Cheer team statistics show a large and varied activity across U.S. high schools. The 2023-24 National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Participation Survey recorded 186,151 participants in competitive spirit, including 181,023 girls and 5,128 boys. Historical NFHS materials also distinguish competitive spirit from sideline cheer, making the measurement period and program type important when comparing figures.
Contents
- 2023-24 participation snapshot
- Girls’ and boys’ program rankings
- State-by-state figures
- Historical participation benchmarks
- Schools and program reach
- Injury-rate context
2023-24 participation snapshot
The latest detailed competitive-spirit figures in the supplied NFHS survey are for the 2023-24 school year. They count participants and teams separately, so the numbers describe both the people involved and the organized teams reported by the survey.
The survey recorded 7,827 girls’ competitive-spirit teams and 181,023 girls’ participants. For boys, it recorded 1,074 teams and 5,128 participants. Combined, competitive spirit accounted for 186,151 participants in 2023-24. These figures are reported by the 2023-24 NFHS Participation Survey.
The gender-specific counts show that the activity was reported across both girls’ and boys’ programs. The team totals also show that the survey’s competitive-spirit category is not represented by a single national team count: the reported girls’ and boys’ team counts are separate measures tied to the survey’s participation categories.
The same 2023-24 NFHS survey recorded 8,062,302 total high school sports participants across all sports. That total was up 210,469 from the prior year. The previous record before 2023-24 was 7,980,886 participants in 2017-18. Those all-sports figures provide national participation context, but they are not additional cheer counts. They come from the 2023-24 NFHS Participation Survey.
Girls’ and boys’ program rankings
Competitive spirit ranked No. 8 among girls’ programs by participants in 2023-24. It ranked No. 10 among boys’ programs by participants in the same survey year. The ranking statements come from the 2023-24 NFHS Participation Survey, and they should be read as rankings within the NFHS categories, not as a ranking of individual cheer teams or competitive results.
The two rankings also help explain why a single headline number can be misleading. The girls’ category contains 181,023 participants, while the boys’ category contains 5,128. The survey reports both categories as part of competitive spirit, but they occupy different positions in the corresponding program rankings.
| NFHS measure | 2023-24 figure |
|---|---|
| Girls’ competitive-spirit teams | 7,827 |
| Girls’ competitive-spirit participants | 181,023 |
| Boys’ competitive-spirit teams | 1,074 |
| Boys’ competitive-spirit participants | 5,128 |
| Combined participants | 186,151 |
| Girls’ program participant ranking | No. 8 |
| Boys’ program participant ranking | No. 10 |
Because the survey uses “competitive spirit,” these data should not automatically be treated as a count of every sideline, school, club, or recreational cheer participant. The category name and year are part of the statistic.
State-by-state figures
The 2023-24 NFHS survey reports competitive-spirit participation for individual states and the District of Columbia. Some entries include both schools and participants; others in the supplied figures include participants only. The figures below preserve that distinction.
California reported 329 competitive-spirit schools and 1,422 participants. New Mexico reported 83 schools and 122 participants, while Oregon reported 150 schools and 105 participants. Connecticut reported 41 schools and 152 participants. Mississippi reported 25 schools and 148 participants. These entries are from the 2023-24 NFHS Participation Survey.
Idaho reported 48 schools and 113 participants. Utah reported 46 schools and 114 participants. Virginia reported 56 schools and 88 participants. Kansas reported 73 schools and 107 participants. Arkansas reported 45 schools and 160 participants. Georgia reported 35 schools and 63 participants. The survey also recorded 15 Hawaii schools and 23 participants.
Several states had smaller reported participant counts. Alaska had 10 schools and 22 participants. Maine had 19 schools and 20 participants. South Dakota had 9 schools and 20 participants. Texas had 13 schools and 15 participants. Michigan had 8 schools and 9 participants. The District of Columbia had 1 school and 2 participants.
Other state entries in the survey provide participant counts without a school count in the supplied figures. Arizona had 313 participants, Colorado had 605, Florida had 291, Kentucky had 203, New York had 664, Oklahoma had 147, Pennsylvania had 100, Rhode Island had 15, and Washington had 28 participants.
