Report
Wellness & Fitness Trends in 2026
The wellness consumer is not who most brands think they are — and the habits shaping how Americans exercise, eat, and think about their health are shifting. This report tracks wellness behavior, maps self-rated health trends by generation and party from 2021 through 2026, and benchmarks brand reputation across every major category in the fitness and wellness space.
Author
Nick Laughlin
VP of Content
Bobby Blanchard
Sr. Director Audience Development
What's Inside the Report
- Who the wellness consumer really is. The core wellness audience skews older, more educated, and more affluent — over-indexing on advanced degrees and household incomes above $100K.
- Why self-rated health now tracks with partisan identity. Republicans showed a sharp post-election optimism surge after November 2024, hitting a 5-year high by mid-2025.
- The fitness behavior shift brands need to understand. Home fitness has crossed the 50% threshold for the first time — now the primary workout mode for a majority of Americans, driven heavily by Gen Z and Millennials.
- Health-conscious eating is becoming a baseline, not a differentiator. Roughly two-thirds of all adults now say health is a primary factor in food choices, up across every generation since 2022.
- GLP-1 medications: growing awareness, growing polarization. Usage has risen modestly from ~8% to ~10%, and the "never heard of it" share has dropped significantly.
- Which brands lead — and which are losing ground. Rankings in the gym and fitness clubs space, digital fitness and wellness apps, athletic apparel and footwear, sports and performance drinks and more.