The Mako normalized Canadian fitness search universe contains 14,167 venue records across all 13 provinces and territories. Ontario is the largest geography with 3,788 records, while five class-based formats contain 2,542. These are complete counts for the declared dataset after normalization, not an official census of every operating Canadian venue.
The Canadian layer includes every canonical Canadian record in Mako compile-v13 after province or territory normalization and assignment to one of 14 reporting categories. It covers Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.
Canada’s closest official facility comparator is 2022 NAICS 713940. Statistics Canada defines it broadly enough to include health clubs, physical-fitness studios, gyms, skating rinks and swimming pools. Instruction-led yoga, dance, martial arts and personal-training businesses can sit outside that single facility code depending on their primary activity.
Mako therefore uses a multi-source normalized search model rather than treating one official classification as the whole market. “Boutique” is an editorial operating definition. Each record contributes once to the Canadian total and once to one primary category, while provenance and review fields remain attached to the record. The North American parent report keeps that common definition visible across both country layers.
Gyms and health clubs are the largest normalized category in Canada, with 3,758 of 14,167 records (26.53%), but that share is lower than the same category’s 41.06% share of 245,928 US records. Martial arts schools rank second, followed by dance and movement studios.
| Normalized category | Canadian venue records | Share of Canadian records |
|---|---|---|
| Gym / Health Club | 3,758 | 26.53% |
| Martial Arts / Combat School | 2,851 | 20.12% |
| Dance / Movement Studio | 1,509 | 10.65% |
| Multipurpose Recreation / Sports Center | 1,372 | 9.68% |
| Specialist Fitness Facility | 1,253 | 8.84% |
| Pilates / Reformer / Barre Studio | 834 | 5.89% |
| Boutique HIIT / Functional Fitness Studio | 629 | 4.44% |
| Yoga Studio | 581 | 4.10% |
| CrossFit / Strength Gym | 482 | 3.40% |
| Personal / Small-Group Training | 479 | 3.38% |
| Aquatic / Swim Facility | 365 | 2.58% |
| Gymnastics / Cheer / Tumbling Facility | 33 | 0.23% |
| Indoor Cycling Studio | 16 | 0.11% |
| Climbing / Bouldering Facility | 5 | 0.04% |
| Total | 14,167 | 100.00% |
The table cannot establish that Canada has fewer indoor cycling or climbing businesses than another country in the physical market. Source families and discovery depth differ. It shows how the normalized Canadian records are classified inside this dataset.
The five-format class-based core contains 2,542 of 14,167 Canadian records. Pilates/reformer/barre is the largest of those five Canadian categories with 834 records, followed by boutique HIIT/functional fitness with 629 and yoga with 581.
Ontario is the largest Canadian geography in the normalized search universe with 3,788 of 14,167 records (26.74%). Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta together account for 11,591 records, or 81.82% of 14,167 Canadian records.
| Province | Venue records | Share of Canadian records |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 3,788 | 26.74% |
| Quebec | 3,137 | 22.14% |
| British Columbia | 2,574 | 18.17% |
| Alberta | 2,092 | 14.77% |
| Saskatchewan | 737 | 5.20% |
| Nova Scotia | 420 | 2.96% |
| Prince Edward Island | 397 | 2.80% |
| New Brunswick | 361 | 2.55% |
| Top four | 11,591 | 81.82% |
The table is not a population-adjusted density ranking. Province size and population differ substantially, and the venue records were collected through mixed-date source packets. Any later density analysis should use the same reference date across Statistics Canada Table 17-10-0009-01 rather than mixing current estimates from different quarters.
Ontario is the natural first province flagship by scale. Quebec is equally important for source verification and bilingual editorial work. British Columbia and Alberta complete the first large-province layer, while smaller provinces can offer more bounded official-source opportunities even when their total counts are lower.
