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Karate Classes by the Numbers, 2026
We mapped every karate dojo in America — 4,577 schools with 161,340 customer reviews between them. Here's what the data says: how much membership actually costs, which states have the most dojos per resident, where the Karate Capitals are, which franchise networks and style organizations run the most dojos, and what else these schools teach under one roof. (Journalists & bloggers: cite freely with a link.)
How much does karate cost a month? The one-line answer
The most-asked question about the art, answered from the 163 dojos in the directory that publicly post a price: membership is about $89 a month, with most dojos landing between $50 and $150. The full picture — price bands, what's driving the spread, and the state-by-state index — is on the Karate Class Cost Index.
Which states have the most karate dojos per capita?
Nationally there are about 13.5 karate dojos per million residents. The per-capita crown goes to Rhode Island at 36 dojos per million — 40 dojos for a state of 1.1 million people — with New Hampshire at 29.1 and Connecticut at 28.3 close behind. Karate clusters where the tradition runs deep, not simply where the most people live — which is why the gap between the top and bottom of this table is worth a look before you go hunting for your first dojo. At the other end, North Dakota has just 3.8 per million.
| # | State | Dojos | Per million people |
| 1 | Rhode Island | 40 | 36 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 41 | 29.1 |
| 3 | Connecticut | 104 | 28.3 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 202 | 28.3 |
| 5 | New Jersey | 259 | 27.3 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 272 | 20.8 |
| 7 | Utah | 67 | 19.1 |
| 8 | Alaska | 14 | 18.9 |
| 9 | Colorado | 96 | 16.1 |
| 10 | Michigan | 149 | 14.7 |
| 11 | California | 581 | 14.7 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 85 | 14.7 |
| 13 | New York | 291 | 14.6 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 76 | 13.9 |
| 15 | Ohio | 165 | 13.9 |
What else do karate dojos teach?
Karate dojos are rarely a single-art studio — 62.3% also teach at least one other martial art under the same roof, an average of 2.2 other disciplines each. The most common companions: Self-Defense (58.1%), Kickboxing (21.3%), Jiu-Jitsu (16.7%), Taekwondo (16.5%). That's the real shape of the American karate school — often a full martial-arts center where striking, forms and self-defense share the mat.
| Discipline also taught | Dojos | Share |
| Self-Defense | 2,659 | 58.1% |
| Kickboxing | 973 | 21.3% |
| Jiu-Jitsu | 765 | 16.7% |
| Taekwondo | 756 | 16.5% |
| MMA | 418 | 9.1% |
| Kung Fu | 316 | 6.9% |
| Judo | 292 | 6.4% |
America's Karate Capitals
The cities with the most karate dojos in the directory, by raw count. Top of the list: Houston, TX (20) · Chicago, IL (18) · Los Angeles, CA (18). The full ranking — raw count and per resident — is on America's Karate Capitals.
| # | City | Karate dojos |
| 1 | Houston, TX | 20 |
| 2 | Chicago, IL | 18 |
| 3 | Los Angeles, CA | 18 |
| 4 | San Antonio, TX | 17 |
| 5 | New York, NY | 15 |
| 6 | Jacksonville, FL | 15 |
| 7 | Colorado Springs, CO | 15 |
| 8 | Miami, FL | 14 |
| 9 | Philadelphia, PA | 13 |
| 10 | Rochester, NY | 13 |
America's densest Karate cities
Karate dojos per 100k residents, cities over 50k population. Raw counts favor the biggest metros, so this table is the other lens — the mid-size cities where dojos cluster hardest per resident.
| # | City | Dojos | Per 100k |
| 1 | Sarasota, FL | 8 | 13.8 |
| 2 | Lebanon, TN | 5 | 9.7 |
| 3 | Collierville, TN | 5 | 9.6 |
| 4 | Joplin, MO | 5 | 9.3 |
| 5 | Clifton, NJ | 8 | 8.9 |
| 6 | Rockville, MD | 6 | 8.8 |
| 7 | Boynton Beach, FL | 7 | 8.4 |
| 8 | Doral, FL | 7 | 8.4 |
| 9 | Union, NJ | 5 | 7.9 |
| 10 | Hendersonville, TN | 5 | 7.8 |
| 11 | Gallatin, TN | 4 | 7.6 |
| 12 | Summerville, SC | 4 | 7.6 |
| 13 | Brentwood, CA | 5 | 7.5 |
| 14 | Wayne, NJ | 4 | 7.4 |
| 15 | Kissimmee, FL | 6 | 7.1 |
Inside the dojos
Of the 4,577 dojos in the directory, 3,735 are genuine karate schools — karate is on their schedule — with the rest being martial-arts centers whose karate classes earn them a place here. From our review and website mining so far (these counts are floors — they require evidence, and enrichment is ongoing):
| Dojos that… | Count | Share |
| Are beginner-friendly (all levels welcome) | 1,153 | 25% |
| Run kids & youth classes | 3,108 | 68% |
| Advertise a free trial or intro class | 1,178 | 26% |
| Run an adult karate program | 1,511 | 33% |
| Offer private / one-on-one lessons | 819 | 18% |
| Teach weapons / kobudo (bo, sai, nunchaku) | 422 | 9.2% |
| Offer women's classes | 179 | 3.9% |
| Field a competition / kumite team | 1,046 | 23% |
Small-town dojos worth the drive
Karate dojos in towns under 30,000 people that still pull hundreds or thousands of reviews — destination schools that outdraw their whole zip code.
- ZENTAI Martial Arts - North Arlington — North Arlington, NJ ★ 5
- The Dojo — Flowery Branch, GA ★ 5
- National Karate & Martial Arts South Elgin — South Elgin, IL ★ 5
- Traditional Okinawan Karate of Kinnelon — Kinnelon, NJ ★ 5
- Go No Sen Karate — Peekskill, NY ★ 5
- Mastery Martial Arts - East Greenwich — East Greenwich, RI ★ 5
- Champion Karate — Lake Mary, FL ★ 5
- Mastery Martial Arts - Smithfield — Smithfield, RI ★ 5
- Granite State American Kenpo Karate — Hudson, NH ★ 4.9
- Bill Stevens Karate — Ramsey, NJ ★ 5
- The Karate Dojo — West Columbia, SC ★ 4.9
- Allen Park Martial Arts Center — Allen Park, MI ★ 4.9
- WAVERLY MARTIAL ARTS — Patchogue, NY ★ 5
- Focus Martial Arts — Middlesex, NJ ★ 5
- Elite TOMA Martial Arts Academy — Randolph, NJ ★ 4.9
More data: the full stats suite
Each deep-dive below is its own dataset page with a downloadable CSV — cite freely with a link.
- The Karate Class Cost Index — how much membership costs, nationally and by state: median monthly price, price bands, and the coverage behind the numbers.
- America's Karate Capitals — the cities with the most karate dojos, raw count and per resident.
- The Best Cities for Karate — dojo density × dojo quality, scored for every US city over 50k.
- Karate's largest networks & styles — the franchises & style-organization league table (Tiger Schulmann's, Premier, Villari's, Shotokan, Kyokushin…) plus what 62.3% of dojos teach besides karate.
- America's most underserved Karate cities — the biggest US cities with zero or one karate dojo.