Nearly 32 million Americans participated in snowsports throughout the 2025-26 winter season, marking a 3% increase from the previous season and the highest participation total in six years. But within the overall growth, snowboarding really stood out.
According to the latest participation study from Snowsports Industries America, snowboarding participation increased roughly 9% to 10.6 million people during the 2025-26 season. That is up from 9.7 million the year before.
Snowboarding Continues To Add Riders
Snowboarding has now grown in seven of the past eight seasons. Participation has increased from 7.1 million riders in 2017-18, giving the sport nearly 50% more participants than it did at the start of that period. The growth has also been particularly strong since the pandemic, with nearly 30% more snowboarders during the 2025-26 season than in 2021-22.
About 4.2 million people had either tried snowboarding for the first time or returned after spending at least one season away. That compares with 3.3 million riders who lapsed from the sport.
The sport is also attracting a younger and increasingly diverse audience, 5.3 million participants under the age of 25. That nearly matches alpine skiing’s 5.5 million despite having significantly fewer total participants.
Hispanic participation has increased for three consecutive seasons, reaching 2.2 million snowboarders in 2025-26 compared with 1.8 million in 2023-24, and one in four female snowboarders is now Hispanic.
Snowboarding Could Drive The Next Generation
Snowboarding is also frequently serving as an entry point into winter sports. Twenty-nine percent of winter sport participants say snowboarding was their first winter sport, compared with 16% who say alpine skiing was their first.
Among people who did not participate during the 2025-26 season, 1.8% said they would definitely snowboard next winter. Only 1.1% said the same about skiing.
“Snowboarding’s growth, especially among younger and more diverse participants, shows where the next generation of snowsports is coming from.” – SIA President and CEO Nick Sargent.
Skiing Faces A Different Challenge
Alpine skiing remained essentially flat at approximately 13.2 million participants. While skiing continues to attract millions of Americans, participation has not kept pace with population growth and remains below its 2018-19 peak of 14.9 million.