AP-Ipsos Poll: Income Gap Shapes Youth Sports Access

Americans overwhelmingly see major benefits to children playing organized sports, but a new AP-Ipsos poll finds that higher-income families are significantly more likely to enroll their children in structured athletics. About 7 in 10 K-12 parents with a household income of at least $100,000 annually say their children play organized sports, compared with roughly 4 in 10 parents earning less.

The Participation Gap

About half of U.S. parents with K-12 school-aged children say their kids play a structured sport, according to the survey conducted July 21-26 among 1,737 U.S. adults using Ipsos’ probability-based KnowledgePanel. The poll included an oversample of 510 parents of K-12 children who play organized sports, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points for adults overall.

The findings point to a key problem in youth sports: parents almost universally view participation as an important part of childhood, but out-of-pocket expenses can be prohibitive, particularly for lower-income families.

“There’s travel, the uniforms, pitching in on the lunches,” said Tanisha Curry, 51, of Ohio, who has custody of her granddaughter, a school volleyball player. It strains Curry’s budget, but the family pitches in to manage costs. “Kids don’t go out and do things anymore,” she said. “Getting them away from a screen, at least for an hour — it’s worth it.”

Rising Costs Across the Board

The financial burden is substantial regardless of income. About two-thirds of K-12 sports parents estimate spending up to $2,000 annually on equipment, fees, training and travel for youth athletics. Roughly 2 in 10 spend between $2,000 and $5,000, while only about 1 in 10 spend more than $5,000 per year.

Notably, more affluent sports parents spend about the same amount annually as less affluent sports parents — a pattern that underscores the heavier relative burden on lower-income households. About 1 in 10 households earning at least $100,000 spend over $5,000 annually, compared with almost no lower-income households.

The affordability crisis in youth sports has been building for years. According to a 2025 survey by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, families spent an average of $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024 — a 46% increase from 2019. Travel and lodging saw the largest increase at $82, while team registrations rose by $72. Parents now spend more than $40 billion annually on children’s sports activities, roughly twice the cash flow of the NFL.

The wealthiest families spent more than 2.5 times as much on youth sports as the poorest families, and middle-class spending was closer to that of the poorest families than the wealthiest.

“The pandemic seems to have intensified the pressures around youth sports,” said Jordan Blazo, coauthor of the youth sports parent study and associate professor of kinesiology at Louisiana Tech University. “Instead of a reset, many families doubled down, trying to make up for lost time. This has further exacerbated the financial divide, making it even harder for some kids to participate.”

Perceived Benefits Remain Strong

Despite the costs, parents overwhelmingly value what youth sports provide. Nearly all U.S. adults say learning to deal with adversity, improving physical fitness, learning teamwork, making friends, reducing screen time and learning about hard work and commitment are major or minor benefits of organized sports.

About three-quarters of adults who played organized sports as a child say it had a mostly positive impact on their childhood, and about 6 in 10 say it positively influenced their adulthood.

Jon Fassnacht, 47, of Pennsylvania, has watched his 9-year-old daughter build confidence through competitive swimming. “It’s just so good for her self-esteem to have that goal setting,” he said. “And then there’s the social aspect on top of it. She’s kind of shy, so to have these opportunities to meet new people outside of her school is big.”

Challenges and Scholarship Hopes

About 8 in 10 K-12 sports parents say scheduling and logistics present a major or minor challenge, while roughly 7 in 10 say the same about team or club fees, travel demands and equipment costs. Despite these hurdles, about 8 in 10 sports parents say “proud” and “happy” describe how they feel about their children’s participation.

Some families see sports as a pathway to college. About 6 in 10 sports parents say the hope of earning an athletic scholarship or improving college acceptance odds plays a role in enrolling their kids, with less affluent parents more likely to cite it as a major factor. Yet relatively few high school athletes advance to NCAA competition — of nearly 8 million participants, only about 560,000 will compete at NCAA schools.

Kathryn Stuczynski, 37, of New York, said she and her husband budget carefully to afford karate, grappling and wrestling for their two daughters, skipping the latest iPhone or a new TV to keep costs manageable. “Giving my girls life experiences, it’s priceless,” she said. “I’d rather have the old phone, you know? I’m fine with that.”

What’s Next

As youth sports costs continue to climb, the income-based participation gap appears likely to widen. Soccer (31%), basketball (25%) and softball or baseball (20%) remain the most popular sports among children, according to the Ipsos poll data. But with participation already declining from 56.1% in 2019 to 54.6% in 2022-2023, the question of how to make organized sports accessible to all families — regardless of income — is becoming increasingly urgent.

Some communities are exploring scholarships and financial aid programs to lower barriers to entry. As Michael Morse, a Cranston West softball parent, put it: “I think scholarship and aid would absolutely help those that need it get involved in the sports. I think the experience that they gain out of it, the friendships, the camaraderie and the life lessons are so valuable that I think scholarships and aid would go a long way [toward] those.”