Revenue per Location Runs From $592,157 to $27.9 Million #
Recreation is not one business. Federal data splits it into 26 industries, and revenue per location across them spans a 47-fold range: $592,157 for a sports instruction business against $27.9 million for a theme park (Census Economic Census 2022 receipts divided by Census CBP 2022 locations).
That spread sorts the sector into four rungs, and which rung you are on decides almost everything about financing, staffing and risk.
| Rung | Revenue per location | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Instruction and fitness | Under $1M | Sports and recreation instruction, 61162 |
| Single-purpose venues | $1M to $3M | Bowling centers, 71395 |
| Land and membership | $3M to $10M | Golf courses, 71391 |
| Capital projects | Above $10M | Theme parks, 71311 |
Staffing tracks the same ladder. Independent performers average 1.7 employees per location, instruction 8.5, fitness and recreational sports centers 17.0, golf 32.2, and skiing and theme parks both above 214 — a different category of operating problem.
89.7% of New Recreation Businesses Open in Just Four Industries #
Location counts tell you how large an industry is. SBA startup lending tells you where people are putting money in now, and the two lists are not the same.
Four industries account for 3,460 of the 3,859 startup loans across all 26, or 89.7 percent. The other 22 industries share 399 between them.
| NAICS | Industry | Locations | SBA loans | of which new businesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71394 | Fitness and recreational sports centers | 41,556 | 4,177 | 2,033 |
| 71399 | All other amusement and recreation | 22,786 | 1,713 | 910 |
| 61162 | Sports and recreation instruction | 20,916 | 1,036 | 400 |
| 45111 | Sporting goods stores | 20,373 | 717 | 96 |
| 71151 | Independent artists and performers | 38,677 | 425 | 17 |
| 71131 | Event promoters, with facilities | 4,274 | 332 | 75 |
| 71312 | Amusement arcades | 3,630 | 244 | 117 |
| 71132 | Event promoters, without facilities | 5,031 | 169 | 11 |
| 71395 | Bowling centers | 3,154 | 165 | 26 |
| 71391 | Golf courses and country clubs | 10,076 | 153 | 44 |
| 71121 | Spectator sports | 5,147 | 152 | 19 |
| 56192 | Convention and trade show organizers | 6,270 | 140 | 13 |
Loans are SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, FY2024 to the third quarter of FY2026, as of June 30, 2026. Locations are Census CBP 2023. The 14 industries not shown each recorded fewer than 140 loans; museums, zoos, historical sites and nature parks recorded 14, 4, 1 and 6 respectively, and their operators are largely nonprofit or government.
Two of the four leaders are residual categories, which is worth pausing on. All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries is the second-largest source of new recreation businesses in the country and its name tells you nothing about what is in it. Census lists miniature golf, archery and shooting ranges, billiard parlors, dance halls, riding stables, recreational day camps and sports leagues that own no facility. Trampoline parks, escape rooms and axe-throwing venues have no named code and land here or in arcades.
At the other extreme, casinos recorded zero SBA loans and other gambling industries one. That is a program rule, not a verdict: SBA excludes gambling businesses from its lending programs, so the proxy is unavailable rather than low.
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Loan Losses: 0.0% for Venues and Marinas, 13.3% for Musical Groups #
Loan outcomes split recreation almost exactly along the line between operating a facility and selling a performance, and not in the direction most people expect.
On the FY2020-21 cohort, the most recent old enough to have been tested, charge-off rates were 0.0 percent for event venues, bowling centers, marinas, museums, skiing and zoos, 1.7 percent for golf, 1.9 percent for all other amusement and recreation and 4.1 percent for fitness. Against that, musical groups charged off at 13.3 percent, theater companies at 10.0 percent and spectator sports at 8.9 percent.
The explanation is collateral. A bowling alley, a marina or a golf course is secured by land and a building a lender can sell. A touring company or a sports team is secured by cash flow and a brand, and when the cash flow stops there is nothing to recover. The 2020 and 2021 cohort tested precisely that, which makes these figures more informative than a normal year's would be.
Arcades at 6.0 percent are the exception inside the facilities group, and the one to watch: a family entertainment center carries a building and heavy equipment, but its revenue is discretionary and local.
Getting the Full Federal Record for One Industry #
This page compares industries. If you need the complete federal record for one of them, every NAICS code in the table above has a one-industry data pack on its industry page: establishments, employment, payroll, wages, receipts and the published concentration measures with every source and vintage attached, as a single document. The codes in the table link through to the page that carries it.
Where we publish a full written analysis, that sits in the industry report instead. Reports currently cover fitness and recreational sports centers, golf courses and country clubs, and event promoters with facilities. See Report →.
Sources and Method #
Locations, employment, payroll and wages are Census County Business Patterns 2023, pulled directly from the Census API on October 5, 2026 for every code in the table. CBP covers establishments with paid employees and measures employment in the March 12 pay period, which understates seasonal operations: outdoor pools, rinks, marinas, ski areas and theme parks all staff up outside that window.
Receipts are the 2022 Economic Census, the only federal source for industry revenue at this level and published every five years. Revenue per location divides 2022 receipts by the 2022 location count so both halves share a vintage.
Loan figures come from the SBA's published 7(a) and 504 FOIA extracts, both dated June 30, 2026, aggregated by industry code and approval fiscal year. New-business status uses the strict SBA category for a loan opening a business not yet trading. Only aggregates are used; no borrower-level record appears here.
One code carries a classification break. Sporting goods stores moved from NAICS 451110 to 459110 in the 2022 revision and the scope widened, so no like-for-like revenue per location is published for it and none appears above.
Growth rates, concentration measurement, state-level breakdowns and revenue projections are reserved for our reports and do not appear on this page.