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America's Most Underserved Karate Cities (2026)
The flip side of the Karate Capitals: big American cities where you can barely find a dojo inside the city limits. These are the 30 most populous US cities (100,000+ residents) with zero or one karate dojo in our 4,577-dojo national directory — 6.3 million people between them. If you've ever thought about opening a karate dojo, this is the market-gap list. Updated 2026-07-19.
The list
Top of the table: Oakland, California — 443,554 people, a single karate dojo. The biggest city with none at all is St. Paul, Minnesota (307,465 residents — 9 of the 30 cities are at zero). Many of these are big suburbs in major metros, which is exactly the point: the anchor city's dojos are a drive away, and the local walk-in market is unclaimed.
| # | City | Population | Karate dojos in directory |
| 1 | Oakland, CA | 443,554 | 1 |
| 2 | Cleveland, OH | 365,379 | 1 |
| 3 | St. Paul, MN | 307,465 | 0 |
| 4 | Greensboro, NC | 307,381 | 1 |
| 5 | North Las Vegas, NV | 294,034 | 1 |
| 6 | Reno, NV | 281,714 | 1 |
| 7 | Chesapeake, VA | 254,997 | 1 |
| 8 | Garland, TX | 250,431 | 1 |
| 9 | Boise, ID | 237,963 | 0 |
| 10 | Tacoma, WA | 228,202 | 1 |
| 11 | Sioux Falls, SD | 209,289 | 1 |
| 12 | Tallahassee, FL | 205,089 | 1 |
| 13 | Clarksville, TN | 185,690 | 1 |
| 14 | Eugene, OR | 178,786 | 1 |
| 15 | Rancho Cucamonga, CA | 176,675 | 1 |
| 16 | Garden Grove, CA | 172,361 | 1 |
| 17 | Surprise, AZ | 167,564 | 0 |
| 18 | Lancaster, CA | 167,426 | 1 |
| 19 | Roseville, CA | 163,304 | 1 |
| 20 | Palmdale, CA | 162,536 | 0 |
| 21 | Corona, CA | 161,540 | 0 |
| 22 | Salinas, CA | 160,783 | 1 |
| 23 | Kansas City, KS | 156,752 | 1 |
| 24 | Joliet, IL | 151,837 | 1 |
| 25 | Bridgeport, CT | 151,599 | 1 |
| 26 | Mesquite, TX | 150,140 | 1 |
| 27 | Jackson, MS | 141,449 | 0 |
| 28 | Victorville, CA | 140,721 | 0 |
| 29 | West Valley City, UT | 138,144 | 0 |
| 30 | Cedar Rapids, IA | 137,904 | 0 |
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