Yoga participation in the United States was 16.9% among adults in 2022. The same national data shows that most adult practitioners used yoga to restore overall health, while meditation and pain management were also common reasons for practicing. Older Yoga Alliance research adds context on practice settings, household patterns, and the economics of yoga, although those findings describe 2016 rather than 2022.
Contents
- Participation in the United States
- Why adults practice yoga
- Differences by age, sex, and race
- Income and access patterns
- Meditation as part of yoga
- Practice outside studios and household patterns
- The size and economics of the yoga community
Participation in the United States
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reported that 16.9% of U.S. adults practiced yoga in the past 12 months in 2022. This is an adult participation measure, not a count of classes attended or a measure limited to vinyasa classes. It provides useful context for understanding the wider movement community in which vinyasa yoga sits.
Participation varied substantially by sex, age, race, and family income. Women had a 23.3% participation rate, compared with 10.3% for men. By age, the rate was 21.3% among adults ages 18–44, 14.1% among those ages 45–64, and 8.0% among adults ages 65 and older.
The CDC’s figures by race and Hispanic origin were also distinct:
| Group | Adults who practiced yoga in 2022 |
|---|---|
| Asian, non-Hispanic | 22.5% |
| White, non-Hispanic | 19.3% |
| Other and multiple races, non-Hispanic | 15.7% |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 12.6% |
| Hispanic | 10.5% |
These figures come from CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 501, published in June 2024, and describe yoga practice during the 12 months before the 2022 survey. They do not identify which style participants practiced, so they should not be read as vinyasa-only participation rates.
Why adults practice yoga
Among adults who practiced yoga in 2022, 80.0% said they practiced to restore overall health. That was the most prevalent purpose in the supplied CDC results. Meditation as part of yoga was reported by 57.4%, while 28.8% practiced yoga to treat or manage pain.
The health-restoration figure was consistently high across the reported groups. It was 80.2% for women and 79.6% for men. By age, 83.3% of practitioners ages 45–64 used yoga to restore overall health, compared with 78.4% of those ages 18–44 and 79.1% of those ages 65 and older.
The CDC reported the following percentages for restoring overall health by race and Hispanic origin:
- White, non-Hispanic practitioners: 81.7%.
- Other and multiple races, non-Hispanic practitioners: 79.5%.
- Black, non-Hispanic practitioners: 76.7%.
- Asian, non-Hispanic practitioners: 75.6%.
- Hispanic practitioners: 75.1%.
Pain management showed a different pattern. Among adult practitioners, men reported using yoga to manage pain at 31.8%, compared with 27.5% of women. The rate was 31.5% among practitioners ages 45–64, 27.9% among those ages 18–44, and 27.2% among adults ages 65 and older.
By race and Hispanic origin, pain-management use was 31.9% among Hispanic practitioners, 30.0% among White non-Hispanic practitioners, 26.0% among Black non-Hispanic practitioners, 25.0% among other and multiple-race non-Hispanic practitioners, and 21.1% among Asian non-Hispanic practitioners.
Differences by age, sex, and race
The 2022 CDC results show that participation and purpose are separate measures. For example, adults ages 65 and older had the lowest overall participation rate among the reported age groups, at 8.0%, but 79.1% of older practitioners said they practiced to restore overall health. The participation rate describes how many adults practiced; the purpose measure describes people already in the practitioner group.
The same distinction helps explain the sex results. Women’s participation rate was 23.3%, more than twice men’s 10.3% rate. Yet among people who practiced yoga, the percentages using it to restore overall health were close: 80.2% for women and 79.6% for men. Men’s pain-management figure was higher, at 31.8% versus 27.5% for women, while women’s meditation figure was higher, at 59.3% versus 52.9% for men.
Age differences were visible in meditation as well. Among adult practitioners, 62.0% of those ages 18–44 reported meditation as part of yoga. The corresponding figures were 53.9% for ages 45–64 and 49.1% for ages 65 and older. These results describe meditation reported as part of yoga; they do not establish that a particular class format, including vinyasa, caused the difference.
