Top 10 Major US Cities for Pickleball in 2023

Wednesday, June 7th, 2023

Pickleball courts in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Out of the top 100 largest US cities, below are the top ten cities with the most amount of pickleball courts per 100,000 people--the list might surprise you.

Per 100,000 people; As of May 23, 2023; Includes both indoor and outdoor courts as well as lined courts.

Cities	Courts Per Capita (100k)	# of Courts	Population
Seattle, WA	20	156	761, 152
St. Peterburg, FL	20	51	259,920
Lincoln, NE	17	51	297,371
Honolulu, HI	17	173	1,020,829
Madison, WI	16	43	277,146
St. Paul, MN	15	48	314,825
Plano, TX	15	44	291,554
Omaha, NE	14	71	497,645
Boise, ID	14	34	240, 861
St. Louis, MO	14	42	297,651

Data provided by Trust for Public Land as of May 23, 2023.

Since 2017, pickleball went from 420 courts to 2,788 in the top 100 biggest cities and municipal leaders still cannot keep up with the high demand from their constituents, Axios reports. It is no shocker that Seattle is in the number one spot, as it is a very close neighbor to the birthplace of pickleball. However St. Paul, Minnesota and Lincoln Nebraska among others really made us tilt our heads in confusion. Really? It turns out even Lincoln, Nebraska's parks and recreation department manager was just as shocked and credited the local snowbirds who played pickleball down in Phoenix, Arizona during the winter for fighting for their hometown courts.

"The cities that have really good park systems tend to be the ones that have a lot of pickleball courts," says Will Klein, associate director of parks research at Trust for Public Land.

Although pickleball has hit Arizona, Florida and California hard in growth, seven out of the top ten cities are colder climate areas who have accommodated pickleball best. Will your city be on the top ten list next year? Stay tuned for the worst cities for pickleball list. Poor souls.