How many women play padel in the US?

No credible figure has been published. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association's 2026 Topline Participation Report counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel in 2025, but it does not break that down by gender, and USA Padel's 2025 annual report (nearly 3,000 individual members) does not publish a gender split either. Treat any women-specific participation number you see online as unsourced until a governing body publishes one.

Are there women's padel leagues in the United States?

Yes. The National Padel League added four women's divisions for its 2026 season, bringing the women's draw level with the four men's categories across 40-plus cities in six regions, with fall regional championships on 4-6 December and 15-17 January. USA Padel also lists 6LoveSports, a Miami women's league, among the communities it backed in 2025. Some clubs run their own women's ladders: RGV Padel in South Texas publishes a separate women's ranking table.

Do US padel clubs run women-only clinics?

Yes, but they are rarely advertised on club websites. Of around 40 large US club sites we checked in October 2026, only three published women-specific sessions: Conquer Padel Club in Tempe (a Ladies Cash Game), Conquer Padel Club Lehi (a weekly Wednesday ladies league at $60 for non-members and $40 for members) and RGV Padel. Everywhere else, women's sessions sit on booking apps, Instagram or WhatsApp groups, so calling the club is the fastest way to find one.

Is padel easier to pick up than tennis for new players?

Generally yes. The court is smaller and enclosed, the serve is underarm, and the walls keep the ball in play, so rallies last longer and beginners get more shots per session. It is always played as doubles, which shares the court coverage. Most US clubs run intro clinics and lend rackets, so you can try it before buying anything.

Do women use different padel rackets?

There is no separate women's category in the rules, and plenty of women play the same frames as men. In practice many choose lighter rackets, often around 355-365g, with rounder shapes that put the sweet spot in the middle for easier control. Weight, balance and shape matter far more than how a racket is marketed, and our women's racket guide breaks down the picks by level.

Where are the biggest women's padel scenes in the US?

Follow the courts. USA Padel's 2025 annual report put roughly 41% of US courts in Florida, followed by Texas (18%), California (10%) and New York (4.7%), and our own directory shows the same order by club count. That makes Miami and South Florida, the Texas triangle, Southern California and New York City the deepest pools for women's league entries and clinics.

Women's Padel in the US: Leagues, Clinics & Divisions

Padel in the United States crossed a million players this year — and nobody can tell you how many of them are women.

The fastest-growing half of a fast-growing sport

That is not a rhetorical flourish. The figure that put padel on the mainstream radar comes from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association's 2026 Topline Participation Report, published in March 2026, which counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel during 2025. It was padel's first appearance in the report — SFIA added only two activities this cycle, padel and disc golf. The release breaks that total down by how often people played, but not by gender.

So rather than guess at a number, this piece maps what is actually organised for women right now: which leagues have women's divisions, which clubs run women's sessions, and where the pathway leads.

What we actually know about how many women play

USA Padel — the United States Padel Association, still styled USPA across most of its own paperwork — is the sport's national governing body, and its 2025 annual report, dated 17 January 2026, is the most detailed public account of the American game. It records nearly 3,000 individual members across 108 active clubs — up over 20% in a year, from under 500 members three years earlier — and more than 200 sanctioned tournaments a year "offering opportunities for men and women of all levels and ages." It does not publish a gender split either.

Why the participation numbers are so unreliable

The spread between sources is itself the warning. USA Padel, citing SFIA in April 2026, put the country at just over 1,000 courts across 31 states; our own directory lists 356 open clubs across 41 states; and aggregator sites circulate figures several times higher that cannot be reconciled with any governing-body count.

So treat any women-specific participation figure with suspicion: no credible one has been published. What can be verified is structure — draws, divisions, rankings and scheduled sessions. That is what follows, and our 2026 state of the sport has the wider picture.

Women's divisions arrive in league play

The clearest change of 2026 came from the National Padel League, the country's largest amateur team competition. For its spring season the NPL added four women's divisions, bringing the women's draw level with the four men's categories — eight divisions in all, seeded by rating. USA Padel's April 2026 announcement put the season across 40-plus cities in six regions, with city play running 20 April to 29 May and National Finals on 14–16 August.