Income and access patterns
Family income was associated with participation in the 2022 CDC results. Adults with family income below 200% of the federal poverty level had a 10.4% yoga participation rate. The rate was 14.0% for adults with income from 200% to under 400% of the federal poverty level, and 23.0% for adults with income at 400% of the federal poverty level or more.
The income pattern for reasons to practice moved differently. Among adult practitioners with income below 200% of the federal poverty level, 37.8% used yoga to manage pain. The figure was 32.8% among practitioners in the 200% to under 400% group and 25.4% among those at 400% of the federal poverty level or more.
For restoring overall health, the reported percentages were 80.2% for practitioners below 200% of the federal poverty level, 78.9% for those at 200% to under 400%, and 80.5% for those at 400% or more. Meditation as part of yoga was reported by 65.3% of practitioners below 200% of the federal poverty level.
Taken together, these figures show why a participation statistic should not be treated as a simple measure of motivation. The group with the lowest reported participation rate also had the highest reported use of yoga for pain management among the three income categories. The data describe associations in the survey and do not explain the causes behind them.
Meditation as part of yoga
Meditation was reported as part of yoga by 57.4% of adult practitioners in 2022. The CDC’s subgroup figures show variation by sex, age, race, and income. Women reported this practice at 59.3%, compared with 52.9% among men.
The age pattern declined across the reported groups: 62.0% among practitioners ages 18–44, 53.9% among those ages 45–64, and 49.1% among adults ages 65 and older.
Among the reported racial and Hispanic-origin groups, meditation as part of yoga was reported by 70.7% of Black non-Hispanic practitioners, 66.8% of Hispanic practitioners, and 54.0% of White non-Hispanic practitioners. The supplied CDC results did not provide a corresponding meditation percentage for every race category listed in the participation data, so no additional figures are inferred here.
The income figure available in the CDC results was 65.3% among practitioners with family income below 200% of the federal poverty level. That statistic should be read as a subgroup result among practitioners, not as a meditation rate for all adults in that income category.
Practice outside studios and household patterns
Yoga Alliance’s 2016 Yoga in America study found that 81% of students had practiced outside a yoga studio in the preceding year. The study also reported that 79% of practitioners ran, cycled, lifted weights, or participated in at least one other athletic activity. These older figures suggest that yoga was often part of a broader movement routine rather than an isolated activity, but they do not measure current behavior or identify vinyasa practice specifically.
The same 2016 study reported that 37% of practitioners had children under 18 who also did yoga. It also found that 74% of practitioners had been practicing for five or fewer years. These are study-era characteristics and should not be projected onto the 2022 CDC population without new evidence.
Yoga Alliance’s 2016 study highlights further reported that 91% of studio owners recognized Yoga Alliance’s credential as important for their teachers. Only 29% of teachers reported yoga as their primary source of income. The two measures concern different populations—studio owners and teachers—and should not be combined into a single workforce estimate.
The size and economics of the yoga community
Yoga Alliance said that the number of U.S. yoga practitioners reached 38.4 million in 2022, up from 36.7 million in 2016. The organization also reported that U.S. yoga spending exceeded $21 billion in 2022 and was up more than 5% since 2016. These figures are organization-reported market measures and are separate from the CDC’s 16.9% adult participation rate.
The two sources use different measures and should not be forced into one calculation. The CDC reports the share of adults who practiced yoga in the past 12 months, while Yoga Alliance reports a practitioner count and spending estimate. The available figures do not provide enough detail to determine whether the practitioner count uses the same population definition, survey design, or style categories as the CDC measure.
Yoga Alliance’s 2016 study highlights described practitioners as 72% women, equal to 26.4 million women practitioners, and 28% men, equal to 10.3 million men practitioners. The same study reported that 34% of Americans, or 80 million people, said they were likely to try yoga in the next 12 months. That is an intention measure from 2016, not a forecast of later participation.
For readers interested in vinyasa yoga, the practical interpretation is measured but useful: national evidence shows a sizable U.S. yoga community, strong emphasis on restoring overall health, and substantial overlap with meditation and pain-management goals. The available statistics do not separate vinyasa from other yoga styles, so style-specific conclusions require a dedicated vinyasa survey.