By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
USA Swimming recently released its annual demographic report for the 2024 membership year, offering insights into how the organization has fared in terms of membership over 16 months from Sept. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024.
The report showed that USA Swimming’s membership numbers were stable year over year, though the member retention rate was the lowest since 2019.
Diving deeper into the data, we’re able to see which Local Swimming Committees (LSCs) grew in membership compared to the previous year and which lost members.
LSCs That Grew In 2024 (Premium & Outreach Athlete Membership)
LSC CODE LSC NAME 2023 2024 INC./DEC. MR METROPOLITAN 8,233 8,902 669 CA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 17,045 17,686 641 PV POTOMAC VALLEY 11,772 12,411 639 NE NEW ENGLAND 7,420 7,864 444 MD MARYLAND 4,576 4,975 399 OR OREGON 4,403 4,713 310 AM ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN 3,137 3,407 270 IA IOWA 2,623 2,887 264 WI WISCONSIN 6,161 6,423 262 OH OHIO 5,940 6,195 255 MI MICHIGAN 7,462 7,706 244 MV MISSOURI VALLEY 3,687 3,910 223 SC SOUTH CAROLINA 3,167 3,333 166 IN INDIANA 8,531 8,675 144 NC NORTH CAROLINA 9,828 9,964 136 MA MIDDLE ATLANTIC 10,424 10,551 127 NJ NEW JERSEY 8,086 8,213 127 LE LAKE ERIE 3,063 3,164 101 SE SOUTHEASTERN 6,013 6,106 93 PC PACIFIC 14,276 14,368 92 VA VIRGINIA 6,059 6,143 84 OZ OZARK 2,491 2,570 79 ST SOUTH TEXAS 7,900 7,966 66 SR SNAKE RIVER 951 1,015 64 WT WEST TEXAS 634 692 58 WV WEST VIRGINIA 475 527 52 AD ADIRONDACK 1,498 1,543 45 PN PACIFIC NORTHWEST 6,007 6,047 40 KY KENTUCKY 2,014 2,044 30 OK OKLAHOMA 1,802 1,826 24 NM NEW MEXICO 1,565 1,583 18 MT MONTANA 902 920 18 IE INLAND EMPIRE 1,174 1,190 16 US USA SWIMMING 94 104 10 WY WYOMING 1,281 1,289 8 HI HAWAIIAN 2,676 2,683 7The biggest LSC in the country, Southern California, was one of three that gained more than 600 swimmers (Premier & Outreach Memberships only) in 2024, bringing its premium membership base up from 17,045 to 17,686.
Metropolitan was the LSC that saw the most growth in sheer numbers, climbing to 8,902 swimmers after gaining 669 in 2024 (an 8.13% increase). It also saw 530 new Flex Membership members (785 total) and had 176 swimmers upgrade their membership.
Metropolitan also increased from 71 to 75 clubs in 2024, one of six clubs to have four or more new clubs join in the last registration year.
Along with Southern California and Metropolitan, Potomac Valley also saw a significant increase with 639 swimmers joining as Premium & Outreach members in 2024 for 12,411 total. Potomac Valley increased from 44 to 47 clubs during the year and also had 553 new Flex members.
Notably increasing by 444 swimmers was the New England LSC, which is a bit of an outlier with 12 new clubs registered in 2024. A large part of the new clubs comes due to the disbanding of Gator Swim Club, leading swimmers to head elsewhere and new teams (some former Gator affiliates) popping up.
LSCs That Shrunk In 2024 (Premium & Outreach Athlete Membership)
LSC CODE LSC NAME 2023 2024 INC./DEC. IL ILLINOIS 16,092 15,711 -381 ME MAINE 644 310 -334 GA GEORGIA 6,837 6,643 -194 AZ ARIZONA 4,303 4,115 -188 FG FLORIDA GOLD COAST 4,643 4,465 -178 CC CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 1,008 864 -144 FL FLORIDA 10,478 10,356 -122 ND NORTH DAKOTA 1,428 1,338 -90 CO COLORADO 6,688 6,607 -81 MW MIDWESTERN 2,090 2,009 -81 SI SAN DIEGO-IMPERIAL 3,038 2,968 -70 BD BORDER 855 787 -68 CT CONNECTICUT 5,199 5,135 -64 SN SIERRA NEVADA 2,899 2,840 -59 AK ALASKA 1,618 1,561 -57 AR ARKANSAS 1,290 1,235 -55 LA LOUISIANA 2,052 2,005 -47 UT UTAH 3,450 3,403 -47 SD SOUTH DAKOTA 1,150 1,105 -45 MN MINNESOTA 6,941 6,921 -20 NI NIAGARA 3,773 3,762 -11 MS MISSISSIPPI 1,120 1,110 -10 GU GULF 8,567 8,562 -5 NT NORTH TEXAS 6,834 6,832 -2Illinois and Maine were the two LSCs that saw the biggest drop-off in Premium and Outreach membership in 2024, both losing over 300 swimmers.
