December 27, 2017 • Football

Despite drop in numbers, football remains most-played HS sport

Nearly eight million U.S. high school-aged children participated in high school sports during the 2016-17 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations’ (NFHS) annual survey. It marked the 28th consecutive year that high school sports participation increased.

Texas had the most high school athletes in the nation during 2016-17, with 834,558 playing sports. California was second at 800,364 participants and New York a distant third with 367,849 athletes.

Washington saw the biggest increase in participation, percentage wise, with a jump of 13.3 percent to 172,229. Vermont experienced the biggest fall, losing 10.5 percent to just 13,320 — the lowest total among the 50 states.

Despite dropping in overall numbers, football remains the most-played high school sport in the U.S., with more than one million participating last year.

Click here for more from the NHFS survey.