Blueshore Loans hands funding requests from Sparks, Nevada gyms and studios to funding partners. This page covers Washoe County fitness center counts, moves, flooring and rigs, membership history, recovery rooms and leasing cardio machines.
At a glance
- Fitness and recreational sports centers, Washoe County, NV
86 fitness and recreational sports centers with paid staff, Washoe County, NV (CBP 2023)
- Fitness center employees, Washoe County, NV
1,052 paid employees at Washoe County, NV fitness and recreational sports centers (CBP 2023)
- Small fitness centers, Washoe County, NV
37 Washoe County, NV fitness centers with fewer than five employees (CBP 2023)
Loan for a Gym Business Expanding Into a Larger Washoe County, NV Unit
A gym moving into a larger Washoe County, NV unit pays for more than square footage. There is a build-out for locker rooms and showers, HVAC that can handle a full class, flooring across the new space, more equipment to fill it, signage and a few months of overlapping rent. A loan for a gym business expanding that way is usually a term loan for the build-out plus equipment financing for the new floor.
Lenders read membership counts and draft history at the current location, the new lease and a budget. The question they ask is how many added members it takes to cover the higher rent and payments.
Timing the move matters. Overlapping leases, a build-out that runs long and members who wait to see the new space all stretch the months before the larger unit pays for itself, so budget for several months of both rents.
Gym Loans for Turf, Rubber Flooring and Rig Systems
Turf lanes for sled work, rubber flooring over a concrete slab and rig systems bolted to floor and wall are the backbone of a strength gym. Gym loans for these items run through equipment lenders and lessors, though built-in rigs and flooring may be treated as build-out. Illustration only, invented figures: $54,000 for a rig, flooring and turf financed over 60 months at an invented annual rate of 10% costs about $1,147 a month (our arithmetic).
The equipment page covers gym equipment lessors, and the gym article walks through a full budget.
How to Get a Loan for a Gym With Membership Draft History
Membership draft history is the record that sets a gym apart from most small businesses: it shows recurring revenue month by month, cancellations and new sign-ups. Illustration only, invented figures: a studio with 380 members paying $89 a month drafts about $33,820 a month (our arithmetic). A lender reading twelve months of those reports can see whether that figure is rising, flat or falling.
Owners applying for a gym loan can bring draft reports from the billing software, bank statements showing the deposits, the lease and the equipment quote. Churn, the share of members who cancel each month, is worth explaining up front.
Business Loans for a Gym Business Adding Recovery and Sauna Rooms
Recovery rooms with cold plunges, infrared or traditional saunas, compression boots and massage tools let a gym add a higher-priced membership tier. Business loans for a gym adding recovery and sauna rooms combine build-out costs, such as electrical, plumbing, drainage and ventilation, with equipment that can be financed on its own.
Saunas and plunges may need permits and electrical work; permit timing affects when the new tier can start billing. The payback case is the number of members expected to move to the higher tier.
Recovery equipment also brings operating costs, such as water treatment, electricity and towel service. Include those in the plan so the higher tier is priced to cover them.
Business Loans for Gym Equipment Versus Leasing Cardio Machines
Cardio machines wear out and get replaced, which is why many gyms lease them rather than buy them. A fair market value lease keeps payments lower and lets the gym swap machines at the end of the term; a loan or a $1 buyout lease builds ownership. Strength equipment lasts much longer and is more often bought outright or financed with a loan.
Compare total payments plus any buyout, not just the monthly figure. The equipment page explains the lease types.
Ask each lessor what happens at the end of the term: whether machines must be returned in a set condition, what a buyout costs and whether an upgrade program is available.
Fitness and Recreational Sports Center Counts in Washoe County, NV
Washoe County, NV had 86 fitness and recreational sports centers with paid staff in 2023, with 1,052 paid employees and about $19 million in annual payroll; 37 of them had fewer than five employees and 7 had a ZIP 89431 address (County and ZIP Business Patterns). That count covers health clubs, gyms, physical fitness studios and similar fitness centers; yoga and martial arts schools are classified separately by the Census.
Separately, Nonemployer Statistics counted 264 businesses without paid employees in 2024 in other amusement and recreation industries, a broader group that includes fitness centers along with other recreation businesses.
By Blueshore Loans · Updated