Maryland appears with two different supplied entries: one reports 2 schools and 19 participants, while another reports 41 schools and 67 participants. Since the source material provides both statements and no explanation for the difference, they are retained as separate reported figures rather than reconciled into a new estimate. Vermont reported 1 competitive-spirit school and 764 participants. All of these state-level figures are attributed to the 2023-24 NFHS Participation Survey.
Historical participation benchmarks
Older NFHS materials use several related labels, including sideline cheerleading, competitive cheer, and competitive spirit. These figures are useful historical benchmarks, but they should not be presented as a continuous time series without accounting for category and survey-year differences.
A 2009 NFHS survey counted 394,694 participants in sideline cheerleading and 18,922 member schools offering sideline cheerleading. The source also states that sideline cheer and competitive cheer together exceeded 500,000 participants annually in 2015. These historical statements appear in NFHS Components of a Successful Cheer/Spirit Program.
The 2007-08 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey counted 113,980 boys and girls in competitive cheer. A related NFHS statement said competitive-spirit squads gained 16,130 female participants in that survey period. The source labels for those figures are NFHS Cheerleading and the Law and NFHS High School Sports Participation Increases Again.
The latest NFHS athletics participation survey cited in the 2015 material reported 120,593 participants in competitive-spirit squads. The 2014-15 NFHS survey counted 125,763 girls in competitive cheer and listed competitive cheer at 5,358 schools. These are historical survey results reported in NFHS Components of a Successful Cheer/Spirit Program and NFHS Cheerleading and the Law.
The labels matter. “Sideline cheerleading” and “competitive cheer” are not interchangeable descriptions in these source statements, and “competitive spirit” is the category used by the 2023-24 participation survey. A historical number can therefore show the scale reported at that time without being treated as a directly comparable current total.
Schools and program reach
School counts give another way to read cheer team statistics. In 2009, the NFHS survey counted 18,922 member schools offering sideline cheerleading. In 2014-15, the NFHS material listed competitive cheer at 5,358 schools. The two counts refer to different program labels and different measurement periods.
The 2023-24 state figures show how unevenly school and participant counts can appear in reported entries. California’s 329 schools and 1,422 participants form the largest paired state entry supplied here by participant count. Connecticut reported 41 schools and 152 participants, while Arkansas reported 45 schools and 160 participants. New Mexico reported 83 schools and 122 participants, and Oregon reported 150 schools and 105 participants.
Those entries should be read as reported survey observations, not as a calculation of average team size. The supplied data do not establish whether every school reported the same program structure, whether categories were administered identically in every jurisdiction, or why some state entries provide only participants. Avoiding an invented average keeps the interpretation tied to what the survey actually states.
The national team counts likewise describe the 2023-24 survey categories: 7,827 girls’ teams and 1,074 boys’ teams. They do not establish a count of all cheer teams operating outside the NFHS reporting frame, and they do not measure competition performance, wins, routines, or event attendance.
Injury-rate context
The supplied NFHS safety statistic comes from the 2011-12 season. Cheerleading’s injury rate was 0.57 per 1,000 athlete exposures. In the same comparison, cheerleading ranked 17th out of 20 sports studied. These figures are reported in NFHS Responds To The American Academy of Pediatrics Statement On Cheerleading Injuries.
An athlete-exposure rate is a rate tied to exposures, not a percentage of participants injured. The unit “per 1,000 athlete exposures” should remain attached to the figure when it is quoted. The ranking is also limited to the 20 sports included in that 2011-12 comparison.
The injury statistic belongs to a different measurement period from the 2023-24 participation figures and the older participation benchmarks. It should therefore be used as historical safety context rather than as a current injury forecast. The supplied data do not provide a later cheerleading injury rate, a breakdown by stunt or activity, or a projection for future seasons.
The 2024-25 NFHS survey said high school sports added more than 200,000 additional students over the previous year. That statement is a broad all-sports participation update, not a cheer-specific estimate or forecast, and it is reported in Record High School Sports Participation Numbers: 2024-25 NFHS Survey. Keeping that distinction clear prevents a general participation increase from being misread as a measured change in cheer teams.