Methodology

Every number on FindTheGym comes from three public sources, processed the same way for every gym. This page explains each step and where it falls short, so you can decide how much weight to put on a figure.

1. Listings

We search Google Maps for twelve gym and studio terms across Austin (gym, fitness center, 24 hour gym, CrossFit, yoga, Pilates, boxing, martial arts, climbing, personal training, cycling and bootcamp) and keep places with a Texas ZIP code starting 786 or 787. We drop permanently or temporarily closed places and anything whose Google category says it isn't a gym: apartments, hotels, physical therapists, spas, schools, dance studios and stores. The October 2026 run kept 736 listings inside Austin city limits.

Each listing gets one primary type. A brand match wins (every Orangetheory is a bootcamp studio), then a type named in the business name ("CrossFit Central"), then Google's primary category. Ratings, review counts, hours and popular times are Google's figures as of the collection date.

2. Gym websites

Our crawler (FindTheGymBot) visits each gym's website, plus one pricing page and one schedule page if the homepage links to them. It reads 645 sites and records:

• Monthly prices written as "$X/mo", "$X per month" or "$X a month", and day-pass or drop-in prices written near those words. We show the lowest monthly figure as "from".
• Booking and management software, detected from the scripts, widgets and links each platform embeds (for example Mindbody's healcode widget or a link to a PushPress portal).
• Tracking tags (Meta pixel, Google Ads, Google Analytics, TikTok), the site builder, HTTPS and a mobile viewport.
• Amenities and offers mentioned in the text: sauna, pool, cold plunge, childcare, free trial, no contract, 24/7 access.

Prices that load with JavaScript, sit in PDFs or live behind a login are invisible to the crawler, which is why big chains often show no price from their own sites. For chains, we use the rates each brand publishes on its Austin location pages, checked by hand and linked as the source. Enrollment and annual fees are not included in "from" prices.

3. Census data

Population and median household income come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2023 5-year estimates (tables B01003 and B19013) by ZIP Code Tabulation Area. ZIP centers come from the 2023 Census Gazetteer. City-level ratios use the 37 ZIP codes that lie mostly inside Austin city limits (1,038,664 residents).

How rankings work

Lists are ordered by a rating score: each gym's Google rating is blended with the Austin average, weighted by its review count (a Bayesian average with a weight of 40 reviews). A 5.0 from 6 reviews lands close to the city average; a 4.9 from 900 reviews keeps nearly all of its rating. Nobody can pay to change this order. Sponsored placements, when we sell them, are labeled and sit outside the ranked list.

Market metrics

• Gyms per 10,000 residents: listings in an area divided by its Census population.
• Density score (0 to 100): the percentile rank of a ZIP by the number of gyms within 3 miles of its center.
• Opportunity index (0 to 100): the percentile rank of residents per nearby gym, multiplied by the ZIP's median household income relative to the city median (capped at 1.6). High means many residents with spending power and few gyms nearby.

These use straight-line distance from ZIP centers, not drive times, and they count every listing equally, so a 1,200 square foot yoga studio weighs the same as a 40,000 square foot health club. Use them to shortlist areas, then check drive times, real estate and the specific competitors before committing to a site.

Corrections

Gym owners can claim a listing to correct it, and anyone can report an error from the link at the bottom of every gym page. We refresh listings and websites on a monthly schedule and show the date on every page.