Scottsdale has been ranked one of the best cities for pickleball, ranking 7 out of 10 across the country in a study conducted by Gambling.com.
The study used four factors to rank which cities are currently the best for pickleball: rainfall totals, the number of courts, participation base and the number of sports bars. Each city’s factors were ranked out of 100 using the percentrank formula.
The top 10 cities are: Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Columbus, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Scottsdale, Tampa, Arlington and Seattle.
Pickleball is making waves around the country by becoming the fastest growing sport in the last three years with a 158.6% growth rate. From August 2021 to August 2022, 36.5 million people picked up a racket and played, according to CNBC.
Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. It is played on a court with a shorter net than tennis.
The recent surge in popularity of pickleball has led to the construction of numerous courts across the country, resulting in more than 10,000 courts all through the U.S. Pickleball has even become more popular than football, basketball, golf, tennis, baseball and soccer.
One possible explanation for pickleball’s recent surge in popularity may be how easy it is to play. Other sports, like golf, can take months to learn but pickleball is a lot simpler.
Scottsdale had the lowest number of pickleball courts compared to the other cities, but ranked highly for average rainfall.
There are currently 21 pickleball courts throughout Scottsdale and 17 sports bars, giving people many opportunities to play pickleball and go out with friends or family after they play a match.
If you are interested in playing pickleball this summer, read our roundup on The Best Pickleball Spots at Valley Resorts.