Canada has a higher verified-row flag but lower website and phone field coverage than the US layer: 4,967 of 14,167 Canadian records (35.06%) carry the flag, compared with 9,793 of 245,928 US records (3.98%); website coverage is 6,709 of 14,167 records (47.36%) versus 208,540 of 245,928 (84.80%), and phone coverage is 6,687 of 14,167 (47.20%) versus 220,324 of 245,928 (89.59%). These results reflect compiled field coverage from different source architectures, not proof that one country’s businesses are better verified, less digital or less reachable in the real market. The Mako methodology and evidence brief records the aggregate counts.
| Public or workflow field | Canadian records with field | Coverage of 14,167 records |
|---|---|---|
| Verified-row flag | 4,967 | 35.06% |
| Public website | 6,709 | 47.36% |
| Public phone | 6,687 | 47.20% |
| Linked public-plan venue | 1,515 | 10.69% |
Canadian source packets include bounded provincial and municipal measures alongside directories and first-party discovery. An official or municipal record can support identity or geography without containing a commercial website or phone. Conversely, a directory record can contain contact fields without proving that every field is current.
Every canonical record retains an evidence URL, but an evidence URL documents provenance or discovery. It does not automatically prove current operating status, current ownership, a current offer or first-party verification.
The Canadian pricing subset establishes that 1,515 of 14,167 Canadian records are linked to one or more captured public plans (10.69%), compared with 3,211 of 245,928 US records (1.31%). The Mako methodology and evidence brief records the denominator and join rules.
The difference should be interpreted as source and capture coverage, not proof that Canadian studios are more transparent about price. The base Canadian compile included substantial public-plan collection, while later bounded reconciliation packets did not necessarily add comparable plan coverage.
The dedicated fitness studio pricing report must separate CAD and USD, recurring memberships and one-time products, plan and venue denominators, introductory and standard offers, fees, taxes, expiry and contract conditions. Missing public pricing must remain missing.
Canadian operators can use the search universe to understand where categories and public evidence concentrate. They cannot use it as a customer-retention benchmark.
First, the category mix is broader than the word “boutique” suggests. Martial arts, dance, municipal recreation and specialist facilities all sit near the class-based studio economy. A Pilates or HIIT operator may compete for time, location convenience and recurring discretionary spend with more than just identical-format studios.
Second, province-level visibility is uneven. A missing website field can reflect the source used to discover the venue, not necessarily the business’s actual web presence. Named-company or named-price examples need a fresh first-party check before publication, even when the record has official provenance.
Third, venue records do not reveal member behavior. The file cannot show whether members attend on their expected cadence, which offers retain customers or which locations have preventable churn. Mako Pulse begins with the customer-level operating data required for those questions.
The normalized Canadian layer contains 14,167 canonical venue records across all 13 provinces and territories. The count includes every Canadian record in the declared compile-v13 analytical population. It is not an official government count of every currently operating venue.
Ontario has 3,788 records, or 26.74% of the 14,167-record Canadian search universe. Quebec follows with 3,137, British Columbia with 2,574 and Alberta with 2,092. The ranking is not adjusted for population and should not be interpreted as venue density.
Gym / Health Club is the largest normalized category with 3,758 records, or 26.53% of the 14,167-record Canadian layer. Martial Arts / Combat School is second with 2,851, followed by Dance / Movement Studio with 1,509.
Yoga, Pilates/reformer/barre, CrossFit/strength, boutique HIIT/functional fitness and indoor cycling contain 2,542 Canadian records combined, or 17.94% of the 14,167-record Canadian layer. This is an editorial operating core, not an official statistical classification.
The Canadian layer has public website fields on 6,709 of 14,167 records (47.36%), versus 208,540 of 245,928 US records (84.80%). The source layers differ: Canadian records include bounded official and municipal sources that can support identity or location without providing a commercial website. The result describes compiled field coverage and should not be framed as evidence that Canadian fitness businesses are less digital.
No. It measures normalized venue records, geography, category and public-data coverage. It contains no member-level attendance, membership or churn outcomes. Retention analysis requires a studio’s customer-level operating data.
A province-level map can show where formats and public evidence concentrate. It cannot show which members inside one studio are returning later than usual.
Mako Pulse surfaces descriptive, rules-based retention signals for review. Open Pulse for free to examine the customer-level layer without turning a venue count into a retention claim.
