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The 25 Best Cities in America for Kickboxing (2026)

Not the most gyms — the best training-here math. We scored every US city of 50,000+ with at least 3 kickboxing gyms on two things that actually matter when you live there: how many gyms you have per 100k residents, and how good those gyms are (median Google rating across the city's gyms). Multiply the two and you get this list. Updated 2026-07-19.

The ranking

Pensacola, Florida is the best city in America for kickboxing — 7 gyms for 54k people (13 per 100k) with a median rating of 5★, edging out Santa Barbara, California (11.5 per 100k at 4.9★). Notice what's missing: the megacities. Density per resident is a mid-size-city game, and quality travels with it — every city on this list beats most major metros on both dials. 13 states place at least one city.

#CityGymsPopulationPer 100kMedian ratingScore
1 Pensacola, FL 7 53,898 13 5★ 64.9
2 Santa Barbara, CA 10 87,291 11.5 4.9★ 56.1
3 West New York, NJ 6 52,975 11.3 5★ 56.1
4 Boca Raton, FL 11 102,238 10.8 5★ 53.8
5 Parker, CO 7 65,473 10.7 5★ 53.5
6 Bradenton, FL 6 58,184 10.3 5★ 51.6
7 Sarasota, FL 6 57,764 10.4 5★ 51.4
8 Fort Myers, FL 10 99,918 10 5★ 50
9 Greenville, SC 7 74,371 9.4 4.9★ 46.1
10 Pinellas Park, FL 5 53,503 9.3 4.9★ 45.8
11 Fountain Valley, CA 5 56,036 8.9 4.9★ 43.7
12 Pasadena, CA 12 137,195 8.7 4.9★ 42.9
13 Alpharetta, GA 6 67,275 8.9 4.8★ 42.4
14 Conway, AR 6 70,711 8.5 5★ 42.4
15 Rockville, MD 6 68,417 8.8 4.8★ 42.1
16 Marietta, GA 5 63,122 7.9 5★ 39.6
17 Santa Cruz, CA 5 62,581 8 5★ 39.5
18 Franklin, TN 7 89,142 7.9 5★ 39.3
19 White Plains, NY 5 62,561 8 4.9★ 39.2
20 Madison, AL 5 64,029 7.8 5★ 39
21 Pleasanton, CA 6 75,664 7.9 4.9★ 38.9
22 Coral Gables, FL 4 50,379 7.9 4.8★ 38.5
23 South San Francisco, CA 5 64,660 7.7 4.9★ 37.9
24 Mooresville, NC 4 52,884 7.6 4.9★ 37.1
25 Fulshear, TX 4 54,629 7.3 4.9★ 35.9

Local angle for every row: "Pensacola ranks #1 nationally for kickboxing" is a data-backed sentence, and so is every other rank on the list. Click any city for its full gym lineup.

Cite this data

Suggested attribution: “The 25 Best Cities in America for Kickboxing” — KickboxingClasses.net, 2026, linked to https://www.kickboxingclasses.net/kickboxing-stats/best-cities/. The tables are CC BY 4.0: chart them, quote them, publish them — just link back. Want a custom cut (by state, metro, or discipline)? Email us.

Download the full CSV Data updated 2026-07-19

Methodology: gym counts and Google ratings from our continuously maintained national directory (5,673 kickboxing gyms, 410,206 customer reviews; only genuine kickboxing gyms with kickboxing on their schedule). Eligibility: city population ≥ 50,000 (US Census 2024 estimates) and ≥ 3 gyms. Score = (gyms ÷ population × 100,000) × median Google rating of the city's gyms. Cities are rolled up by the city name gyms list on their address, so suburbs score separately from their metro anchor. More lenses: America's kickboxing capitals (raw counts and per-capita), the state stats hub, and the best-rated gyms by state.