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Personal Trainer Annual Report:
Data Insights, Statistics, & Trends

A male and female trainer in dramatic lighting.
A personal trainer fist bumps a client.

Attributing the Data

For more than a decade Insurance Canopy has been an industry leader in providing businesses with top-rated insurance to thousands of personal trainers.

Thank you for taking the time to explore Insurance Canopy’s Personal Trainer Insurance report. We encourage you to share or reference our findings with attribution to Insurance Canopy and a link to this page. For more information, please contact us at info@insurancecanopy.com

Personal Trainer Insurance Facts & Statistics:

A personal trainer is more than just a fitness instructor in a gym. You connect with your clients, form bonds of motivation and trust, and work hard to see others succeed. Personal trainers teach private one-on-one classes or lead groups of individuals closer to their fitness goals. You may work outside the traditional walls of a gym in studios, hospitals, schools, and even corporate offices.

A personal trainer stands with a clipboard.
A personal trainer holds a towel and smiles in front of a yellow background.

Who Are Personal Trainers?

Let’s take a closer look at some of the demographics that make up personal trainers in the United States.

In 2021, Insurance Canopy issued 5,498 fitness instructor insurance policies. Of that, 58.6% were personal trainers. Each year the number of personal trainer insurance policies steadily increases, showing us this is a popular and growing industry with a demand to be met.

Trainers by Age

40% of personal trainers in the industry are 40+ years old, with 29% being 30–40 years old, and 30% being 20–30 years old.

Trainers by Age Pie Chart. 30% of trainers are 20-30 years old. 40% of trainers are 40+ years old. 29% of trainers are 30-40 years old. A small fraction, less than 1% of trainers are under 20 years old.
Pie chart of personal trainers by gender. 58% are Men. 35% are women. 7% are unspecified.

Trainers By Gender

58% of personal trainers in the industry are men, 35% are women, and 7% are unspecified.

Trainers by Location

Where are personal trainers operating the most?

Insurance Canopy issues the most personal trainer insurance policies to trainers in Florida, California, and New York.

17.68% of trainers we insure are from Florida as the number one insured state regarding our trainers; with California (15.04%) and New York (12.71%) in 2nd and 3rd respectively. 

Trainers by Location graph. Insurance Canopy insured 972 (17.68%) from Florida. 827 (15.04%) were from California. 699 (12.71%) were from New York. An additional 368 were from Texas, 29 from New Jersey, 268 from Pennsylvania, 165 from Colorado, 148 from Massachusetts, 138 from Arizona, and 121 from Ohio.
Graph of Trainers by Category of Sector. 55% work in the private sector, 32% in education, 10% in the public sector, and 3% from government.

Trainers By Sector

When it comes to the category where these personal trainer jobs are located, more than half are in the private sector. These types of personal trainers work one-on-one with athletes, teach clients in their home, and often take a more personal approach by helping their clients build lifestyle plans.

55% of our trainers work in the private sector, 32% work in education, and 10% work in the public sector. 

How Many Total?

There are over 133,181 Personal Trainers Currently Employed in the United States

physique icon

Personal Trainers

Currently Employed in the US

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Why Do I Need Personal Trainer Insurance?

Your work helps you support others in becoming their best selves. You guide them through pitfalls and success in their training. But, who is there to help you when something goes wrong with your business? Who has your back if a client is injured and you’re facing thousands of dollars in claims, fees, and bills?

That’s where Insurance Canopy comes in. We are a financial safety net for your business. You can be named responsible in a claim if you or your business activities cause bodily harm or property damage. For example, a client pulls a muscle during an exercise or damages the floors from accidentally dropping a heavy weight.

Claims

When studying claims data pulled from 2015 to 2021, we can calculate the average cost of a personal trainer claim is $29,582.53. The state with the highest submission of claims is Florida at 29%.

The most popular type of claim we see are for injuries clients sustain while working out. Many of these claims hold the personal trainer responsible for paying medical bills, physical therapy fees, and refunding membership or session costs. A single of one these claims cost $217,000 while another totaled at $102,000. 

What's Included In a Policy?

Our personal trainer policies are completely customizable to fit your unique needs. Each one starts with a base policy that includes General and Professional Liability insurance. These help to pay for claims that result in third-party claims, like a slip-and-fall accident, and injuries sustained as a result of your professional advice, like a torn ligament while working out under your direction.

A fitness class stretches together.

Your policy will also include:

You can then tailor your policy by including additional types of coverages, such as:

Policy Exclusions

While we work hard to offer a variety of policy types, there are some cases that carry too high of a risk. Insurance Canopy cannot extend you a policy if you meet any of the following exclusions:

Covered Training Styles

Online personal training boomed in 2020 due to COVID-19 forcing personal trainers to pivot their practices from in-person instruction to online training. That year we saw a 17.66% increase in online trainers buying insurance policies. Many trainers have continued to use online platforms as a way to train their clients. In 2021, 37.31% of our personal trainer policyholders categorized their business activities as online or virtual training —a 45% increase from the year before.
Graph of Online Trainer Growth from 2020-2021. Growth from over 800 to over 1200 online trainers were insured by Insurance Canopy –a 45% increase

At Insurance Canopy, we understand there are many different types of personal trainers. Whether that’s training online, leading boot camps, or specializing in physique training, we want to make sure you have the coverage you need to keep doing what you love. Insurance Canopy extends coverage to most trainers in the following categories.

Yearly Or Monthly Plan?

Insurance Canopy offers two types of payment plans for our personal trainer insurance policies.

You can either pay one cost upfront for the whole year with the Annual Plan, or pay smaller amounts monthly with the Monthly Plan. 

In 2021, 69.7% of personal trainers opted for the Annual Plan while 30.3% chose the Monthly Plan.

After a year of coverage, nearly 75% of personal trainers chose to renew their policies. Doing so helped them save time and money, and continue to work stress-free. Of those who renewed their policy, 9.6% were online trainers or were trainers renewing their policy with the intent to transition into online training.

Insurance Canopy's Personal Trainer policies have a 74.6% renewal rate. Of these renewals 72.8% are Annual policies. 28.2% are monthly policies.

Methodology

All data collected is from active insurance policies with Insurance Canopy from 2015–2022. A sample size of 5,498 was studied with individuals representing all 50 U.S. states, a variety of training styles, and a range of differing policy types. Most calculations were derived from the
3,222 policies specifically categorized as personal trainers to give the most accurate reflection of this group.

Any information outside of our initial research pool is sourced from Zippia and was used in conjunction with our own findings. Using a database of 30 million profiles, Zippia estimates
demographics and statistics in the United States. All estimates are verified against BLS, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy. After extensive research and analysis, Zippia’s data science team found the information referenced in our data to be accurate. Personal Trainer Demographics and Statistics in the US by Zippia

A trainer ties his shoes.

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