The engine for growth
How girls are still saving wrestling
In 2025-2026, high school wrestling tallied 384,030 participants, the highest total on record. Girls were 88,771 of them, 23.12% of the total, nearly 1 in 4 of every wrestler.
Last season girls gained +14,707 while boys lost −4,955. The total moved +9,752 (+2.6%). So as boys declined, girls added even more athletes than the total gained.
From 2010 to 2026, girls account for 82,637 of 105,006 additional wrestlers, accounting for 78.7% of the sport’s growth over the past 15+ years.
- Girls, 2026
- 88,771
- 23.12% of all wrestlers
- Girls, year over year
- +14,707
- +19.9%
- Boys, year over year
- −4,955
- −1.7%
- Total, 2026
- 384,030
- Historic high, +9,752
Hover a year, or focus the chart and use the arrow keys.
2026
2026 counts 88,771 girls and 295,259 boys, 384,030 wrestlers in all. Girls are 23.12% of the total.
Change from 2025: girls +14,707 (+19.9%), boys −4,955 (−1.7%), total +9,752 (+2.6%).
Girls’ share of the total change is +150.8%. Boys’ share is −50.8%.
Girls added more athletes than the total gained, because boys declined.
Girls 23.12% of wrestlers that year. Boys 76.88%.
2020 and 2021 are blank due to COVID. Rates for 2022 are measured from 2019.
Bars are the change in athletes. They stack when girls and boys move the same direction, and split across zero when they do not. Dashed line: girls’ share of all wrestlers. Dotted line: the total’s percent change. Both lines use the right axis.