That matters more than a parity headline suggests: before 2026, a woman wanting league play in most cities entered a mixed draw or didn't play. The league now runs a dual-season format, and its fall regional championships are set for 4–6 December in Boston, Houston and Miami, and 15–17 January in Nashville, Las Vegas and Philadelphia. Our guide to the NPL explains how entry works.

USA Padel's 2025 report also lists 6LoveSports, a Miami women's padel league, among the new communities it backed that year — though its website is not currently resolving, so check with the organisers first.

Women's clinics and ladies' nights at US clubs

Here is the honest finding, and it is why this article exists: women-specific club programming is real but almost invisible on the open web. We checked the public websites of around 40 of the largest open US clubs in October 2026. Three published women-specific sessions in crawlable text.

Conquer Padel Club in Tempe, Arizona lists a Ladies Cash Game on its calendar. Its sister venue Conquer Padel Club Lehi in Lehi, Utah goes furthest of anyone we found: a weekly Wednesday ladies league at $60 for non-members and $40 for members, a "Queens of the Court" social, and a named Director of Women's Coaching on staff.

RGV Padel & Pickleball Club in Mission, Texas — with a second site, RGV Padel Club, in McAllen — takes a different route: a free player-profile system with a separate women's ranking ladder, so women's results build a visible competitive table instead of disappearing into a mixed pool.

Everywhere else, women's sessions live on booking apps, Instagram and WhatsApp groups rather than club websites. Venues with deep general programming — Padel Haus Williamsburg, Replay Club, Sensa Padel, Laredo Padel Club, PATL, Viva Padel & Pickleball Club and Pulse Padel Hub — all run clinics, leagues and open play, but you will need to call or open their booking page to learn what is women-only this month.

The pro side

Premier Padel, FIP events on US soil, and the US pro pipeline

The professional game is the part of women's padel that America unambiguously serves well. Premier Padel, the FIP-sanctioned world tour, held its Miami P1 in March 2026 with a full women's draw, won by Bea González and Paula Josemaría over Delfina Brea and Gemma Triay. The Pro Padel League runs men's and women's divisions at every event with separate standings, and three of its five 2026 stops were on US soil: New York in July, Los Angeles in August, and the City's Cup Finals in Miami on 3–6 December.

The domestic pipeline is further along than most people realise. At the Padel America Absolute Championships in Chile in November 2025, the US women's team finished fifth, its best result to date, and Marta Morga and Brittany Dubins recorded the nation's first match win over a Brazilian pair. US senior women took four of the team's five golds at the Pan American senior championships, and on the Nox USPA Circuit, Anna Cortiles and Luicelena Perez dominated Division 1 on the women's side. American clubs host the international calendar too: Padel Clube outside Chicago, Padel39 in Austin and Padel N9NE in San Diego all staged FIP tournaments in 2025, and Padel Haus Atlanta hosted the US Open Padel Championships.

What's still missing

Coaching, junior pathways and gear

Coaching: exactly one club in our sweep publishes a women's coaching lead. Juniors: USA Padel fields girls' draws at 14U, 16U and 18U and took a girls' 14U silver on the Padel America Junior Circuit, but there is no national girls' development league to graduate into — our parents' guide and the college padel picture cover what does exist. Gear: women's-specific equipment reaches the US thinly — see our picks for women's rackets and women's padel shoes, with Racket Central carrying the widest range.

The data gap counts too. Until SFIA or USA Padel publishes a gender split, nobody running a club, a league or a grant program can say whether women are 20% or 45% of American padel.

How to find a women's clinic or league near you

Start with the clubs near you. Browse the club directory or a state page such as Florida or California, then open each club's booking platform — that is where women's sessions are listed.
Ask directly. Women's clinics are run far more often than they are advertised.
Enter the league pathway. NPL registration opens weeks ahead of city play; our guide to finding padel tournaments and leagues covers the entry routes.
Line up a partner. Women's draws are doubles entries, so start with our guide to finding a padel partner and the ratings explainer to land in the right division.

If your club runs a women's clinic or league we have missed, tell us. We would rather list it than leave the map half-drawn.