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BJJ Gyms by the Numbers, 2026
We mapped every BJJ gym in America — 6,639 academies with 382,945 customer reviews between them. Here's what the data says: how much membership actually costs, which states have the most gyms per resident, where the BJJ capitals are, which affiliations run the most locations, and what else these academies train under one roof. (Journalists & bloggers: cite freely with a link.)
How much does BJJ cost a month? The one-line answer
The most-asked question about the sport, answered from the 286 gyms in the directory that publicly post a price: membership is about $68 a month, with most gyms landing between $30 and $121. The full picture — price bands, what's driving the spread, and the state-by-state index — is on the BJJ Class Cost Index.
Which states have the most BJJ gyms per capita?
Nationally there are about 19.5 BJJ gyms per million residents. The per-capita crown goes to Idaho at 29.5 gyms per million — 59 gyms for a state of 2.0 million people — with New Hampshire at 27.7 and California at 27.6 close behind. BJJ clusters where grappling culture runs deep, not simply where the most people live — which is why the gap between the top and bottom of this table is worth a look before you go hunting for your first academy. At the other end, West Virginia has just 9.6 per million.
| # | State | Gyms | Per million people |
| 1 | Idaho | 59 | 29.5 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 39 | 27.7 |
| 3 | California | 1087 | 27.6 |
| 4 | New Jersey | 250 | 26.3 |
| 5 | Florida | 595 | 25.5 |
| 6 | Wyoming | 15 | 25.5 |
| 7 | Oregon | 107 | 25 |
| 8 | Colorado | 147 | 24.7 |
| 9 | Utah | 86 | 24.5 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | 27 | 24.3 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 171 | 24 |
| 12 | Arizona | 173 | 22.8 |
| 13 | Nevada | 74 | 22.6 |
| 14 | Texas | 700 | 22.4 |
| 15 | New Mexico | 47 | 22.1 |
What else do BJJ gyms teach?
BJJ gyms are rarely gi-only — 65.1% also train at least one other martial art under the same roof, an average of 2.6 other disciplines each. The most common companions: MMA (34.8%), Kickboxing (27.4%), Wrestling (25.4%), Muay Thai (24.7%). That's the real shape of the American BJJ academy — often a full grappling-and-striking house, not a single-style studio.
America's BJJ capitals
The cities with the most BJJ gyms in the directory, by raw count. Top of the list: San Diego, CA (38) · Houston, TX (33) · San Antonio, TX (30). The full ranking — raw count and per resident — is on America's BJJ Capitals.
| # | City | BJJ gyms |
| 1 | San Diego, CA | 38 |
| 2 | Houston, TX | 33 |
| 3 | San Antonio, TX | 30 |
| 4 | Chicago, IL | 30 |
| 5 | Los Angeles, CA | 30 |
| 6 | Las Vegas, NV | 29 |
| 7 | Miami, FL | 29 |
| 8 | Austin, TX | 27 |
| 9 | Phoenix, AZ | 27 |
| 10 | New York, NY | 24 |
America's densest BJJ cities
BJJ gyms per 100k residents, cities over 50k population. Raw counts favor the biggest metros, so this table is the other lens — the mid-size cities where gyms cluster hardest per resident.
| # | City | Gyms | Per 100k |
| 1 | Sarasota, FL | 14 | 24.2 |
| 2 | Pensacola, FL | 10 | 18.6 |
| 3 | Fort Myers, FL | 13 | 13 |
| 4 | Ocala, FL | 9 | 12.8 |
| 5 | Boca Raton, FL | 13 | 12.7 |
| 6 | Bradenton, FL | 7 | 12 |
| 7 | Alpharetta, GA | 8 | 11.9 |
| 8 | Edmond, OK | 11 | 11.1 |
| 9 | Yucaipa, CA | 6 | 11 |
| 10 | Wilmington, DE | 8 | 10.9 |
| 11 | Olympia, WA | 6 | 10.7 |
| 12 | Orland Park, IL | 6 | 10.3 |
| 13 | La Mesa, CA | 6 | 9.9 |
| 14 | Santa Fe, NM | 9 | 9.9 |
| 15 | Jacksonville, NC | 7 | 9.9 |
Inside the gyms
Of the 6,639 gyms in the directory, 6,591 are genuine BJJ academies — jiu-jitsu is on their schedule — with the rest being martial-arts gyms whose BJJ classes earn them a place here. From our review and website mining so far (these counts are floors — they require evidence, and enrichment is ongoing):
| Gyms that… | Count | Share |
| Are beginner-friendly (all levels welcome) | 4,686 | 71% |
| Run kids & youth classes | 5,803 | 87% |
| Advertise a free trial or intro class | 3,719 | 56% |
| Offer private / one-on-one lessons | 1,953 | 29% |
| Run no-gi classes | 2,687 | 40% |
| Have a competition team | 3,882 | 58% |
| Offer women's classes | 1,222 | 18% |
Small-town gyms worth the drive
BJJ gyms in towns under 30,000 people that still pull hundreds or thousands of reviews — destination academies that outdraw their whole zip code.
- Metro Jiu-Jitsu — Southgate, MI ★ 4.9
- Chokelab Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy — Harrison, NJ ★ 5
- Training Grounds Jiu-Jitsu & MMA — Westwood, NJ ★ 5
- Strong Style MMA and Training Center — Broadview Heights, OH ★ 4.8
- Danny Savery Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - Somerset, MA — Somerset, MA ★ 5
- Nexus American Jiu Jitsu — Fredericksburg, VA ★ 5
- FS Mixed Martial Arts & Fitness — Katy, TX ★ 5
- Campeão United Jiu-Jitsu Acworth — Acworth, GA ★ 5
- Crown BJJ — Bluffdale, UT ★ 5
- Garden State Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy — Red Bank, NJ ★ 5
- Bill Scott BJJ Shore Academy — Point Pleasant, NJ ★ 5
- Reign Jiu Jitsu — Katy, TX ★ 5
- SBG Atlanta - Buford — Buford, GA ★ 4.9
- Strikezone Mixed Martial Arts — Moorestown, NJ ★ 5
- Bayshore Brazilian Jiu Jitsu — Hazlet, NJ ★ 5
More data: the full stats suite
Each deep-dive below is its own dataset page with a downloadable CSV — cite freely with a link.
- The BJJ Class Cost Index — how much membership costs, nationally and by state: median monthly price, price bands, and the coverage behind the numbers.
- America's BJJ Capitals — the cities with the most BJJ gyms, raw count and per resident.
- The Best Cities for BJJ — gym density × gym quality, scored for every US city over 50k.
- BJJ's largest academy networks — the affiliation league table (Gracie Barra, 10th Planet, Renzo Gracie, Alliance…) plus what 65.1% of gyms teach besides BJJ.
- America's most underserved BJJ cities — the biggest US cities with zero or one BJJ gym.