OG
6 hours ago
Probably because of the AAU push!!!!
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H2go
9 hours ago
Swimming is below 2009-2010 levels :o( gulp.
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This Guy
9 hours ago
Kids are looking for activities that involve socializing and parents want their kids socializing with activities that have generally good kids.
There is an old bumper sticker from the 90’s that said “Swimming Keeps Kids Clean” and as a parent it rings ever true as I want to guide my young kid into activities that provide physical benefits but also social benefits (making friends with good kids). It’s a big reason why I enjoyed swimming growing up and there is a huge marketing strategy for swimming to take advantage of if they find the right avenue.
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small bird
10 hours ago
Dang, this golf guy is good!
23
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Coach
Reply to small bird
4 hours ago
Works quickly, too!
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Swim Dad
10 hours ago
It’s great that it’s up across the board but here in Indiana, swimmers have to choose between getting trained by their club (if they are out of school district) or their school during the high school season.
I get having limits on meets (Indiana swimmers get 2x club meets during the season to allow for high level meets) but you can’t train at your club while you are in school season if it conflicts with practice times.
Explain how it would be acceptable for a swimmer to go to school morning practice and after school practice AND get into club evening practice but a swimmer and coaching staff can’t agree that the swimmer could make the morning practice with…Read more »
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RealSlimThomas
Reply to Swim Dad
9 hours ago
That’s tough. Coming from New York, my high school coach only asked that I show up “more often than not”. So that meant I had to be there three days per week. A week where we had two dual meets I only showed up to one practice. This allowed me to continue training with my club team basically doing a hybrid schedule.
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Swim Dad
Reply to RealSlimThomas
9 hours ago
That sounds more doable. I wish coaches could have open conversations like there where the growth of the swimmer is considered. If a hs coach doesn’t want a swimmer because the aren’t there full time that would be fine.
Seems silly to say that a kid has to practice in a pool that has less advantages and a coaching staff that has less experience just because of some “practice with your coach” old school methodology.
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John Blutarsky
Reply to Swim Dad
8 hours ago
Enter the Track and Field, Cross Country, Wrestling and Tennis Coaches. Do you think any of those coaches allow their student athletes to “show up when they want”
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K g
Reply to Swim Dad
6 hours ago
I
Last edited 6 hours ago by K g
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NISCA Guy
11 hours ago
Add 50s of stroke yesterday
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-12
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NISCA Guy
Reply to NISCA Guy
10 hours ago
Disagree with me all you want but I promise you kids aren’t joining hs teams to do the 500 or 2 IM
Entry level kids can stomach a 50 much better than a 100+
Do we care about growing the sport or self-congratulating ourselves for how difficult swimming is?
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Jeff
Reply to NISCA Guy
9 hours ago
Lower the basketball hoop to 7 ft and I can dunk.
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Noah Fence
Reply to NISCA Guy
10 hours ago
Isn’t the appeal of HS swimming the short meets with a set number of events? Why add more?
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