Although Illinois lost the highest number of swimmers with 381, Maine’s drop is more impactful, as more than half of their Premium & Outreach members departed in 2024. Maine went from 644 in 2023 down to 310, losing 334 swimmers (51.86%).
Maine saw a similar decrease in number of clubs, with 18 clubs in 2023 being chopped in half down to nine in 2024. The number of coaches in Maine dropped from 59 to 29, with a total count of non-athlete membership (coaches, officials, etc.) decreasing from 165 to 81, or 50.9%.
Year-Round Club Membership Growth
Only two LSCs lost three or more clubs in 2024, making Maine seeing nine depart all the more jarring. The other was Lake Erie with three.
New England gained 12 clubs, due in part to the Gator Swim Club situation as mentioned above, while the Middle Atlantic LSC gained five teams and Iowa and Indiana both increased by five.
LSC’s # of Clubs Increasing or Decreasing By 3+ In 2024
LSC CODE LSC NAME 2023 2024 INC./DEC. NE NEW ENGLAND 87 99 12 MA MIDDLE ATLANTIC 112 119 7 IA IOWA 32 37 5 IN INDIANA 105 110 5 MR METROPOLITAN 71 75 4 CA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 146 149 3 GA GEORGIA 66 69 3 MI MICHIGAN 69 72 3 NI NIAGARA 54 57 3 NJ NEW JERSEY 60 63 3 OH OHIO 57 60 3 PV POTOMAC VALLEY 44 47 3 SE SOUTHEASTERN 72 75 3 ST SOUTH TEXAS 39 42 3 WV WEST VIRGINIA 10 13 3 LE LAKE ERIE 36 33 -3 ME MAINE 18 9 -9PREMIER & OUTREACH MEMBERSHIP BY ZONE
Breaking down the membership by Zone, Eastern saw the biggest gain with 2,395 new swimmers (premier and outreach), while the Southern Zone was the only one to lose swimmers (25).
Zone 2023 2024 Inc./Dec. Central 70,751 71,675 924 Eastern 70,821 73,216 2,395 Southern 71,417 71,392 -25 Western 73,378 73,956 578 Total 286,367 290,329 3,872MEMBERSHIP CHANGES BY AGE
Breaking down the membership change by age, the 8 & under category saw a significant decrease from 2023 to 2024, while the 9-year-old group increased by a similar amount. The boys’ 8 & under category saw 669 fewer registrants in 2024 compared to 271 on the girls’ side.
The increase for 9-year-olds tells us that there was an 8 & under boom in 2023 that’s carried over into 2024, but there weren’t been nearly as many new 8 & unders joining USA Swimming last year.
The 16-year-old group saw a big increase (1,264), as did the 12-year-old and 17-year-old groups (to go along with the 9-year-olds).
Age 2023 Total 2024 Total Inc./Dec 8 & Under 42,717 41,777 -940 9 27,104 28,078 974 10 32,267 32,050 -217 11 33,117 33,445 328 12 31,760 32,489 729 13 31,479 31,450 -29 14 25,351 25,561 210 15 21,745 21,845 100 16 17,434 18,698 1,264 17 12,656 13,377 721 18 3,930 4,325 395 19 & Over 6,789 7,121 332 Total 286,349 290,216 3,867RETENTION RATE BY AGE
The average retention rate came in at 66.9%, the lowest since 2019, with 15 and 16-year-old boys and 13-year-old girls the ages with the highest return percentages (the only three above 71%).
There is a noted drop for 14-year-olds at 66.2% compared to 71% for both 13 and 15-year-olds.
USA Swimming notes that starting this year, it began tracking Retention on a per swimmer basis vs. the previous calculation of Number of Renewing Members divided by Number of Prior Year Members. This new Retention calculation is much more accurate and clearer when drilling into age groups.
Age % of Retained Female Athletes % of Retained Male Athletes Inc./Dec 8 & Under 66.80% 65.70% 66.30% 9 68.90% 68.30% 68.60% 10 70.00% 69.70% 69.90% 11 69.20% 68.80% 69.00% 12 70.60% 69.60% 70.20% 13 71.10% 71.30% 71.20% 14 66.10% 66.40% 66.20% 15 70.60% 72.20% 71.30% 16 70.50% 73.70% 72.10% 17 60.50% 65.60% 63.00% 18 27.70% 30.90% 29.40% 19 & Over 45.20% 49.00% 47.30% Total 66.90% 66.90% 66.90%You can find the full report here.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: USA Swimming Demographic Report: Which LSCs Got Bigger And Which Shrunk In 2024?
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